Two trips, one post:..............

Sat. Sept. 4.  Hike to the top and bottom of the cliffs at Horse Mtn. 

This was going to be a short and easy hike to the top of the cliffs at Horse Mtn.  The trail up the mountain is about 1/2 mile long, and goes up around 215 ft.  It took 10 min. to hike the trail up.  There is an excellent view looking towards the south and southwest, with a view of Katahdin.  On my way down I decided to go down towards the bottom of the cliffs, and that was rather difficult because of loose rocks and steep terrain.  So, what I thought was going to be an easy hike turned out to be somewhat difficult because of that.  The view up the cliff face would actually be better in the spring or fall when there are no leaves on the trees.  I have no idea how far down the side of the mountain I went, but it added elevation gain for sure as I had to climb back up to the trail.  I had the mountain all to myself.

What was supposed to be a short hike ended up taking a total time of 1 hr 45 min.

If you go into my trip report history, you'll see I did a snowshoe hike to this mountain back on Jan. 31, 2021.  That was a much more difficult hike because of the distance I had to hike from a plowed road to get there.

As with most of my North Maine Woods trips, I also drive around.

My total road mileage for the day was 147 miles, with 60 miles on woods roads.

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Sun. Sept. 5.  Exploring the boring side of the Deboullie Public Land. LOL

This trip was mainly a road trip, with a small amount of exploring on foot.

Before leaving town I wanted to have lunch on the riverbank.  I was planning on eating alone until some kid on a bike showed up!  He was one of those types of kids that never shuts up!!  LOL  Even after I gave him my cookies, he still stayed!  I guess I could've told him to go away, but I didn't want to be a mean person.

I wanted to explore the roads that are north of Deboullie Mtn.  The area to the south of Deboullie Mtn is much more scenic than the northern side.  In the winter people go up to the top of Deboullie Mtn by snowmobile from the backside, and I had an idea of where that trail might be, and wanted to see if I could find it.  There are also reports that people used to drive jeeps up Deboullie Mtn many years ago, so I figured there must've been some sort of road at one point. I don't have GPS, so I was only going by map and satellite images.  Topo maps do show two trails from the north. 

When I arrived in the area to find the old road/trail, I found out it wouldn't be easy.  The road I was on was fairly new, and the area had been cutover.  I drove to the end of the road, and checked out a couple of spots, but they only looked like skidder trails.  I turned around and headed out of the area, but then changed my mind and decided to further explore one spot I stopped at earlier.  At first I thought I was out of luck until I noticed a depression that wasn't a skidder trail and looked too flat to be natural.  I followed it uphill.  In some places the skidder trail coincided with the old road/trail, but then I came to a point where the old road was more obvious and even a spot where trees had been cut out of the way.

I'm not 100% sure, but I may have found what I was looking for.  This trip was only a scouting mission, so I plan to go back later this fall and see if what I found goes up the backside of Deboullie Mtn. 

After that I continued to drive around on the roads in the area, looking for possible views to Deboullie Mtn and the fire tower.  I did find a couple of spots.  I drove around 30 miles on those roads, and really didn't go very far!  LOL 

It was starting to get late so I left that area and headed back to civilization.

My total road mileage for this trip 210 miles, with 98 miles on woods roads.

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