Ascent of Peaked Mountain on 2013-07-19Others in Party: | Karen Musser Edward Earl Beckie Covill Dave Covill Ken Oeser Jane Gibbons Lanny Wexler John Mitchler Roland ?? Marion ?? John Hasch C ----Only Party on Mountain | Date: | Friday, July 19, 2013 | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | Motorized Transport to Trailhead: | Car | Peak: | Peaked Mountain | Location: | USA-Maine | Elevation: | 2220 ft / 676 m |
Ascent Trip ReportI will reserve a more accurate account of the trail finding and proper CHPing presentation to the CHPing gurus in attendance and instead, as I prefer to do, document my personal impressions of this peakbagging adventure.
The Highpointers Club National Konvention in Millinocket, ME was in town near our lodge on Moosehead Lake so Karen, and Daniel and I decided to attend and join in on some of the bushwhacks to get closer to complete my list of Maine CHPs - one of the few state county lists I am interested in because all of the peaks are something to "climb" and more typical of what I enjoy doing. This CHP made my 12th of 16th. I met Lanny Wexler of NY for the first time at the convention and accompanied him with his 15th and 16th CHP in ME thus, the 13 of us "state highpointers" watched Lanny not only complete his ME list (the only one of the 13 of us to do so) but more importantly, glob of all the upper New England states. Congrats Lanny!
We followed the newest report from Alan Bernier and it appeared that the logging roads had opened the trails up even more. We had planned for up to 1000 feet of vertical bushwhack and it was well under that depending upon what you call bushwhack. More of the climb was in over grown skidder trails than actual unlogged, uncleared conifer lands. Denis Dean and John Mitchler were so excited that the route was easy compared to the difficult bushwhack of East Turner, that they took the lead and made quick of the easy summit with a line 13 people long. Denis used the Seminole Wave to point the direction which someday, I intend to pay him back by leading with the Gator Chomp!
I was honored to follow what this highly experienced group of Highpointers wanted to do and I was a driver carrying 4 others with me (Karen, Roland, Marion, and John Mitchler). But, I could not help thinking on the way down, how it would have made a nice, longer day hike, with some views of the lakes below, by starting at the beginning of the Jack Mountain Road and hiking up the logging trail to earn it more, but that hey that is the peakbagger in me! Living in flat Florida, I want as much excercise on the legs as I can and envy my friends from CO and WA that get that all they want! So if someone wants to make it more of a hike after all that driving, you could park at the bottom with Jack Mountain Road and hike up from there.
We had no views as the overcast and drizzle robbed us but the clear cuts along the logging skid paths provided some sense that on a clear day there would have been views along the skid roads. There was no additional gain on this hike, it was a straight up shot.
We all signed the new log and placed a new log in the jar and gave it 13 new signatures, took photos, and headed down. I picked up some "trash" and hauled it down as all wilderness enjoyers should do only to find out that I had grabbed the historic log book that historian John Mitchler had removed from the jar to record it before the mold had completly destroyed the record. I was about to throw it out before we realized that my picking up others litter was not litter. Rest assured, John took it back to the historic archives of the CHPing world.
Karen enjoyed meeting all the people from around the country that have the "disease" and in fact, many that are "infected" far worse than me. Ha! Enjoyed getting to know John, Marion (who has done 55 marathons)and Roland (a 50 state HPer)in the car on the 3 hour journey there from Millinocket and return trip where John tried to convince me of the beneifts of "City HPing." I told him I was going to wait until they had a list of all the zip code HPs Ha! |
Summary Total Data | Total Elevation Gain: | 420 ft / 128 m | Total Elevation Loss: | 420 ft / 128 m | Round-Trip Distance: | 0.9 mi / 1.4 km | Grade/Class: | 1, 1+ | Quality: | 4 (on a subjective 1-10 scale) | Route Conditions: | Road Hike, Bushwhack | Weather: | Drizzle, Pleasant, Calm, Overcast Maine humid rainy drizzle | Ascent Statistics | Gain on way in: | 420 ft / 128 m | Distance: | 0.4 mi / 0.7 km | Route: | logging road to bushwhack | Start Trailhead: | Log skid trail off Jack Mountain Rd 1800 ft / 548 m | Time: | 40 Minutes | Descent Statistics | Loss on way out: | 420 ft / 128 m | Distance: | 0.4 mi / 0.7 km | Route: | logging road to bushwhack | End Trailhead: | same 1800 ft / 548 m | Time: | 30 Minutes |
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