Date: 2009-08-23
From: Shirley Road (dirt)

To: Moxie Pond Road
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: broken clouds

Access:North--A long shuttle to Shirley Road (a logging area north of Monson) by Sue of Shaws. She has some very interesting tales of the Maine woods and her hikes of yesteryear. We went north through Monson and took the right fork just outside of town onto Blanchard Road, went 4.4 miles and just beyond the bridge over the Piscataquis River took another right. After 5.4 miles from the river, take the right fork. At 6.6 miles take the right fork again. At 7.3 miles the AT is just before the bridge over the west branch of the Piscataquis River. Shaws and some other directions refer to this as Marble Brook Access. Marble Brook is 1.5 miles north on the AT. South--Moxie Pond Road. This is a long car plant from anywhere. From Monson take Rt 15 south about 7 mi to Abbot Village, turn right on Rt 16 (west), turn right on Town Line Rd (gravel logging road) which is 18.9 mi from Abbot Village. They are putting in new logging roads all the time and we got a little lost, but here are the directions at the current time. At .7 mile take the right fork. At 2.4 mi keep right and go over a bridge. At 2.7 mi you turn right onto what is the main road. At 2.9 mi take the left fork. At 4.3 take the right fork. At 4.9 take the right fork. At about 5.9 you are crossing a bridge. About this same time you are crossing over a large steel bridge. Power lines come in from the left and you start to follow them at about 6.2 miles. At 8.6 mi the power lines cross the road. At 10.6 you take a bridge over a large stream. At 11.0 you come to the first house and an area called Bakers Station. At 11.2 mi you cross the AT and there is a small parking area on the left. The Hike:Never listen to the weather in Maine! We took a chance today, as the forecast was not a good one (there had been a tornado in western Maine last night and the remnants of Hurricane Bill (?) were off to our east). But the day was beautiful and eventually the sun came out.We said goodbye to Sue and followed a muddy, rooty trail for 2 miles to Bald Mt Stream which we had to ford. There was a line, but we didn't have to use it. We just stayed in the calm water on the lake side of the stone dam and were just fine.After 2 more miles of mud and roots we took a break at the Moxie Bald Lean To which sits right on Bald Mt Pond. Beautiful setting and we talked to several northbounders who had stayed there. The next mile was up 1100' to Moxie Bald Mt with a few hand-over-hand climbs. We walked some rock ledges, then another 350' and we were at the top of Moxie Bald Mt. Beautiful views, nice breeze (we needed it...this week has been humid) and some lunch and a short nap. We could see the Bigelows to the south...this is next week's challenge. Even at this distance they looked 'big'!We then did the sometimes steep descent for 2 miles to the Bald Mt Brook Lean To. The last 2.8 mi alternated between good and muddy. At the end (we could see our car!) we forded Baker Stream which was a bit slippery and wide, and we could have used a line across. We did this 11 mi hike in 8 hr...not bad.Bugsy and Burly Girl...doing the AT one day at a time...