| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Low Aziscohos Mountai, Aziscohos Mountain, ME |
|
 | Trails: |
Aziscohos Mountain Trail, abandoned Tower Man’s Trail, bushwhack |
|
 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, July 3, 2023 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of roadside parking in summer but when I scoped this out this past winter, I could just barely get my wheel behind the white line so I’d suggest bringing a shovel in the snowy months. I was the only car there at 4pm and 7:30pm. |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
|
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
East even with high water. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
There’s no trailhead, just a blue, white, and orange blazed tree on the side of the road, marking the start of the trail. Keep an eye out for it! The trail is marked with red blazed as the guidebook says but you’ll see more surveyors tape down low, especially through the logged areas. Blazing is sometimes old/faded and not always frequent. The trail is absolutely overgrown and could be trimmed back down low where it goes through logged areas. With so much mud, one might consider bog bridges too but considering that I’m not even sure this is considered an official trail, I’d say it’s in decent condition. In fact, I don’t remember any blowdowns! |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Hiking dogs should be fine on the steeper sections of this trail but I’d be very considerate since this trail is on private land. |
|
 | Bugs: |
They were out. I didn’t find any ticks on me; the logged area would be prime territory for them but they don’t seem to be this far north. |
|
 | Lost and Found: |
None |
|
|
|
|
 | Comments: |
A fantastic Maine redline and bushwhack to a Maine 3000 footer as I headed to Strong Maine to spend the night! The trail starts off gradual, narrow, and very wet and muddy as it roughly follows a drainage. It then hits the logged area where the trail is very overgrown and could be hard to follow. Once the trail heads back into the woods, it becomes much steeper but also quite beautiful in sections. Never really scrambly, just very steep and rough like the White Mountains.
The trail’s grade lessens shortly before it reaches a jct with the abandoned Tower Man’s Trail. The abandoned trail turns right here and the main trail turns left. There are two signs here. One, newer, red one that points left toward the trail and a much older one on right that can no longer really be read. I turned left and followed the trail through some low scrub and ledge to the summit of Low Aziscohos which the guidebook just calls Aziscohos. Beautiful summit and views :) I was able to enjoy them although they were quite hazy so was not treated to the full grandeur of this peak.
I then returned to the jct but rather than turn right to continue back down the way I came up, I continued straight to continue on the abandoned Tower Man’s Trail. The trail’s start is quite obvious at this jct. From here, the trail does obviously become obscure but the trailbed is certainly followable, at least for a ways. Many blowdowns along it. Less than 0.1mi in though, it became more difficult to follow and was clearly heading off the ridge and wouldn’t take me to the main peak, so I started whacking along the ridgeline to the trailless main peak which is a Maine 3000 footer.
The whack was in softwoods with some low growth spruce mixed in. I wouldn’t quite call them ope, but I didn’t find the whack to be very tight so long as you picked a good line toward the col. The ascent from the col to the summit of the main peak was less pleasant. Steep, thick, mossy boulder. Reminded me of whacking 4000 footers. The angle eased as I attained the summit area. I came to an area that has clearly seen foot traffic and though it appeared to the highpoint, I saw no jar, so pushed on. Just a tad further along, I ran into the register which was in good shape and had many old sign ins :)
I more or less followed the same route back to the jct of the abandoned trail and current trail but stayed a little further NW off the ridge. This worked well coming off Aziscohos as I seemed to dodge the steep, moss covered boulders. From the col back to the jct it was “meh”. Seemed to be no advantage to following the true ridge a little higher. For whatever reason, what I did on the return trip seemed longer though it wasn’t too thick or unpleasant. Gaia had me at about 4.25mi, 1550ft of gain, 3hr15min. |
|
 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
|
 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
|
| Date Submitted: |
2023-07-10 |
|
 | Link: |
 https:// |
|
|
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. |
|
