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<title>Boundary Peak, Kennebago Divide, Whitecap, Snow</title>
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<h1>Whitecap, Maine and Related Peaks<br />by<br />Kevin Rooney</h1>
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<!-- table of contents start -->
<h2><a name="toc" id="toc"></a>Table of Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="farmaine.html#tocref1">Background</a></li>
<li><a href="farmaine.html#tocref2">Driving Directions</a></li>
<li><a href="farmaine.html#tocref3">Routes to the Peaks</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="farmaine.html#tocref4">Boundary peak</a></li>
<li><a href="farmaine.html#tocref5">Whitecap and the North Peak of Kennebago
Divide</a></li>
<li><a href="farmaine.html#tocref6">Cupsuptic Snow</a></li>
</ul></li></ul>
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<p>The following is the account of a hiking trip in which we
climbed Whitecap and the North Peak of Kennebago Divide, Boundary
Peak and Cupsuptic Snow over the weekend of Sept 7 thru Sept 9 ,
2002. We choose the approach beginning from Tim Pond Road and
stayed in a motel in Stratton, Maine. Recommended gear for these
hikes includes: DeLorme’s The Maine Atlas (map # 28), a
compass, an altimeter, and most especially, the USGS Little
Kennebago Lake Quadrangle Maine-Quebec, 7.5 Minute Series
Topographical map. The above mountains are located in the upper
left of this map.</p>
<h2><a name="tocref1" id="tocref1"></a>Background</h2>
<p>First, some background. The “traditional” method of
climbing White Cap, Kennebago Divide and Boundary is to do them
over two days. On Day One an ascent is made from old logging roads
into the col southeast of White Cap. From White Cap a heading is
taken to Monument Peak, so named because boundary monument marker
450 is located on its top (the international boundary swath has
markers located every mile). From there the international boundary
swath is followed for 2 or 3 miles to Boundary Peak. On the return
Monument Peak is again climbed, and a heading taken that will lead
towards the old logging road left earlier before the ascent in the
White Cap/Kennebago Divide col. On Day Two a second ascent is made
in to the col and Kennebago Divide is climbed. To attempt this peak
on Day One could make for a rather long day and jeopardize the
ability to reach Boundary.</p>
<p>After reading Gene Daniel’s “Routes to New England
Hundred Highest Peaks” and studying the topo map, we realized
that another method was possible: we’d climb Boundary on Day
One, and then on Day Two we’d climb both White Cap and
Kennebago Divide, thereby reducing our bushwhacking and general
thrashing about over what promised to be an unseasonably hot
September weekend. To climb Boundary we’d drive past the
White Cap trailhead, walk up the road past the boundary swath to
find an old road which would loop around to the right to regain the
swath, and follow the swath to Boundary, returning the same way. We
found this route to be extremely buggy, especially with mosquitoes,
so DEET is highly advisable at the beginning and end of the hike as
you near the ponds.</p>
<h2><a name="tocref2" id="tocref2"></a>Driving Directions</h2>
<p>Since all hikes use the same approach, directions from ME 16 for
all hikes are similar. The trailhead for Cupsuptic Snow is reached
first, followed by White Cap and Kennebago Divide and then Boundary
Peak. The term “trailhead” is used loosely, in that
there are no signs marking the beginning of each hike. In one
instance (Whitecap & Kennebago Divide) the starting point is
marked with surveyor ribbons. For vehicles we used a Ford Escape
and a Toyota Tacoma 4x4. A 4x4 of some sort is recommended for
travel beyond the trailhead to Whitecap, and to ascend the old road
to Cupsuptic Snow. It should be noted that this section of road (to
Cupsuptic Snow) is relatively short and can be hiked easily if
risking the undercarriage of your vehicle an issue.</p>
<p>The Tim Pond Road is north of Stratton and Eustis. Travel north
from Stratton (0.0m) on ME 16. At 3.7m pass the Cathedral Pines
campground/Texaco station, and at 6.3m turn left onto Tim Pond
Road, marked by a sign “Tim Pond Wilderness Camps”.
From the beginning of Tim Pond Road (reset trip odometer to 0.0m)
drive 17m to a large intersection and turn right on the Canada
Road, marked by a sign. There are mileage markers along Tim Pond
Road which are not particularly accurate. At 20.2m turn left onto
Wiggle Brook Road. With each succeeding turn the quality of the
road will diminish somewhat. The trailhead for Cupsuptic Snow is on
the left at 24.5m, and at 24.7m turn right and down a hill on
Cupsuptic Pond Rd. The trailhead for White Cap and Kennebago Divide
is at 28m. It is on a slight downhill pitch on the right, marked by
survey ribbons and a white sign prohibiting motorcycles and
ATV’s. Immediately beyond this point is a bridge (excellent
condition), and at 28.2m is another bridge which, while in good
condition overall, should be driven over slowly as there is a loss
of gravel on the right. After this bridge the road narrows
considerably, and while the road surface is passable, alders press
closely against the sides of vehicles and will cause some mild
scratches, so take this into consideration. Cupsuptic Pond is
reached at 29.3m, and there’s room for 3-4 vehicles,
particularly if parked one behind the other. Local resident use
this pond. The road beyond is technically passable (no bridge
washouts) to the international boundary (about another mile) but
the alder growth becomes so dense that paint removable is all but
guaranteed.</p>
<h2><a name="tocref3" id="tocref3"></a>Routes to the Peaks</h2>
<h3><a name="tocref4" id="tocref4"></a>Boundary peak</h3>
<p>To climb Boundary Peak we left our vehicles at Cupsuptic Pond
and walked north along the road for about 15 minutes until we
encountered the boundary swath. Shortly thereafter is a rusty gate,
unsigned by either country, and a brook crossing where the bridge
is out. Beyond this point it was obvious the brush and alders along
road were being cut on a regular basis, perhaps by Club Arnold as
we saw a few of their signs. In any case, about 10 minutes after
the rusty gate, we took a sharp right up a grassy road which was
well-maintained in terms of brush clearing until we encountered
another gate. After this point the road was mostly an ATV trail. We
followed this road for about an hour, traveling thru 2 logging
yards. In the first yard we stayed low and somewhat right, and in
the second went high and exited right.</p>
<p>When the ATV track came back out on the boundary swath, there
was boundary marker # 448 about 100 yards up on the left as there
were many ATV tracks from the Canadian side that come out on the
swath, finding the right one could be somewhat confusing in terms
of determining which one was our entry point. We made a note to
turn back into the woods upon our return.</p>
<p>As others have noted, the section of the boundary swath is a
shooting gallery for hunters who bait moose with salt licks and use
trees stands, and the swath has many of these stands. The steepest
climb came almost immediately in a steep grade lasting about 20
minutes. At the top of this hill the swath turned left for a time
and pitched down slightly, then turned right and down a moderate
grade before turning left again and climbing upward where it gained
a minor ridge, turned right and make the summit after a moderate
grade. We returned to our vehicles at Cupsuptic Pond the same way.
Time from Cupsuptic Pond to Boundary was 2:30/2:45h at a moderate
pace, and the return was 2:15h (does not include a lunch break and
rest on Boundary. It should be noted that this route will take you
a short distance into Canada. Whether this would be considered
legal or not I will leave to others, since hiking along the
boundary swath involves numerous short forays from one country into
another.</p>
<h3><a name="tocref5" id="tocref5"></a>Whitecap and the North Peak
of Kennebago Divide</h3>
<p>The next day we climbed White Cap and Kennebago Divide, and we
left our vehicle at the trailhead (2,480’), and climbed a low
bank and immediately crossed Wiggle Brook. We followed old logging
roads, generally choosing the one in better condition, (the gravel
pit indicated on map was no longer visible) being careful to take
the right at 2,720’ even when it appeared initially to turn
away from the peak (going south) but quickly turned north again. Go
right again at 2,720’. To follow Gene Daniel’s guide,
turn right on an old logging road at 2,850’. The road pitched
downhill, crossed the remains of an old bridge, passed thru a brief
section of brush before the road again became more open. We took
this route down, and can report a similar experience as others
while the path leading down from the col is somewhat obvious, at
times it petered out but quickly reappeared, and in general was
relatively easy to follow. We took a different route up, and while
we thought at the time it was the main route, we discovered our
route made the hike somewhat easier overall. Rather than turning
right as described above, we turned right about 200 yards below
that point into what appeared to be a very old logging road. We
soon crossed the remains of an old beaver dam, and gradually worked
our way upwards thru mostly open hardwoods, keeping to the left of
the summit (occasionally visible). We came out on a faint herd path
about 5-10 minutes below the summit and found the canister easily.
In retrospect we considered this approach easier as it involved
less backtracking into the col than the traditional route. From
Kennebago we used sight headings and occasional paths to find our
way down into the col, up White Cap and return to the col. Overall,
we encountered only occasional blowdowns over this entire route. It
took us approximately 1:15-1:30h from peak to peak. We left our
vehicles at 9:15AM and returned at 4:15, traveling moderately as
the day was very hot. We had the good fortune of seeing a moose
with her calf on the slope of Kennebago, plus 2 bulls on the Tim
Pond Road.</p>
<h3><a name="tocref6" id="tocref6"></a>Cupsuptic Snow</h3>
<p>On Day Three we climbed Cupsuptic Snow. We were able to drive up
the hill about .4 miles over a very rough track, stopping first at
a promising looking spot marked with lots of surveyor flags, only
to find it was a commercial bear-baited spot for a guide service.
We traveled about .2 miles further to another likely spot marked
with tape. We attempted to stay on our heading while avoiding the
worst of the blowdowns. About half way to the summit we found an
old trail which we followed until we encountered an old logging
road heading left and toward the summit. We followed it for a time,
and when it began to turn right and away from the summit, we
continued straight thru what was a rather dense patch of blowdown.
On return, we realized there was an open area at the top of this
blowdown, and that if we followed it to the left and then down and
made a right that we could avoid the worst of the blowdown area and
still maintain our heading. Nearing the summit the woods thin and
we found a herd path and followed it to the summit canister. The
summit area itself is much broader than its profile from the road
would make it appear. On the return we decided to follow the old
trail and it generally followed the heading. At times it was easier
to parallel it in the alders as it was overgrown in places. As we
neared the road we could see large patches of sunlight to the left,
and we turned in that direction, returning to the road just
downhill from our vehicle. As we drove down this road we watched
carefully, and saw the remains of an old road which was not
apparent on our drive up the road earlier. In retrospect, it
appears that the fastest route would have been to follow this old
road trail upward until it encountered the other logging road
mentioned earlier entering from the left, and generally follow it
(and the general heading) to the summit. In any case, our overall
time for climbing Cupsuptic Snow was about 3 hours.</p>
<p>The northern Maine woods are filled with wildlife, and this trip
proved no exception. In addition to many partridges (grouse to the
city dwellers) we saw many deer, moose (including two bulls) and
even a weasel. It was a great way trip overall, one of several I
made with Jim, Tom and Kenny.</p>
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