Scenic Highways & Byways: Maine & NH

Friday, July 19, 2019 - Today's blog is not a "mountain climbing blog" but a "scenic drives blog":

Hey - anybody with a "Road Trip" bumper sticker has to own at least one copy of this book!

It was a GREAT DAY for a scenic drive in New England:

I started by heading east from Rangeley, to a scenic overlook (where I had a nice phone chat with Wendy):


I continued around the lake to Rangeley Lake State Park:

At 7:45 AM, there were other people out-and-about:

Rangeley Lake is pretty nice in the morning light:




I continued around the lake onto Route 16 West (Route 16 runs East-West in Maine, but when you cross over into New Hampshire, it is 16 North-South), and stopped below the Aziscohos Lake dam,

at the head of Magalloway River:


To quote a local, when asked "Is the Magalloway River and Bear Brook the same body of water?":

"It’s the Magalloway River. Google maps has it wrong. I have no idea where the name Bear Brook came from but everybody calls it the Magalloway River from Canada to Umbagog. I live there and have been fishing the Aziscohos area for 30 years and have never heard a single person call it Bear Brook."

10 minutes later I'm driving alongside the river:


An hour later, in New Hampshire, it has become the Androscoggin River:



By now, I'm down in the heart of the Three Rivers Scenic Drive:


I drove down to Gorham, and continued east on Route 2, to get to the "North Road" in Shelburne, New Hampshire:


It is a nice road, and I'm glad I did it. Narrow in places.

I kept heading east on Route 2, and in Gilead, Maine turned right to go down MY NEW FAVORITE ROAD: Route 113:


It winds wonderfully along the Androscoggin River:

and crosses over the north-south divide at Evans Notch:




I continued down 113, through small towns and old cemeteries, eventually angling west to hook-up with Route 16 in Conway. Heading south on 16 on a Friday in the summer is a pleasure - not sure how it is for ALL THOSE PEOPLE in the northbound lane.



WOW - Thank you GOD for these wonderful adventures!

Today's music was WRGY 90.5 FM "Rangeley Community/Educational Radio"

which was GREAT until I drove west out-of-range. Then it was music from my mp3 cds:

Paul McCartney - Run Devil Run, 1999


Antonio Pantoja - Songs of the Andes, 1996


John Coltrane - Soultrane, 1958


Big Head Todd and the Monsters - Strategem, 1994


Tony Bennett - The Playground, 1998


Third Eye Blind - Third Eye Blind, 1997 debut album


The Who - Tommy, 1969 double album

NE 100 Highest (#100) - North Kennebago Divide, Maine

Thursday, July 18, 2019 - I have ONE LAST MOUNTAIN for the New England Hundred Highest: North Kennebago Divide, up north of Rangeley, Maine (which, by the way, is WAY UP THERE!)

A close-up of the area from The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (DeLorme, 13th Edition, 2007):

North Kennebago Divide is the circle-in-the-middle.

After my Thursday Men's Breakfast in Boston, I headed up 93-to-95 into Maine (you know the drill by now). 4-plus hours later I was turning off Route 4 onto Route 16 (the green circle):

and at 1:53 I was at the "Burnt Mtn Rd - Mile 4" sign:

(pretty nice day up here in Northern Maine!)

Following up on my directions from my last blog:
Turn right on Porter Brook Rd (excellent bridge over Porter Brook)
drive 1.2 miles N/NE/E, then take the right-fork.
at 2.1 miles, cross ditch 1
at 2.2 miles, cross ditch 2
at 2.25 miles, cross ditch 3
at 2.28 miles, cross ditch 4
at 2.3 miles, stop. There is a big ditch in front of you, plus the trail goes down to the right!

It takes a LONG TIME to drive on these logging roads! I started hiking at 3:25. The first mile is (generally) a nice logging trail to the east, up through the woods:




After the first mile, the "trail" sort of peters out, which makes sense - people just cutting into the woods - south for North Kennebago Divide, or north for White Cap. It looks like I went a little farther east than necessary, but was able to use my compass and go southwest, where the rabbit trails converged onto a real "herd path" up the mountain ridge:

It zigged-and-zagged, but never got really lost. I hit the summit at 4:37:


Pretty satisfying!

Here is the list I'm sending to the AMC 4000 Footer Club:



I had started today with 3 water bottles, but one slipped out of my waist-bag. I found it on my way back down:


The "trail":


I finished 3.49 miles at 5:30 PM (2 hours 5 minutes). Google Earth (looking southeast) shows today's hike (in yellow) versus last October 25, 2018 (in red):

Looking south, you can see that when I got lost-in-the-snow last October, it was ok to quit-for-another-day:


Back down the logging roads to the Town & Lake Motel in Rangeley, Maine at 7:30:


After another great dinner at Parkside & Main, I headed off to bed. WOW - Thank you GOD for these wonderful HIKING adventures!

Today's music from one of my mp3 cds:

Neil Young - After the Gold Rush 1970


Chick Corea Akoustic Band - Alive, 1991,


Yes - Close to the Edge, 1972


James Taylor - Hourglass, 1997


lyrics "Little More Time with You":

Why leave the life I love here in the great state of Maine ...

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Looking Forward, 1999


Bruce Springsteen - Lucky Town, 1992


and, when I got in range of Rangeley (ha ha), WRGY 90.5 FM