Date Hiked: 19 August 2007

Conditions: Perfect day to be in the middle of nowhere in Maine.

Special Required Equipment: GPS

Comments: Third unsuccessful attempt on Middle Abraham. Two years ago, I hiked up Abraham via the Firewarden's Trail and then along the ridge, but at the point where the ridgewalk and cairns descended into the bowl between the main peak and Middle Abraham, I reached my turnaround time. The logging roads in the valley were clearly visible from above, so last year, I tried to find my way into the bowl and became thoroughly lost. I decided to leave while there was still time to hike somewhere else that day, and before I damaged the rental car.
This year, I found my way into the bowl. Gene Daniell's old Hundred Highest instructions are still valid, but there are more opportunities for false turns than he mentions. It would be wise to take a GPS unit, as I did this time. It would also be best to have a vehicle with high clearance and, preferably, four-wheel-drive. There are signs of renewed logging activity, so it seems reasonable to make this trip on a weekend rather than a weekday.
With an appropriate vehicle, you can drive up to a point where what looks like an ATV trail leads north into the bowl and takes the shape of a reversed question mark, as can be seen on the USGS map. It looks to me as if the correct route is to follow a bearing due east from the upper end of the question mark. The map and the record of my GPS unit show that this should take you straight toward Middle Abraham, whose summit can be clearly seen as you approach. There appears to be an old and overgrown logging road heading this way from the end of the question mark, but I had time for only a short reconnoiter.
Yesterday, I made the mistake of following a broad rocky trail north from the top of the question mark, a little before the end. This appeared at first to be taking me into the center of the bowl, whence I thought it would lead me up a gentle slope to Middle A., but it then veered left and uphill in a pleasant pine forest walk with good duff. At 3500 feet, I turned back, but I'm almost certain that this would have brought me out on the talus below the point where I stood two years ago, with cairns marking the route up to the ridge. Gene's notes speculate that the trail probably doesn't lead to the Abraham summit, but having got up so high, I suspect it does. After all, the cairns that descend from the ridge into the bowl must lead to a trail somewhere.

Maybe next year I'll hike both summits from the bowl.

Submitted by: Adam Apt