KINEOA NEW GUIDE SHOWS YOU HOWTO CLIMB MOOSEHEAD LAKE'S

FAMED MOUNTAIN IN THEFOOTSTEPS OF THOREAU.

BY JOHN GIBSON

PHOTOGRAPHED BY ALAN LAVALLEE

"Thus aroused, I too brought fresh fuel to the fire, and thenrambled along the sandy shore in moonlight, hoping to meet amoose come down to drink, or else a wolf. The little rill tinkled

the louder, and peopled all the wilderness for me; and the glassysmoothness of the sleeping lake, laving the shores of a new

world, with the dark, fantastic rocks rising here and there fromits surface, made a scene not easily described. It has left such an

impression on my memory as will not soon be effaced."

-THE MAINE WOODS by Henry David Thoreau

I'RKYIOI'S TRIPS TO MAINU'S NORTH WOODS II VI)whetted Thoreau's appetite for more. On July 20,1857, he andEdward Hoar traveled by train from Concord, Massachusetts,to Portland, Maine, then went to Bangor on the packet. Theywere met there by George Thatcher, who took them to OldTown, where they engaged Joseph Polis, a Penobscot elder, tobe their guide. Polis agreed to a salary of $1.50 per day plus50 cents a week for the use of his canoe. This would beThoreau's last journey to Maine's great North Woods, anexploration of distant places beyond all settlement and afitting sequel to his 1846 climb on Katahdin.

Thoreau and Hoar had planned a trip up Moosehead Lake,thence to the lakes near the St. John River and back south onthe Penobscot. As they prepared to set out, Thoreau wrote,"My companion and I had each a large knapsack as full as itwould hold, and we had two large India-rubber bags whichheld our provision and utensils. As for the Indian, all thebaggage he had, beside his axe and gun, was a blanket, whichhe brought loose in his hand. However, he had laid in a storeof tobacco and a new pipe for the excursion." Their posses-sions, including the canoe, were loaded on a stagecoach, andthe three proceeded north sixty miles to CONTINUED ON PAGE 95

JULY 2013 93

Howto Climb

KineoTO APPROACH MOUNT KINEO

from Greenville, Maine, drive

northwest on ME 15 and 6

(sometimes called the

Rockwood Road) from a flashing

light in Greenville center. At

about 19.5 miles bear right

(north) on a road with a sign

indicating the Rockwood town

landing. There is regular ferry

service from the landing that

will take you across the channel

on Moosehead and to the trail-

head on the peninsula of which

Mount Kineo is a part. Service is

frequent in high summer, less

so in late spring and fall. There is

a charge. For information call

the Kineo Shuttle,

207-534-9012.

Kineo Township was once

host to a grand hotel, begun as

a tavern in 1844. Most of the

structure is now gone, although

the hotel's links course is still in

operation. The Land for Maine's

Future Program, with the

involvement of the Nature

Conservancy and the Maine

Department of Conservation,

funded the purchase of penin-

sula land in 1990. The Maine

Bureau of Parks and Lands

operates Mount Kineo State

Park, which offers primitive

campsites and hiking trails.

There are still some private

landholdings and residences on

the peninsula as well.

The ferry service deposits

Mount Kineo sits at the tip of a peninsula on MooseheadLake and is most easily reached by ferry out of Rockwood.

The most scenic trail rises along Kineo's cliffs. The summit iswooded, but there is a fire tower, which offers breathtaking360-degree views of the lake and the wilderness beyond.

MOUNT KINEO1857

Moosekead Lake

)1 '' Mount Kineo

11789 ^f^" \

•-N Landing

0 0.25 0.5 0.73 1

ftn/

hikers at the southwest corner

of the peninsula, and trails

begin from this site. From the

landing point, where a trail

board is located, walk north-

west on an old carriage road

that hugs the sandy shore.

There are fine views over

Moosehead Lake along the

path. At 0.8 mile above the

landing, the Indian Trail is on

the right. This is the route

Thoreau chose to ascend the

mountain, one of three that

directly or indirectly lead to

Kineo's summit. Go right

(northeast) on the Indian Trail,

which rises along the

mountain's southeastern preci-

pice through stands of red pine.

Grades here are moderate to

steep in places, with occasional

water views opening up as it

ascends. About halfway up the

rise, the trail passes the Bridle

Trail on the left. This trail also

begins at the carriage road and

ascends easier grades through

pretty hardwood cover. You

may wish to take it on the

descent. Continuing northeast

and east, the Indian Trail climbs

through mixed-growth forest

and scrub, reaching a summit

plateau bordered with conifers

0.9 mile above the carriage

94 D O W N E A S T . C O M

road. On top, a former MaineForest Service tower offers aplatform for taking in the vastexpanse of land and watervisible in all directions from thissublime place.

From the summit, views ofLittle Kineo, Big Spencer, andLittle Spencer Mountains lie tothe northeast. Mountainsaround Lily Bay are seen to thesoutheast, and prominentBoundary Bald Mountain standsto the west. The greatest canvas

is, of course, Moosehead Lakeitself. Dotted with many islands,the lake's surface absorbs themarks of the rapidly changingwinds and reflects the bold light

of the northern Maine sky. Inwinter its vast whiteness isblinding. Kineo is certainly notthe highest elevation in Maine'sNorth Country, but many haveextolled the views from its

summit, and it's likely you will,too. The descent from Kineo canbe made by following the IndianTrail back to the carriage road,then turning left (south) alongthe road. Alternatively, you canfollow the Indian Trail partwaydown, then turn right (west) onthe Bridle Trail and hike down to

the shore and level ground. Turnleft (south) on the carriage road,following it for about 1 mile toyour starting point at the ferrylanding.

Note: Be sure you are awareof the shuttle schedule and have

conferred with shuttle servicestaff as to your expected returntime. Carry adequate wind andrain gear plus food and waterwhen you hike Mount Kineo. Use

caution in the area near Kineo'scliffs, and do not attempt toascend or descend via"shortcuts."

Greenville, on Moosehead's southernmostshore.

Rain kept the men at a tavern inGreenville for the night, but they departed upthe lake early on July 27. "About four o'- clockthe next morning," Thoreau wrote, "though itwas quite cloudy, accompanied by thelandlord to the water's edge, in the twilight,we launched our canoe from a rock on theMoosehead Lake." He described the canoe asroughly eighteen feet long, about thirtyinches wide, and freshly built by Polis. Heguessed it weighed about eighty pounds andthought it staunch and solid, "it being madeof very thick bark and ribs." The boat, thekind that today would be called a freightercanoe, "carried about 600 pounds in all, orthe weight of four men."

"It had rained more or less the fourprevious days, so that we thought we mightcount on some fair weather," Thoreau noted."It was inspiriting to hear the regular dip ofthe paddles, as if they were our fins orflippers, and to realize that we were at lengthfair embarked. We who had felt strangely asstage-passengers and tavern-lodgers weresuddenly naturalized there and presentedwith the freedom of the lakes and woods."

The three men moved up the westernshore of the lake to stay out of the wind.Thoreau wanted to land at Kineo, abouteighteen miles northwest of Greenville, andto camp there. He expected that if the windwas up, they could cross to Kineo with thewind at their backs if necessary. "The wind isthe chief obstacle to crossing the lakes," hewrote, "especially in so small a canoe." Laterhe continued, "We stopped to breakfast onthe main shore southwest of Deer Island, at aspot where Mimu/us ringens [monkey flower]grew abundantly. We took out our bags, and

CONTINUED ON PAGE 120

JULY 2013 95

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KINEOCONTINUED FROM PAGE 95

the Indian made a fire under a verylarge bleached log, using white-pinebark from a stump, though he saidthat hemlock was better, andkindling with canoe birch-bark. Ourtable was a large piece of freshlypeeled birch-bark, laid wrongsideup, and our breakfast consisted ofhard bread, fried pork, and strongcoffee, well-sweetened, in which wedid not miss the milk."

Picking their way northward, theparty had trouble finding the routethrough heavy mist and maneu-vered carefully, staying west of DeerIsland. Thoreau cataloged the birdshe saw as they moved along. "Thebirds sang quite as in our woods- the red-eye, red-start, veery,wood-pewee, etc., but we saw nobluebirds in all our journey, andseveral told me in Bangor that theyhad not the bluebird there. MountKineo, which was generally visible,though occasionally concealed byislands or the mainland in front,had a level bar of cloud concealingits summit, and all the mountain-tops about the lake were cut off atthe same height."

Continuing southwesterly, thethree passed the lake's westernmostoutflow into the Kennebec River.The Kennebec carries Mooseheadwater all the way to the sea atPopham. Thoreau and Hoar wereseeking a point far enough alongMoosehead's shore to get roughlyopposite Kineo, where they mightturn east, with the wind behindthem, while making a crossing."Here we were exposed to the windfrom over the whole breadth of thelake, and ran a little risk of beingswamped," Thoreau noted. "While Ihad my eye fixed on the spot wherea large fish had leaped, we took in agallon or two of water, which filledmy lap, but we soon reached theshore and took the canoe over thebar, at Sand-Bar Island, a few feetwide only, and so saved a consider-able distance."

They were close to Kineo soonenough, and it was time to paddleover, whatever the breeze. "Again we

120 D O W N E A S T . C O M

crossed a broad bay opposite the mouthof Moose River, before reaching thenarrow strait at Mount Kineo, made whatthe voyageurs call a traverse, and foundthe water quite rough." Thoreau wrote atsome length of the danger for canoes andsmall boats on this enormous lake due towind. From shore, he recognized, thelake's surface might appear relativelytranquil, but farther out even modestwinds could generate waves sufficient toquickly capsize or cut a canoe in two. Healso spoke of the danger of windssuddenly arising on what had been quietwaters, "so that nothing can save you,unless you can swim ashore, for it isimpossible to get into a canoe againwhen it is upset." Moosehead is bothbroad and long, some forty-four miles inlength at its extremes, and navigating itin a small craft can be humbling, as somefind to their consternation even today.Thoreau seemed impressed with theirvulnerability, writing, "Think of our littleegg-shell of a canoe tossing across thatgreat lake, a mere black speck to theeagle soaring above it!"

Polls told Thoreau and Hoar about an

Indian legend holding that Kineowas a great moose that had beenkilled by Penobscot hunters and thatthe mountain had retained theshape of the moose, as if hunkereddown in the lake's waters. Pollsappeared to give the legendcredence and asked them how theythought such a kill might have beenaccomplished.

The doughty canoe came ashoreat a point Thoreau described as "amile north of the Kineo House,"none the worse for wear. He esti-mated they had come twenty miles."We designed to stop there thatafternoon and night, and spent halfan hour looking along the shorenorthward for a place to camp....At length, half a mile further north,by going half a dozen rods into thedense spruce and fir wood on theside of the mountain, almost as dark

Ihe cliffs on themountain's southeastside are a di/xying 700to 800 feet in height,

and its summit providesspectacular 360 degreeviews over Mooseheadand the surrounding

country.

as a cellar, we found a place suffi-ciently clear and level to lie downon, after cutting away a few bushes.. . . The Indian first cleared a path toit from the shore with his axe, andwe then carried up all our baggage,pitched our tent, and made our bed,in order to be ready for foul weather,which then threatened us, and forthe night."

Kineo is a mountain sculpted byheavy glaciation and weathering. Itis shaped like a drumlin, with itshighest end to the southeast. Theelevation is marked by bold, abruptcliffs on its southeast side - layers ofblasted rock further roughened byglacial plucking. The mountain isformed of blue-gray felsite studdedwith quartz, feldspar, garnet, tuff,pumice, and a particularly valuedtype of rhyolite. Jackson's 1838Geology of Maine called the typical

122 D O W N E A S T . C O M

Tdeposit here hornstone. To nativepeoples, the mountain's rhyolite wasuseful in primitive tool making, andsamples of such have been founddistributed throughout NewEngland. Bluff on its southeast side,Kineo gradually subsides in eleva-tion to the northwest, its exposedback scraped and suppressed by anadvancing mile-thick ice sheetduring the Pleistocene. The cliffs onthe mountain's southeast side are adizzying 700 to 800 feet in height,and its summit provides spectacular360-degree views over Mooseheadand the surrounding country.

Thoreau, despite the unsettledweather, was eager to get to MountKineo's summit and to explore thelocal woodlands. "After dinner, wereturned southward along the shore,in the canoe, on account of the diffi-culty of climbing over the rocks andfallen trees, and began to ascend themountain along the edge of theprecipice," he wrote. Sending theirguide back to camp and telling himto come back for them with thecanoe before nightfall, he and Hoarmade their way upward through thestill-wet grass.

Thoreau observed, "The cloudsbreaking away a little, we had aglorious wild view, as we ascended,of the broad lake with its fluctuatingsurface and numerous forest-cladislands, extending beyond our sight,both north and south, and theboundless forest undulating awayfrom its shores on every side, asdensely-packed as a rye-field, andenveloping nameless mountains insuccession; but above all, lookingwestward over a large island wasvisible a very distant part of thelake, though we did not suspect it tobe Moosehead, - at first a merebroken white line seen through thetops of the island trees, like haycaps,but spreading to a lake when we gothigher. Beyond this we saw whatappears to be called Bald Mountain[today Boundary Bald Mountain] onthe map, some twenty-five milesdistant, near the sources of thePenobscot. It was a perfect lake ofthe woods."

If Thoreau came here to walk theground, others came to tour. It'sinteresting to compare Thoreau's

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account of his Katahdin expeditionin 1846 and his journey in Joe Polis'scanoe and then the hike up Kineo in1857 with the ruminations of JamesRussell Lowell, who arrived at Kineoin 1853. Lowell traveled to Maineroughly four years before Thoreau'sexpedition up Moosehead Lake anddown the Penobscot River viaNortheast Carry and seven yearsafter Thoreau's extended outing inthis region to climb Katahdin.Lowell edited the At/antic Monthly,to which Thoreau contributed.When Lowell later removed somelines that Thoreau wrote in"Chesuncook," an article on amoose hunt that he had observed inthe same region in 1853, Thoreauchastised him loudly for theomission in June of 1858: "Theeditor has, in this case, no moreright to omit a sentiment than to

Small moments,moments that might beavailable to us but thatwe ignore in the rush of

modernity, wereessential to Thoreau.

Coming across foxfire inthe shadow of Kineomeant a great deal to

him, for nature did notdisappoint.

insert one, or put words in mymouth." He would not publish inthe At/antic again until afterLowell's editorship ended, in 1861.

Lowell had come to Greenville bystagecoach from Bangor and stayedovernight there. Being a good dealmore patrician in his sentimentsthan Thoreau, he complained of hislodgings and said of the town that itwas "a little village which looks as ifit had dripped down from the hills,and settled in the hollows at the footof the lake." In his essay "MooseheadCountry in 1853," Lowell complainedof being overcharged when boardingthe steamer Moosehead, whichwould carry him north up the vastlake. He betrayed himself as a cityman, finding the great woods

124 DOWNEAST.COM

wanting because they were not likethe metropolis. Unlike Thoreau,Lowell had come prepared to disap-prove of what he found. Indeed, thetemperaments of the two men couldnot have been more different.

As the steamer moved up thelake, Lowell softened a little. "Therewere three or four clearings on thewestern shore, but after passingthese, the lake became whollyprimeval and looked to us as it didto the first adventurous Frenchmanwho paddled across i t . . . . On allsides rose deep-blue mountains, ofremarkably graceful outline andmore fortunate than common intheir names.... It was debatedwhether we saw Katahdin or not,(perhaps more useful as an intel-lectual enterprise than the assuredvision would have been) and pres-ently Mount Kineo rose abruptlybefore us, in shape not unlike theisland of Capri." Aboard the steam-ship, Lowell was the quintessentialBostonian on tour, very muchconcerned with the surface ofthings, with their appearanceand their similarities to foreignplaces. He later climbed Kineo,pronouncing it easy, and took adrink from one of its springs.

Thoreau, by contrast, enjoyed thegrand outlook Kineo provided,despite the occasional drizzle. Heand Hoar had what he called "India-rubber" wraps and took no shelterfrom the wet weather. Polls, becausehe had no rain gear, took shelterunder the overturned canoe.Thoreau wrote, "If I wished to see amountain or other scenery underthe most favorable auspices, I wouldgo to it in foul weather, so as to bethere when it cleared up; we arethen in the most suitable mood, andnature is most fresh and inspiring.There is no serenity so fair as thatwhich is just established in a tearfuleye." As the two men looked downthe lake, they could just make outthe reflected blue tinge of a clearingsky near Greenville.

As Thoreau roamed about Kineo'ssummit, he found mountain cinque-foil, harebell, bearberry, Canadablueberry, wild holly, round-leavedorchis, bunchberry, woodsia ferns,and twayblade (Liparis liliifolia).

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"Having explored the wonders of themountain, and the weather nowbeing entirely cleared up, wecommenced the descent," he noted.That evening, Thoreau woke in thenight and walked about. As he did,he found several examples ofdecaying wood that glowed brightlyin the darkness. "I saw at once that itmust be phosphorescent wood,which I had so often heard of, butnever chanced to see. Putting myfinger on it, with a little hesitation, Ifound that it was a piece of deadmoosewood (Acer stn'atum) whichthe Indian had cut off in a slantingdirection the evening before. Usingmy knife, I discovered that the lightproceeded from that portion of thesapwood immediately under thebark, and thus presented a regularring at the end, which indeed,appeared raised above the level of thewood, and when I pared off the barkand cut into the sap, it was all aglowalong the log." He also found similardisplays on a nearby stump. Hewould later write, "I was exceedinglyinterested by this phenomenon, andalready felt paid for my journey.... 1little thought that there was such ashining light in the darkness of thewilderness for me."

In these lines we get a sense ofhow such small moments, momentsthat might be available to us but thatwe ignore in the rush of modernity,were essential to Thoreau. Comingacross foxfire in the shadow ofKineo meant a great deal to him, fornature did not disappoint. In suchintervals, the woods offered himsustenance. "I did not regret nothaving seen this before, since I nowsaw it under circumstances so favor-able," he wrote. "I was in just theframe of mind to see somethingwonderful, and this was a phenom-enon adequate to my circumstanceand expectation, and it put me onthe alert to see more like i t . . . . Itsuggested to me that there wassomething to be seen if one hadeyes."©

Excerpted from In High Places with Henry

David Thoreau: A Hiker's Guide with

Routes and Maps by John Gibson;

Countryman Press, Woodstock, Vermont,

196 pages, $18.95.

126 D O W N E A S T . C O M