Kennebec County High Point Trip Report

McGaffey Mountain (1,310+ ft)

Date: September 10, 2000
Author: Mike Schwartz

From ME 41 northbound in Mt. Vernon, go right at the Mt. Vernon Country Store, then bear left almost immediately at the fire house. Go about one mile to a left turn onto Carr Hill Road. The jeep road you will be hiking bears right off Carr Hill Road 0.3 miles uphill. This is the 4WD road shown on the topo. It passes by a private home, and climbs very gradually to a somewhat overgrown fork bearing right that I thought was the one shown at spot elevation 724'. I followed this path almost to the ridge line, and took a second path to the left, which quickly petered out. From this point, just follow the ridge line through increasing thickets in birch woods to the south summit. Drop to a low col, then reach the true summit, which lies on a 10 by 20 foot, open, rocky outcrop. I found no markings or sign of other visitors.

From the summit, I decided to bushwhack directly west to the main jeep road, which was a mistake. I ended up traversing several boggy ups and downs, and had to work around some cliff sections. It's much easier to backtrack the way you came. Once on the jeep road north of spot elevation 724, I saw two non- overgrown paths going uphill toward the mountain. These may provide easier access to the ridge line, but I saw no sign of them on top of the ridge, so I don't know how far uphill they go before petering out.