Parts of Maine just seem far away and mysterious. Take for instance the Rangeley area. From the arm chair it could very well be another planet. Until you get there and realize it is justified to feel that way, but people also live there, it’s not all woods and logging roads. There are places to stay, places to eat, things to do besides hike. Moreover, there are some popular mountains in the area: Eleven of Maine’s 14 4000-footers can be found in that general region. And then there are six of the New England Hundred Highest (NEHH) in the same locale. Referred to as the Rangeley Six Pack, these are even more remote feeling as none are officially trailed and one of them is best approached from Canada.
We had a repeat guest hoping to take these on. He reached out to us again for assistance, and we heeded the call. On lead for this was Redline Guide Pat Ferland. Also helping on the side was Redline Guide Ken Hodges. Ken was involved simply because he’s guided those mountains several times so he was able to offer some hard-won insights. The team was successful and Pat shared this summary and photos:
Bushwacks, herdpaths, old skidder roads, and endless miles of logging roads — this pretty much sums up the last week navigating the terrain our guest faced while completing the final six of the NEHH: Snow Mountain Cupsuptic, White Cap, Kennebago Divide, East Kennebago, Boundary or Panther Peak, and the other Snow Mountain in Franklin County.
We hiked in the clouds and mist and rain for four of the last five days with our final day of hiking in the sun, which made our choice of Snow Mountain — one that had views — a good one. We could see the Bigelows, the Crockers, and a number of the peaks that we had already hiked. It was truly fun getting to help our guest finish out this list bushwhacking in the clouds, requiring GPS and compass work along the way.
To top it all off, we encountered a lot of spruce grouse, some deer, and a moose skeleton, which is cool to see. We did get to see a young bull moose on are drive back for are last hike, too. Our guest is already looking forward to his next list: The New England Fifty Finest (a list of mountains ordered by prominence). —Pat
