| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Peaked Moutain (Chick Hill), Little Peaked Mountain , ME |
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 | Trails: |
Peaked Mountain Trail, unknown trails, old roads, Little Peaked Mountain Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, June 19, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Mid-sized parking area for more than a dozen cars. It’s dirt but the road in is paved. Maybe a half dozen cars when I arrived at 3:30pm and only one other when I returned at 6pm. Make sure not to block the driveway on the far side! |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
I think there may have bee one trivial crossing in the col between the two peaks. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
I don’t think the main road to Peaked Mtn was blazed. The informal trails between the two peaks are all blazed in blue. The footpath described in the guidebook is NOT blazed and VERY obscure. The Little Peaked Mtn Trail was blazed in blue. I don’t recall any specific blowdowns; there were probably some small ones on the informal trails and Little Peaked Mtn Trail but I don’t recall any on the main road to Peaked Mtn. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Sure. I saw a few out. One seemed aggressive and it took awhile for the owner to get control of it to leash it. Other owners were very responsible and leaned their (non-aggressive) dogs as soon as they saw me. |
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 | Bugs: |
I think I picked up a couple more ticks likely from the overgrown road that goes NW-SE through the col as it’s rather grassy on its NW end. I don’t recall the black fly/mosquito situation but I think I used bug spray. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
2nd redline of the day after Passadumkeag on my way to Old Town to stay and redline a few days. I followed the road the entire way up to the summit of Peaked Mtn. This is what just about everyone does. The informal trails seem to be used by locals who are “in the know” and the route described in the guidebook seems to be used by no one. I did not intend to follow the road the entire way to the summit but merely neglected what the second part of the guidebook described. Oops. So, once at the summit, I reread the guidebook and realized that I should have turned off this road and telephone pole #18 (HA!). So, from the summit, I attempted to find the path the guidebook described heading down. To find it, go to the true summit/tower, and head down the ope, ledgy, western ridge. You’ll soon see blue blaze on the ledge. This path is well blazed and clearly travelled often enough and leads you along the ledge, then down into the woods to just south of the col between Peaked and Little Peaked. You’ll cross a very wet, muddy area here and soon come to a spot where the blue blazed path crosses an old road. I took the old road right (attempting to follow the guidebook’s description in reverse) but soon realized I was 0.3mi not 250ft from the main road I’d ascended on. Well, I guess I’m still not doing way the guidebook wants but I continue NW along this road through the col to reach the main road again determined to find telephone pole #18 and the trail the footpath the guidebook describes. This road became very grassy as it approached the road (ticks) and dumped you out onto the road BEFORE it turns right to ascend to the main peak.
Anyway, back on the main road, I continue until I see telephone pole #18 on right (about 0.2mi after right turn). Sure enough there’s a VERY old road here. I follow it and it soon becomes a footpath as the guidebook describes. That said, this is certainly no trail and it was honestly so obscure that I wouldn’t even categorize it as a herd path but with its mossy wet ledges, was definitely what the guidebook described. There was no blazing and one or two very very small cairns. Not to sound like an elitist, but I think only very, very experienced hikers would be able to follow this obscure path people maybe used to walk years ago. For this reason, I’d personally hope gets taken out of the next guidebook and replaced with the road that ascends Peaked and perhaps combined with the informal but much better travelled blue blazed trail between the two peaks. Also, it’s very slick/wet and mossy at times.
Anyhow, this very rough path eventually makes an especially obscure right turn through brush, and dumps you out on ledge along the western ridge where the blue blazed path I descended along is. This is just 0.1mi below the summit. From here, I descended the blue blazed path again to the very muddy col, crossed the road I turned right on earlier, and began ascending toward the summit of Little Peaked. Much like the climb down from Peaked, there was some ledge/minor scrambling/a little steep. It dumps you out at a viewpoint which is the “trail entering from the left” described in the guidebook. From here, I followed the Little Peaked Trail, blazed in blue, down the mountain with no problem. The diverging paths are easy to avoid. Just stick to the blue. It was very wet and muddy though at times. Nice ledge up high.
Gaia had me at 4mi, 1400ft of gain, almost 2.5hrs. A lot of this was due to looking around for the correct trail though. |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-06-23 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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