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On Wednesday the 13th, Pierre, my hiking partner and I hiked Mont Gosford, Mont Belvedere and several peaks on the Maine-Canada boundary. We reached the area, which is near Woburn Quebec, via the trails of Sentiers Frontaliers in the Mont Gosford sector. Entrance to the area is via a gate house on the dirt road off of Route 212 about 5 miles south of Woburn. The border swath is a 20 meters wide cleared path along the boundary. Boundary monunments were set in 1845 and occur about every mile or two and are numbered from east to west. The triangulation stations were set in 1915 when the boundary was surveyed via trangulation. Triangulation stations were on boundary peaks or on peaks up to several kilometers from the boundary on either side. This triangulation station, an unstamped 2" bronze disk, was located on the high point of the boundary between monuments 445 and 446. The point has a special status for hikers and peak baggers in New England, since it is, at 3855 feet, on the list of the New England Hundred Highest peaks. In fact this is the highest point on the US Canadian border between the Atlantic Ocen and North Dakota. For New England hikers it is known as "Unnamed Peak on the Boundary", or simply "Boundary Peak". Unfortunately because of this, hikers have built a large cairn (rock pile) on the peak over the years. The description says the station was mounted "ON THE HIGHEST POINT OF THE PEAK" and was located 11.48 feet from monument 445-3. This is an intermediate monument consisting of a brass disk mounted on a concrete post. I was able to find this easily. I measured of the distance in the appropriate direction and sure enough, the station was under the cairn, towards the front. I spent some time clearing away rocks when Pierre arrived. He had been hiking to some other nearby peaks. He helped clear away some more rocks and as we got towards the bottom I saw an "interesting" rock. In his zeal, Pierre had almost picked this rock up to toss it aside, but I said "Hey wait, let's look at that one befoore you toss it". Sure enough, there was our mark. We rebuiLt the cairn in such a way to hopefully protect the mark. The mark was in good condition.
[This entry was edited by Papa-Bear-NYC on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 12:51:32 PM.]
Photos:
 QH0363 "DUTCH IBC" setting, Maine-Canada border
Monument 445-3, our reference mark.
QH0363 "DUTCH IBC" setting, Maine-Canada border
The cairn, before I started excavating.
QH0363 "DUTCH IBC", Maine-Canada border
The rock under the cairn is exposed, revealing the mark.
QH0363 "DUTCH IBC", Maine-Canada border
QH0363 "DUTCH IBC" setting, Maine-Canada border
The cairn, after we put it back together.
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