Crockers and Redington (with comments on finding the herd path)

I soloed the Crockers and Redington today. It was excellent. Perfect weather, no bugs, and the trails to myself after the first half mile. I came down from Redington by logging roads and CVR. Note: the CVR is now blocked with concrete blocks at the steel bridge. You can get an ATV or maybe a Smart Car through. But the Smart car's not going to have much luck.

I spent some time checking the accuracy of the AT boundary cut before finding the real herd path to Redington. I bet this happens often.

The herd path to Redington is fairly 'easy' to follow. Once you've found it. The problem is that the AT boundary cut, which parallels the AT, looks a lot like a herd path. Some folks refer to this as a 'clearing' but but cut is fairly narrow, marked with red tape and occasional yellow blazes, and even has a USGS benchmark marker on it. Here are a couple of examples of how it looks. Sometimes it's more overgrown than this.


The trick is to take the herd path down from where it starts to the right of the South Crocker view point. Soon you hit the AT boundary cut, which is fairly clear (i.e. not overgrown) below the South Crocker view point. You need to cross the AT boundary cut. If you managed to get on the correct herd path down from the view point, the herd path will be directly before you. Today it was marked with a small cairn and some green and red tape. (This green/red tape theme continues, mostly, along the herd path.) It's less distinct than the AT cut, but clearly there once you see it. You may have to go to the right or left from where you intersect the AT boundary cut to find the herd path, but not very far. A few minutes only.

There are a number of GPS tracks for this route. This one worked for me: http://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=252645 I used the Gaia GPS app on my phone.

Yours is the same story as mine and many others who come across the boundary cut.

The clearing is a different beast altogether and is well past the boundary cut in the col.

In 2010 it was pretty grown in with raspberry bushes (which I think were kept clean by the local black bears).

Tim

Interesting, we were there last Wednesday and we followed the most obvious (to us) herd path from South Crocker and came out on the AT boundary cut to the left (south) of where the herd path goes back into the woods. The boundary corridor to the left of us was blocked with branches and there was a small cairn. We then went right (north) along the boundary corridor and passed the NPS corridor boundary marker (aluminum disk that Bob called a USGS marker). At this point on the boundary swath, the swath bears right. We followed the swath a short distance and then the herd path entered the woods to the left at a small cairn. The swath was also blocked with brush.

We looked back into the woods back towards South Crocker and there may have been a trace of path but it was far less obvious than the one we followed.

Ironic that the clearing of the boundary cut makes navigation worse in this one tiny section of the forest. FWIW, many years ago, when I came to the boundary cut, it was very obvious that the herd path continued straight across the cut. It was also obvious (to me anyway) that neither direction of the cut was where I wanted to go.

I was up there a few weeks ago and made the same error some other do and came to the cut in the wrong spot (too far left). I followed the most obvious path when I tried it. Oddly enough, where I came into the cut, there was a ribbon marking the path, but obviously no path on the other side of it. To the left didn't look correct so I went right. Just a short distance away was the crossing marked with a ribbon and cairn. On the path I took, I questioned things at a downed tree where I went left around it. I figured that was where I took the wrong path.