Today I went on an afternoon adventure in the North Maine Woods.  I wanted to hike to the old fire tower on Horseshoe Mtn.   Officially the mountain is called Rocky Brook Mtn, but the peak with the fire tower is referred to as Horseshoe Mtn or Horseshoe lookout.  The elevation is around 2,070 feet.

The hike is rather short, going about 1/2 mile from the road to the top.  The elevation gain is around 400 feet and you gain it fairly quickly.  It took me 15 min. to hike to the top.  For the most part the trail is a bulldozed path that was created to access the fire tower at the summit. It hasn't been used as a fire tower in years, and the cab blew off several years ago.  The tower currently has antennas on it and a building at the bottom that houses the equipment.  About 3/4 of the way up a footpath leaves the bulldozed path and that is much easier to follow.

The weather was cool, with a breeze.  The temperature was in the high 20's.  Lots of clouds and snow showers in the area. There was a little bit of snow on the ground and this made the hike down a little tricky in spots.

Besides a hiking trip, this was also a road trip.  The nearest town is Ashland, 35 miles to the east.  The drive from Ashland is all on gravel woods roads.  With recent snow, some spots were a little slick.  Along the road that leads to the trail there is a small waterfall just a few feet off the road.  Further up there is a short trail to Horseshoe Pond. 

My total road miles were 140 miles, with 72 of that being on woods roads.

I was completely alone on this hike, and there was very little road traffic.

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