Streaked Mountain, Buckfield Maine 2012-01-08

[uphillklimber]

I wasn't going sking today, didn't want to deal with the crowds. I'll go tomorrow and Tuesday. But in the meantime, I have some energy to burn off so I headed over to Streaked Mountain, about 15 minutes from where I am staying. I'm wondering how I'll handle this, as I haven't klimbed much for a while, but my legs are in great skiing shape. We are only talking about a half of a mile and about 800 feet elevation gain. I am acutely aware that short hikes can often mean steep. I was to learn that ski strong legs are NOT klimbing strong legs. Man am I out of shape, sucking big wind. But I pushed on and enjoyed the klimb.

I start out and the trail is rutted and steady. Then I hit the base of the mountain and the grade is significantly steeper, along with ice on the ledge. This is basically a big ledgy rock of a mountain, with some dirt strongholds for trees and blueberry bushes. I find a place to lean my poles and hang my gloves and lean against the tree to put on my microspikes. These work very well to get me up the hill. Positive grab on ice.

Soon enough, I am at the top. This is a utility mountain. There are some 8 towers up her, cell, TV, Communications, what have you. All over the place is rigid conduit, laid across the mountain top running here and there.

I am a bit taken back with what I see. The first thing I see is a utility shed broken into and vandalized. It appears that this shed has been used for overniters and people have just left food bags behind and broken the sheetrock out and left messages, some dating back 10 years or more. It appears to not have been used by the utilities for quite some time. I see the building beside has a broken fan hood, and I can see in the building. The door on the other end is wide open. I walk to the other end, and the door is kicked in. I am not sure why. The batteries that provide start up power for the generator are still there, as is the communication equipment.

As I walk around the mountain top, I just take in a survey of all the buildings. A couple other buildings are now defunct, along with varying amounts of vandalism. The buildings that did better are the masonry buildings with metal doors and frames mortared right into place. Some buildings are cargo ship containers, retrofitted with connection ports, and of course, they have fairly good locking systems in place. Good and rugged. Tower bases are fenced off with warning signs of high voltage and radio frequencies.

One has to wonder why folks would vandalize these structures. We all like good cell phone service. It is behavior like this that prevents access to many areas that utility companies would otherwise have no issue with sharing the land. The nearby Spruce Mountain Wind farm is in the middle of formulating a public access policy. (I hope they do not read this report). I am guessing it is not hikers who are doing this. Pretty much because much of their energy is used klimbing up the mountain. There are access roads up the mountain. I suspect hooligans on 4 wheelers have energy to do such things.



From the top, I looked across and could see a ski trail down a mountain, all white. I am guessing it was Mt Abrams. For some reason, I did not look for the Spruce mountain wind farm. I think I was pretty put off with the wanton vandalism I saw.

On the way down ( I was parked at the Streaked Mountain Rd. access trailhead), It was a bit dicey going down that steep of an incline on ice, even with the microspikes. At one point, I came across a double fall line. So long as I planted my feet flat into the ice, the microspikes did very well. I tried to avoid the "natural" reaction to dig into the slope with the side of my boot, as the microspikes do not work unless they are flat to the ice. I did well, until.... I couldn't resist and set the side of my foot into the ice. Down I went, right on my butt and slid about 15 feet maximum. I hit a dirt area and came to a nice easy stop. About that point was where the trail shallowed out and the rest of the hike was uneventful. I think the whole thing took maybe a couple hours, ride included.

[threecy]

There's a ledgy crag not too far from the summit that has a more natural feel to it, as well as good views of Shawnee Peak if I recall.

[uphillklimber]

There's a ledgy crag not too far from the summit that has a more natural feel to it, as well as good views of Shawnee Peak if I recall.

You know, it could well have been Shawnee. I'll have to go back with map and compass and confirm that!