South Crocker, Redington and Crocker via the AT and the Redington Herd Path

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btausend

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Mar 4, 2012
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Location
Easthampton, MA
Date of Hike: October 11, 2014

Road Conditions: The Caribou Valley Road is in great shape. Any car can make it to the parking area at the gate. As Woodsman stated there has been work done on the road. The gate at the metal bridge was closed today. There are a few signs on the gate. One says the bridge is closed to vehicles over one ton. A larger sign says the road is closed to all Motor Vehicle Traffic. The sign is from a logging company. I ran into someone on Redington today who hiked the Crockers two weeks ago and he said the gate was open so he drove his SUV right up to the AT trailhead. He was disappointed it was closed today.

Trail Conditions: It is fall so the lower elevations of the AT was covered in leaves. Once I got above the second rock field on the way up to South Crocker the amount of leaves on the trail decreased dramtically. Parts of the AT were a little wet, there were a couple small areas of mud and one tree down between S. Crocker and Crocker. Between the Crockers the trail just seemed to be damp so the roots were extra slippery today, but overall the trail is in good condition.

I was able to find the herd path to Redington without any problems. It was easy to follow, but it can be easy to lose track of if you are not paying attention. Of course the trail is narrow in most places, you have to squeeze between trees and there are a lot of stepovers and duck unders. The herd path is not meant for speed. Along the way I saw several colors of survey tape marking the trail. The flourescent green tape seems to be the newest tape marking the trail and is the best color to look for all the way to the summit of Redington.

Special Equipment Used: I use trekking poles, but I saw other out today without them. Personal choice.

Comments: I got to the parking area at 7:30 am and found 3 cars there. Two of them appeared to have been there overnight. When I got back to my car there were 9 cars there. It was busier than I expected. There was snow on all three summits, but not enough to make a snowball. It was a cloudy cool day, but there was no need for any winter gear.

So South Crocker was #65, Redington #66 and Crocker #67 for me. I hiked solo today, but just as I was coming down from Crocker I ran into Lady Grey and got a congradulatory hug from her. She plans on her bagging #67 tomorrow on the Bigelows.
 
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