[at-l] Western Maine Peaks, Thursday July 15: Cupsuptic Snow

[papabear.nyc at verizon.net (Papa Bear)]

Today was the big day.  Yesterday, when Marge summited Chain of Ponds Snow it was # 99 for her.  Today would be her # 100.  We allowed ourselves to sleep a little later than usual and we made sure we had the fixings for a summit party.  Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating: cloudy with a good chance of rain.  Well, we're hikers - a little rain won't bother us.  I volunteered to carry the Champaign - ugh the bottle weighed more than the drink!  But it was a nice bottle of Moet and Chandon - a Christmas present Audrey and Pat received last Christmas and had saved for just such an occasion as this.

We got out the door and followed the same driving route as we had on Tuesday, and parked as before just before the sagging bridge at the start of Wiggle Brook Road.  Marge had decided she would do the long road walk in her sneakers and save her boots for the climb.  The rest of us just went ahead with our boots on.  Today we were joined by Little Bear (Kris) who had arrived at the cottage last night and was thrilled to be doing this celebratory climb, although she had already bagged this peak on her own HH list.

[From my earlier report on White Cap / North Kennebago Divide] The bridge over the Kennebago River was blocked by boulders and the bridge was sagging towards the right.  We looked at the layout and yes, we might have been able to cross the span and drive around the boulders. Looking at the underside of the bridge shows the right hand I-beam has slipped off the wooden buttress (which looks all rotten) at the far end of the bridge, and the right side of the bridge is sagging with no I-beam supporting it.  

We got walking at 10:20 with mosquitoes and light rain in the air.  The rain was not quite heavy enough for me to put on rain gear, and actually as long as I kept moving it was a little bit refreshing in what would otherwise have been a very muggy morning.  The road walk had been measured before as 4.3 miles which agrees with my tracing from the map.  The woods road starts up towards Snow from Wiggle Brook Road towards the southeast just before (.2 miles) Cupsuptic Road turns off Wiggle Brook Road.  We got there about 11:50 and Audrey said it didn't look quite right.  It was just at the height of land (about 2500') and is shown on the topo map.  Just to be sure, we scouted down to where Cupsuptic road turns off and since it was the only woods road turning in that direction, and since it agreed with the map, Audrey acquiesced.  Last time she was here she was riding in the bumpy back of Stan's pickup truck and Stan had actually driven up the woods road probably 3/4 of a mile, so her memory was perhaps jarred.  

>From what I could see, the woods road followed the path marked on the topo map up to where it turns to the right around 2900' - 3000', so we took our compass bearing from that point on the map. The woods road was generally easy going and we took the straight course, or slightly left,  whenever there were possible side roads.  We seemed to head towards the knob (3221') shown on the map to the west of Snow somewhat more than the map would indicate, but that was perhaps just due to turns in the road.  When we got to about 2950' there was a grassy path crossing our path at right angles and a cairn straight across the intersection.  We took this as out bushwhack starting point and set our compasses from the map (approximately ESE) towards the summit.

Cantdog led again and did a marvelous job.  I was a little apprehensive that her excursions around nasty areas and her endeavors to find herd paths were taking us too far to the right of our bearing, but I was wrong. As Audrey attested from he previous trip here, following the compass too closely can lead to very slow tedious going.  There was a smattering of open grassy areas, recently clear cut areas, and areas of thick young Spruce.  We followed Cantdog's path of least resistance and made the ridge line somewhat to the right (SW) of the peak but it was very easy going from there up towards the peak.  As we got closer the herd paths got more prominent and when we got near the summit, Marge took over the lead, so she would have the honor of finding the canister.  Suddenly she said nonchalantly "There's the canister" and it was done.  The time was 1:45 - one hour from the start of the bushwhack.  Once again excellent pathfinding had gotten us to our goal with a minimum of "nasty" stuff.  To further enhance the situation, the rain had stopped somewhere along the way and the sky was actually getting bright.  It was party time!

Marge's first words when she got to the canister (the kind you unscrew from the bottom) were "Why do they have to screw these things so f*cking tight?"  Way to go Marge, one small step for a woman, one giant leap for womankind indeed.

Marge at the canister: http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_2004_Cupsuptic_Snow/aae

I got out the Champaign and Marge had the cups and we found a thigh bone from a Moose (or was it from a bear) and she tried to knock the cork out with it (http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_2004_Cupsuptic_Snow/aam). But gentle pushing worked better (sounds like bushwhacking, no?) and we soon toasted Marge's 100th.  

The Champaign and the log: http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_2004_Cupsuptic_Snow/aaq

Congratulations Marge, 31 years after climbing that first 4000 footer in 1973, the New England Hundred Highest were yours.  We took numerous pictures and enjoyed the food and drink, but all good things must come to an end and it was time to start down.

Audrey told Cantdog "Lead the way down exactly the same way as we came up".  And sure enough, avoiding all nasties we arrived at the cairn at the top of the woods road on the dot 50 minutes later.  Once again an excellent pathfinding job.

The rest was a boring walk back to the car, but we were at least afforded a clear view of our peak for the first time (http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_2004_Cupsuptic_Snow/aaw).  And would you believe, 15 minutes before hitting the car, the rain and mosquitoes were back. That's Maine!


Summary:

Snow Mountain (Little Kennebago quadrangle) commonly known as Cupsuptic Snow, elevation  3784', #94 of NE HH

Delorme Atlas: Map #28

Driving directions: 
    - Route 16 northwest from Oquossuc, 4.8 miles
    - Right on dirt Mortons Cutoff, 3.1 miles
    - Right on dirt Lincoln Pond Road, 7.6 miles
    - Left on dirt Canada Road, 3.2 miles
    - Left on dirt Wiggle Brook Road, .1 miles.
    - Park on right before bridge
 Note: the bridge on Wiggle Brook Road (over the Kennebago River) just past where it turns off of Canada Road, was impassable. 

Topozone: http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=19&n=5004232&e=355534&s=50&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25

Distance on foot (one way): Wiggle Brook Road, 4.3 miles; Woods road, .9 miles; bw, .7 miles.
Total distance: 11.8 miles

Elevation gain: 1970'

Total time: 6:32

Pictures: http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_2004_Cupsuptic_Snow