RoySwkr
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The Greenwood ice caves are located on a sidehill and offer much more vertical depth than say the Ice Gulch in Randolph NH which is in a valley bottom and primarily horizontal. There are dozens if not hundreds of overhangs and crevices big enough to fit a person, I did not go far enough in to see if they ever reach total darkness. Locals say the ice lasts until July and I did not go deep enough to find any.
The USGS map shows this hike well (search for Uncle Tom Mtn). The hike starts at the junction of Greenwood Rd and Ames Ln, there is no street sign here but my car GPS found it. Greenwood Rd is paved and similar to secondary numbered state highways, with a 45 mph speed limit outside of congested areas. There is a gate on Ames Ln which apparently is sometimes open but you probably won't drive far enough with an ordinary car to bother. There is a signed ATV loop and you can drive an ATV to within .3 miles of the caves.
Most of the approach is on an old gravel quarry road which is eroded and growing in. After about a mile there is a sharp L turn across a brook past a cabin, then a sharp R turn after another .2 miles. Just above is a gravel road L signed for ATVs that you want to take. Almost immediately there is a weathered sign on the R for the ice caves. There were trail bike tracks at the beginning but it soon became a narrow footpath wandering on sidehill. In maybe .2 miles there is an unsigned junction where the path L angles down around a dicey ledge then around the nose of the ridge to the bottom of the caves. A middle path crosses the ridge about level while the R path reaches the caves higher up, but below a large chamber in the rocks. From there a path continues around a cliff to the R and reaches the entrance to an amphitheater of jumbled rocks. Climb to the R again and reach a viewpoint on the main ridge, looking across to a sort of rock dome I decided not to climb. There are lots of herd paths around and I can't say this is the best route but just the one I took.
It looked like the path circled back down the other side, but instead we bushwhacked uphill through open woods - much less challenging than past the caves. We came out to a quarry road at an extensive viewpoint, there are spurs to other quarries including some filled with water. It's only a quarter-mile bushwhack through open woods and across overgrown skid roads to the summit of Uncle Tom Mtn, but unless you're a peakbagger you can skip this viewless summit. Follow the quarry road steeply downhill back to the junction rather than the branch that ambles over toward Long Mtn.
Note there is a video posted numerous places on the Internet "Journey to the ice caves on Patch Mountain in Greenwood ME" or somesuch. I believe that the video shows the approach mentioned here (which is actually on Uncle Tom Mtn) but they do not show the caves just the quarry viewpoint.
For a more pensive view of the caves, see this: http://lennyhoy.com/www.lennyhoy.com/Welcome.html
The USGS map shows this hike well (search for Uncle Tom Mtn). The hike starts at the junction of Greenwood Rd and Ames Ln, there is no street sign here but my car GPS found it. Greenwood Rd is paved and similar to secondary numbered state highways, with a 45 mph speed limit outside of congested areas. There is a gate on Ames Ln which apparently is sometimes open but you probably won't drive far enough with an ordinary car to bother. There is a signed ATV loop and you can drive an ATV to within .3 miles of the caves.
Most of the approach is on an old gravel quarry road which is eroded and growing in. After about a mile there is a sharp L turn across a brook past a cabin, then a sharp R turn after another .2 miles. Just above is a gravel road L signed for ATVs that you want to take. Almost immediately there is a weathered sign on the R for the ice caves. There were trail bike tracks at the beginning but it soon became a narrow footpath wandering on sidehill. In maybe .2 miles there is an unsigned junction where the path L angles down around a dicey ledge then around the nose of the ridge to the bottom of the caves. A middle path crosses the ridge about level while the R path reaches the caves higher up, but below a large chamber in the rocks. From there a path continues around a cliff to the R and reaches the entrance to an amphitheater of jumbled rocks. Climb to the R again and reach a viewpoint on the main ridge, looking across to a sort of rock dome I decided not to climb. There are lots of herd paths around and I can't say this is the best route but just the one I took.
It looked like the path circled back down the other side, but instead we bushwhacked uphill through open woods - much less challenging than past the caves. We came out to a quarry road at an extensive viewpoint, there are spurs to other quarries including some filled with water. It's only a quarter-mile bushwhack through open woods and across overgrown skid roads to the summit of Uncle Tom Mtn, but unless you're a peakbagger you can skip this viewless summit. Follow the quarry road steeply downhill back to the junction rather than the branch that ambles over toward Long Mtn.
Note there is a video posted numerous places on the Internet "Journey to the ice caves on Patch Mountain in Greenwood ME" or somesuch. I believe that the video shows the approach mentioned here (which is actually on Uncle Tom Mtn) but they do not show the caves just the quarry viewpoint.
For a more pensive view of the caves, see this: http://lennyhoy.com/www.lennyhoy.com/Welcome.html
