
Subject:
[cohp] Digest Number 5180
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cohp@yahoogroups.com
Date:
10/22/2015 1:35 AM
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County High Pointing in all 50 states
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Digest #5180
1
Coastal Maine COHP TRs by cuber86

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Coastal Maine COHP TRs
Wed Oct 21, 2015 2:01 pm (PDT) . Posted by:
cuber86
Took advantage of two spectacular fall days last week to polish off the Maine COHPs under 2000' (I'd done Katahdin and Cadillac Mountain some 14 years earlier). Even if you included Cadillac, it'd be possible to knock out all the ten generally-smaller coastal counties in two full days or less. I'm now at 11/16 in the state.

10/15/2015
Pleasant Mountain--Washington COHP
This not-unpleasant, but otherwise forgettable forested hill is both the easternmost county highpoint, and the highpoint of the easternmost county in the United States. I followed previous directions to the end of the gravel two-track, which I found pretty easily negotiable in my car. Bushwhacked to the treed-in summit areas, which are notable only for the fact they appear closer to each other in real life than they do on the topo. Indeed, I never reached either waypoint I set, as they were on clearly lower ground. Less than an hour roundtrip.

Mt Megunticook--Knox COHP
Splendid ocean views. I paid my out-of-state park fee of $4.50, and first drove up Mt. Battie first for views into Camden and out to the sea--and of course, to Megunticook itself. Backtracked to the hikers' parking lot, taking the trail to a right on the Nature Trail, which soon took me to the Mt. Megunticook trail. There's an alternate option that adds no distance, and I took it up along the rock slabs to where the Megunticook trail rejoined it. From there, 10-15 minutes on the Megunticook trail through pine forest to the cairned summit rock. Made good time on the descent, getting in a 1:40 roundtrip and giving me enough daylight to tackle the Lincoln ME COHP.

Slope of Cunningham Mtn--Lincoln COHP
Came in from the north for this one, reached the gated and signed gravel road across from the abandoned(?) house, drove slightly past it to a small pullout opposite a cemetery, bushwhacked into the woods, and picked up the gravel road. There's a cabin overlooking the first meadow at the top of the road, but it looks infrequently used. Signage between the first and second meadows indicates some kind of public use trail, though I couldn't ascertain if it ran along the boundary between the two fields, or was in fact the road I came up. Second field was now devoid of blueberries, and was easy to wander. I went for my highpoint waypoint on the county line, walking increasingly-large concentric circles until I was satisfied. Went up to the stone fence line and walked that too, though in my opinion, it lies entirely outside Lincoln Co. Tagged the summit of Cunningham too for good measure, which was a short easy bushwhack of a few minutes. Gorgeous sunset views up here. Return to car was uneventful. 30-40 minutes roundtrip.

Frye Mountain--Waldo COHP
Done entirely in the dark, with headlamp. The start of the old woods road you walk to the top was slightly north of where I'd anticipated. High ground appears to be near the old tower footings. Had some large bird or another scare the crap out of me while wandering the summit area when it suddenly flapped out of a tree. Maybe 20 minutes roundtrip. Roads were a bit rough but perfectly car-passable.

Whitten Hill--Sagadahoc COHP
The short gravel road leading to the tower area looks exactly like you'd expect it to, and is driveable in a car. I grabbed my headlamp and wandered a few minutes until satisfied. Agreed high ground seems south of the fenced-in tower area.

10/16/2015
McGaffey Peak--Kennebec COHP
This one was a bit easier than expected, especially as I was able to take a bit off of the hike up Rugged Rd. This road was not as rugged-looking as I'd expected, and were it not for one particularly steep bit halfway up that thwarted my car's best efforts, I would have driven it up to the ATV junction! 4WD is absolutely necessary, however, if you want to proceed past the first clearing about 100' vertical above the start of the narrow road, otherwise you'll be wasting several minutes driving back down in reverse and worrying about getting stuck. Once parked off the road, the hike up it went quickly, and I was soon at the cabins with their pleasant overlook. A short bushwhack later brought me to the open clearing area where some slabby rocks occupied highest ground. Pleasant, cool, overcast hike, taking about an hour roundtrip.

Shackley Hill--Androscoggin COHP
I'd called John Castonguay a few days prior, who'd readily granted me permission. Drove to the end of the road, where it looked like some people were home, but the only one who came to greet me was a friendly dark chocolate lab. In fact, she accompanied me the entire way to the top! Made for more pleasant company than the rest of the hikes on this trip...as for the hike itself, just start off to the right of the barn and pick up the obvious, generally steep woods road, taking the most well-travelled or intuitive fork at all junctions (including staying right just after passing the reservoir). Didn't seem that navigationally tricky. Tagged the few highest boulders on the summit area, then we headed down, for a less than 40 minute roundtrip.

Pleasant Mtn Slope--Cumberland COHP
This one was a real treat. I went straight to the Shawnee East parking area, poked around a bit at the ski building there trying to find someone to ask for permission, and finally just parked and started hiking uphill under the lift. This is a STEEP route! I would honestly suggest just following one of the ski trails instead, as the area under the lifts proper got rather overgrown and a bit tricky with open rock faces near the top. Views gradually opened up the higher I got, until I was treated to rather expansive views from wandering the open area at the top of the lifts. I bushwhacked a bit, picking up a trail that ran east-west between the ski lift bump and the higher bump containing the highpoint. Ran into an older woman out hiking, chatted briefly, then I decided to just scramble up the VERY steep boulder jumble just south of the trail between the two knobs. This treacherous bit behind me, I walked easy ground to the gentle knob atop Cumberland County. Made the quick side trip onto the spot elevation a bit across the county line, which was well worth it for the views, picking up the trail en route. On the return, I ran into the same woman, and we both marvelled at how perfect the weather and scenery this October day was! For future reference, the trail runs to the west in the aforementioned notch, then gains the ridge. Equally spectacular views on the descent, particularly with the sun now coming out. 1:10 up, 0:30 back to car thanks to Sound of Music-ing back down the ski run to the car.

Hosac Mtn--York COHP candidate
I'd called the quarry company (from the top of Pleasant Mtn, as it happens!) and was given permission, though they mentioned it was an active blasting day, so I'd need to stay on roads; I offered coming in from the north, to which they had no objections. I drove in, past the drive heading up Clark Mtn, following the continuation of the road to where it was marked as a private drive, and past a last house on the left before the gate at quarry company property just beyond. I parked here, hoping the people in the house behind me wouldn't notice or care, and made the brisk walk south to the steep spur road leading up Hosac. Views on this treeless summit were among the best of the trip, stretching off to the Whites and possibly the Atlantic coast. I quickly returned to my car without incident and drove back to the start of the Clark hike...

Clark Mtn--York COHP candidate
Finding nowhere decent to park at the 4-way, I simply pulled off the side of the road a bit at the intersection. Just as I was about to get out and start my hike, a younger guy in a pickup drove up the road, we waved at each other--and as luck would have it, he turned up the gravel road I was about to hike! Not having detected any animosity from him, and not knowing how long he'd be up there, I decided the best course of action would be to just start walking up the drive and ask him for permission when I caught up to him. This happened near the top of the road, where he was parked and off in the woods somewhere, perhaps gathering firewood. I shouted to get his attention, then asked if I could go up to the top of the mountain. He replied "well, my truck is in the way". "Oh, I'm walking!". "Then sure, go ahead" was his reply. I happily hiked the remaining few minutes of road to its end, enjoying more views from a clearing, then bushwhacked through semi-open woods with old overgrown ATV track/woods road remnants in places. High ground was a chair-like boulder in the woods. I returned the same way, and wanted to alert the property owner I was on the way out, but he was too deep in the woods for me to see. I was pleased my landowner encounter had gone so smoothly, as had all my private property endeavors in ME--I think people living here have a more laissez-faire attitude toward others coming onto their property, compared to places like Texas. I like that, and not just because it makes peakbagging easier...

Copple Crown Slope--Strafford NH COHP
Having tried this one in winter, with daylight quickly ebbing and snow on the ground and a faulty GPS, my dad and I had failed to find the highpoint as described by others. This time, with a little more daylight and no snow, I spotted flagging on trees as I approached the area, and within 20 minutes of leaving my car, had found the small cairn, double-flagged tree, and small glass summit register hanging from a branch. After that, wandered to where my waypoint for the summit per the topo was (a bit downhill of the flagged area), and wandered a bit till content. I decided to summit Copple Crown proper again, enjoying the views of Lake Winnipesaukee from just below the summit, then followed the VERY steep blue trail back to the cul-de-sac where I was parked. Grabbed dinner in Concord and headed back to Boston.


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