NE 100 Highest (#96) - Snow Mtn, Maine (Cupsuptic)

Wednesday, October 24, 2018 - If you have been following me, you'll remember that the last mountain (Mendon Peak over in Vermont) was listed as #96. Well, it turns out that the "White Cap Mountain" I had climbed on July 17, 2018 IS NOT ON THE New England Hundred Highest list - that "White Cap" is the "White Cap" on the AT, over in Piscataquis County, and is "only" 3654 feet. The "Real One" [unclimbed] (3856 feet) is over in Franklin County (Western Maine):

This map shows the 5 unclimbed mountains in yellow, plus the Spillover Inn, where I'll be staying Wednesday and Thursday nights. I plan on hiking Snow Mtn (Cupsuptic Snow) on Wednesday, Kennebago Divide, White Cap 3856' and Boundary Peak on Thursday, and finishing off with East Kennebago Mountain on Friday (and COMING HOME!).

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


I left Manchester-by-the-Sea around 8:15, and made it to MEXICO by noon:

Ha Ha - "Mexico, Maine"!

Just north of Mexico I started seeing the snow up in the mountains:

Plenty of "Fall Beauty" still in Maine:

But not for very long:

A fun "Scenic View" just southwest of Rangeley, Maine:


I can't wait to see what it's like UP IN THE MOUNTAINS!! (At 37℉, the snow flurries started right after I took that picture.)



From Maine Hwy 17 West, you zig-and-zag onto Maine Hwy 16 West (which actually goes northwest at this point). After 4.8 miles, take a right on Morton Cutoff Rd:

You then wind around on Logging Roads until you get to East Branch Road:

which is a pretty nice road:

until Winter sets in:



I have done a lot of reading, and printed 2 maps-with-gps-tracks (including a "recommended start" for heading North):


I started east/northeast on the logging road a little after 2 PM, and 40 minutes later I was in a Winter Wonderland, heading North up the Mountain:

Go under the tree:

and keep "Heading Up":



By 3:30 I was on the "ridge path", heading east, trying to find the canister and sign:

SUCCESS 15 minutes later!!




I came blasting back down the mountain, through snow and trees, and cutting areas, and streams. I intersected the logging road just a little west of my entry point, then followed my footprints back to the car. 1 hour 35 minutes up to the summit, and only 1 hour back down! When I approached the car, I realized I had been so excited on the summit that I had forgotten to pull out my sign:

A couple of screenshots of my track on Google Earth:



This would have been a MUCH HARDER hike in the summer. I had on multiple layers of clothing, and I was well-waterproofed, and my LL Bean boots allowed me to walk in streams with impunity. The layers allowed me to walk through all the saplings/growth without any worries (or scratches).

I headed back down the Logging Roads ("East Branch Road", "Burnt Mountain Road", and "Morton Cutoff Road"). The map shows a place-on-the-river called "Big Falls":

Well, there wasn't a town - there wasn't a bridge - there was barely a turn-out - but it is a really nice area along the Cupsuptic River:


I think that I would really like to come back up here (IN WARM WEATHER) and climb around these rocks, and get a better view of these Falls.

Down through Rangeley, and northeast to the Spillover Motel in Stratton, Maine. A nice hot bath and then dinner at "The Stratton Inn". WOW - Thank you GOD for these wonderful adventures!

Today's music:

Love - Love Story 1966-1972 anthology album


various artists - Lost Mixes: Extended Ecstasy, 1994


various artists - Lost In Translation, 2003 soundtrack album

ethereal, moody, textured. Check out the band "My Bloody Valentine".

Joe Walsh - Look What I Did!, 1995


Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!, 1979 first album


The Doobie Brothers - Long Train Runnin': 1970-2000 (4 cds)

NE 100 Highest (#96) - Mendon Peak, Vermont

Sunday, October 14, 2018 - I had a bad discussion with Health Insurance Providers last week, so I have been itching to go out and CLIMB A MOUNTAIN. I'm ushering at the 7:45 AM Service, so I think I can fit Mendon Peak (on the backside of Killington, Vermont) into a day-trip:

Additionally, today's Lesson was from Isaiah 40:6-11, which includes (verse 9):
"Go on up to a high mountain, ..."

Well, it seems like I have my marching orders for today!

I had previously "not done" Mendon Peak on July 1, 2018. I HATE having to "go back and do what I couldn't do the first time" - I don't mind (and often enjoy) repeating successful hikes, but this "bushwacking stuff" for many of the "New England 100 Highest" does not always lend itself to "a successful hike". Here is today's SUCCESSFUL hike (in red) versus the unsuccessful one on July 1 (in yellow) (looking east up the valley):

the more traditional "north is up" view:

As you can see, on the July hike I just didn't go far enough east/up the valley.

Weather this week has been rainy days alternating with sunny days - blessedly it was beautiful today. A lot of other people thought so too, so the parking area looked a little like Woodstock (the music festival, not the town):

but once I started on the trail, it was a Beautiful Day for a hike in Vermont:

I started a little after noon, and 35 minutes later, this was the view up the logging road/trail:

I turned around, and this was the view back down the trail behind me:


Today's hike was actually 3 separate types of hikes: the first was a lovely climb through the fall Vermont woods, and I made Excellent time - 19/20 minute miles going up, 16/19 minutes miles coming back down. The second type-of-hike started when I crossed the first 1/2 of "Eddy Brook":

"Eddy Roaring Stream" is more like it - thanks to all the rain!

After crossing the Brook, you head UPHILL:

It was a good uphill climb, but I was Very Worried about returning downhill - all these leaves are soaking wet, and it would be very easy to "Slip Slide Away".

I then crossed "the second half of" "Eddy Brook":

(I don't even want to imagine what this is like in April-May!)

You then climb up the east side of Mendon, in a big Zig-Zag. This is the trail after the first Zig (just past the "First Cairn"):

Still a nice hiking trail, but definitely going up-up-up.

At 2 PM I reached the "third cairn":

Yes, that is SNOW on those logs in front of me!

This "third cairn" is where you take a right and head into the woods ("bushwacking" is today's 3rd type of hike). 3 minutes in, I was following a herd path, and it wasn't bad at all:

and then the herd path just sort of disappeared. That's when I started going South/Southeast instead of West/Southwest:

I used my compass, and the map-part of MapMyWalk, to get on a real West course, but kept going through pine forests. This lasted for over half-an-hour, and at 2:40 I was near a blow-down clearing, thinking about calling it quits, and eventually figuring out where I went wrong once I was back home at my computer. But it was only 2:40, and I had at least 2-and-a-half-hours of sunlight left, so I figured I might as well keep exploring, at least for a little while. I went south-then-west-then north and eventually picked up THE HERD PATH!!

A path through the woods IS ALWAYS BETTER than no path through the woods!! (did I mention that all the pine trees had snow on their branches?)



There was a False Peak that you go up-and-over-and-down before you go up-and-around "East Mendon", which has a GREAT lookout on its backside:

Mount Killington:

Pico Peak in the distance:



Continue to follow the herd path west, and 6 minutes later I was in the Mendon Peak clearing:



I poked around up there for a little while, trying to find a path-to-a-nice-view, but was unsuccessful. It was after 3, so time to get out of there! I followed the herd path back for about 0.6 miles, but then it just sort of disappeared. It was easy/fun scrambling downhill, angling slightly right - I knew I would intersect the trail. Which I did, just not as far up as the "third cairn". My hike back down was pleasant and uneventful - just watch your step on the leaves. Back at the car at 4:40 - when all was said and done, 9.9 miles in 4 hours 22 minutes.

I don't know if anyone is counting, but that was #96 of my "New England 100 Highest" - only 4 in Northern Maine remain!!

On my way back up to the highway, a couple of beautiful roadside river shots:



Easy getting back home by 8:30. Hot Bath and Patriots Football - a Good Long Day. Thank you GOD for these wonderful adventures!

Today's music:

U2 - Songs of Experience, 2017

New U2 cd from the library!

U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky, 1983 live album


U2 - The Unforgettable Fire, 1984


U2 - The Joshua Tree, 1987

The album won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1988.

lyrics: "Bullet the Blue Sky"

In the locust wind
Comes a rattle and hum

Patti Smith - Horses, 1975


The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995 double album


I then listened to "Patriots Preview" on WBZ-FM 98.5 The Sports Hub for over an hour:

which was a perfect lead-in to TV time tonight: