NE 100 Highest (#99) - Boundary Peak, Maine

Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - I hurt my lower back/left buttocks/left leg - pulling a muscle working with a hedge trimmer in mid-June. I am furious because now-a-days it takes SO LONG TO HEAL!!!! I was not able to do this hike in late-June, but if one has enough patience, things maybe do come around. I have TWO Unclimbed Mountains left for my New England Hundred Highest: Boundary Peak and North Kennebago Divide, both 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):


Wendy will be on the Vineyard this week, so I'm going to see what I can do up in Maine. On Monday, July 8 I drove us down to Falmouth, and we had a great lunch at the Flying Bridge. Gave her a big kiss goodbye, and headed off-Cape, all the way around on 495, and up into Northern Maine:

which, of course, contrasts with my picture last October 24:


At 7 PM I checked into the Town & Lake Motel in Rangeley, Maine. The view from my room:

After a great dinner at Parkside & Main (steak tips and two glasses of milk), I headed off to bed.

Tuesday morning: up and at 'em, with a great breakfast at Keep's Corner Cafe & Bakery (they open at 6 AM!) Check out, and drive to hike Boundary Peak:

I'm going to describe the drive. It might get a little boring, but it's my blog:
Head west on 16 from Town & Lake Motel. At 6.2 miles (6.2 miles total), Route 4 continues straight, but you take a right (continuing on 16 West).
4.9 miles later (11.1 miles total) take a right on (dirt road) Morton Cutoff Road. This is where the Mile Markers start.
1 mile later (12.1 miles total) you pass Morton Cutoff Rd Mile Marker 1
1 mile later (13.1 miles total) you pass Morton Cutoff Rd Mile Marker 2
1 mile later (14.1 miles total) you pass Morton Cutoff Rd Mile Marker 3
0.2 mile later (14.3 miles total) you intersect (and cross over) Tim Pond Road
0.7 mile later (15.0 miles total) you pass Burnt Mtn Rd Mile Marker 4
1 mile later (16.0 miles total) you pass Burnt Mtn Rd Mile Marker 5
1 mile later (17.0 miles total) you pass Burnt Mtn Rd Mile Marker 6
1 mile later (18.0 miles total) you pass Burnt Mtn Rd Mile Marker 7
0.9 mile later (18.9 miles total) you pass Burnt Mtn Rd Mile Marker 8
2 miles later (20.9 miles total) you pass Burnt Mtn Rd Mile Marker 10
1 mile later (21.9 miles total) you pass Burnt Mtn Rd Mile Marker 11
0.2 mile later (22.1 miles total) go down-and-left to stay on Burnt Mtn Rd
0.8 mile later (22.9 miles total) you pass Burnt Mtn Rd Mile Marker 12
0.3 mile later (23.2 miles total) stay right to avoid a flagged hole-in-the-road on the left
0.5 mile later (23.7 miles total) stay left at fork
0.5 mile later (24.2 miles total) "Camp For Sale" on the right
0.7 mile later (24.9 miles total) DANGEROUS DITCH
0.1 mile later (25.0 miles total) BIG DITCH, then wooden slats bridge over rushing stream
0.1 mile later (25.1 miles total) go over a flagged culvert
0.1 mile later (25.2 miles total) drive over wooden slats bridge (over dry river bed)
then continue on this road through the woods, alongside a stream/river on your right
0.5 mile later (25.7 miles total) you come out of the woods. Angle right onto Big Canyon Road (7.5 miles to the end)
approx. 2.3 miles later (28.0 miles total)
DO NOT TAKE (Do not go straight onto) Megantic's Winter Rd. Stay right on Big Canyon Rd (no sign)
Don't worry about going E or even SE
1.9 mile later (29.9 miles total) take downward left
0.1 mile later (30.0 miles total) merge onto road coming in from the right
(once again, don't worry about going E or even SE)
2.9 mile later (32.9 miles total) Cloutier Rd goes off to the right
0.3 mile later (33.2 miles total) Porter Brook Rd goes off to the right (excellent bridge over Porter Brook)
0.2 mile later (33.4 miles total) dead-end at rocks at Porter Brook:


I'm kind of tired of bushwacking through the woods (if I don't have to), so the plan for today's hike is to hike north on the "road" until I get to the Border, then just follow the border east and then north. At least I won't get lost:


I used my flip-flops to cross the brook, then put on my hiking boots on the other side:


It was pretty hiking down the "road":



At 10:20 I reached THE BORDER:

THE BORDER is just a cleared area, like what you see under power lines:

but it does have its ups-and-downs:


There are Boundary Markers every mile:

and obelisks every once in a while:




After 2 hours of hiking, I finally reached my "east corner" at 11:30:

Big Difference between NOW and last October 25:


Right around the corner I got my view of the rest of this hike:

Yes - I'm heading all the way to that tiny notch in the far upper right!

Examining the map:

The lower oval is in a VERY WET area, and my boots got soaked. The upper oval, with the elevation lines so close together, was a Super Hard climb, and took me about 1/2 hour to climb 1/2 mile. And my butt/thigh/leg were kind-of starting to hurt.

Looking forward at 12:45:


And I finally reached the peak at 1:20:

(Boundary Peak is also know as Panther Peak)

Cool views on my way back down:





I wound up getting back to the car around 4:30 - 14.24 miles in 6 hours 56 minutes. WOW - I'm wiped and am heading home. We'll get #100 another day.

I passed some beautiful wildflowers on the logging road on the way out:

And I saw a bear scamper of into the woods on my left:


Passing thru Gorham, New Hampshire, I hit 55,555 miles on the Crosstrek:


Home and in bed by midnight. 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:

Bruce Springsteen - In Concert/MTV Plugged, 1993


Hootie & the Blowfish - Cracked Rear View, 1994 debut album


Jimmy Buffett - Fruitcakes, 1994


Paula Cole - Harbinger, 1994


Bruce Springsteen - Human Touch, 1992


Joni Mitchell - Ladies of the Canyon, 1970


Neil Young - Live Rust, 1979


Bonnie Raitt - Longing in Their Hearts, 1994


Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - The Sky Is Crying, 1991


The Cranberries - To the Faithful Departed, 1996


The Who - Who Are You, 1978

Adirondacks - Trip 1, Day 2-of-2

Friday, May 24, 2019 - Wendy has a conference out in Marlborough (also known as Marlboro - don't ask), so I decided to START MY HIKING FOR 2019. I have done the 48 "4000 footers" in New Hampshire, then all 67 "4000 footers" in New England, and I am now just 2 shy of the "New England 100 Highest" - BUT THERE IS ALWAYS ANOTHER LIST!!

The next list for me is "The Northeast 111". It is supposed to be the 111 mountains in the Northeast (Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, plus New York) over 4000 feet, but, to quote the amc4000footer.org page: When the list was first compiled there were only 111 peaks. Since then, measurements have gotten better, and there are now actually 115 peaks that comprise the list. Since I did the 2 down in the Catskills last May 2018, that leaves the 46 mountains in the Adirondacks:


This area is TOO FAR to day-trip, so I've been a little worried about how I'm going to handle this: rent a cabin-in-the-woods for a summer and just bang them out day-by-day/week-by-week/month-by-month?

But upon looking at the map, it seems like there are areas-of-mountains (consecutive peaks along ridge lines), and therefore maybe I can bag multiple peaks in single days. Let's see what happens!

Zoom in on the mountains on the right:


Today I'll do the "Great Range Loop Trail" (Lower Wolf Jaw, Upper Wolf Jaw, Armstrong, Gothics, and Sawteeth):

and with my path highlighted:


From what I had read, I had a 16.5 mile hike today. I started just after 9 AM, so I figured that I had 11 hours of daylight, so no problem.

Overcast, but not raining, as I hiked past the Ausable Club golf course:



With no markings, I hiked right past the turnoff for the trail, but eventually caught myself and backtracked:


A mile up the trail I crossed over my first stream:

Looking downstream:


40 minutes later (after passing a couple resting on the trail) I was at the Falls on Wedge Brook (appropriately named Wedge Brook Falls):



200 yards up the trail is Wedge Brook Cascades:


The trails are in pretty rugged condition:

but "well-blazed":

The blazes almost always appear just when you need one (don't forget to look behind you - it might be on that tree you just passed).

2 minutes from the Lower Wolf Jaw summit, I stopped "for the view":


12:44 at my first summit:

Um, once again, there was no "Lower Wolf Jaw" sign.

Just to keep me humble, in the col between Lower Wolf Jaw and Upper Wolf Jaw, I passed a guy in his 20s with 2 11-or-12-year-old boys.

My ascent going up Upper Wolf Jaw:


It was REALLY HARD going up Upper Wolf Jaw, but I made the summit at 2:04:


45 minutes later I was at the top of Armstrong:

It was very wet, but not too cold (I just hadn't gotten to the snow yet).

At 3:40 I reached the summit of Gothics - still no signs, but I took a photo of the USGS Survey Marker:



Going up Gothics is when I first encountered the snow. It is generally stable, with only occasional post-holing (the length of my entire pant-leg at one point). I was Very Surprised at the number of times I had to grab branches and tree trunks for support. The trail would have been un-navigable without them!

After continuing up-and-over Pyramid (not a 4000 footer), I hit the top of Sawteeth at 5:10 PM:


Having been doing this hiking stuff for over 8 hours, I was feeling a little beaten up. I could have back-tracked and taken Weld Trail down to Lower Ausable Lake (2.2 miles), but I'm a "loop kind of guy", so I went on (as opposed to "went down") Trail #36 Scenic Trail 3.0 miles to the intersection with Weld Trail. Um, because my paper map had disintegrated, I didn't know that my trail was going up-and-over TWO ADDITIONAL RIDGES before going down (Insanely Down!!) to the Lake:


After taking 2 final pictures of Lower Ausable Lake at 7:05 PM:


my camera was just "rained out" - the lens was covered in water, and I had NOTHING to dry it off.

Google Earth does a good job of visualizing Lower Ausable Lake from the far east, but it is really awesome in-person, in the mist:


The hike turned out to be 20.76 miles in 12 1/2 hours. WOW:


It was a hard hike up in the mountains - my 3 longest (mile) splits were 55, 54 and 53 minutes!

And now for the maps:


and a rotated point-of-view from Google Earth:

(also showing yesterday's hike up Giant Mtn.)

Dining was closed, so I ate an apple, showered and WENT TO BED! What a great Second-Day in the Summer-of-2019 Hiking Season! Thank you God for these wonderful adventures!

I only had time to get one song in my brain, as I drove to the trailhead:

"You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)" - Joe Jackson - Live 1980/86, 1988 double live album