Caribou Valley Road

Greetings All,

With all the rain an storms that have been occurring this summer, what is the current condition of Caribou Valley Road. Looking for access up to Reddington. Four wheel high clearance required? Any info on the road and / or Reddington would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Same Q for me, too.

The AMC guide book mentions the road being ruff for 1 mile. Is that BEFORE or AFTER the AT crosses??

Also the AMC map shows no forrest roads going over the col between Reddington and Crocker while several folks mention it in trip reports. Is there a better map somewhere??

rup said:

The AMC guide book mentions the road being ruff for 1 mile. Is that BEFORE or AFTER the AT crosses??

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There is a steel bridge roughly 2/3 mile before the AT crossing. That bridge is a tough one, but if you can make it past that you should be able to make it to the AT crossing. After that the road gets really rough. Without a good off road vehicle most people just park there.

Thanks.

What about the forrest roads not on the AMC map? Any other maps that are more detailed?? The pix on the rbhayes website are clear - there is a road near the summit of Reddington. Looking for a way down to avoid climbing Crocker summit 3 times as rbhayes described.

The first piece of information I would say is that it’s Redington, with one d.

There’s quite a network of roads out there. We followed the wrong branch in our descent six years ago and wasted some time, but eventually figured out what we needed to do: backtrack and take the branch away from where the car was. It circled back around the right way after a while. Check Mohamed’s Web site for explicit directions.

I remember both a nearly-collapsed bridge and a big rock right in the middle of Caribou Valley Road somewhere beyond the AT crossing and I don’t see how anyone could drive over, past, or around them. It’s just as easy to walk. It isn’t that far, and that’s what we’re out there for, right? To walk? Anyway, I didn’t want to cross even that steel bridge a second time (too loud a bang against the bottom of the car as we were driving off it), so I didn’t, when we returned to climb Spaulding and Sugarloaf.

rup said:

Looking for a way down to avoid climbing Crocker summit 3 times as rbhayes described.

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No matter what, without a car spot you'll have to climb S. Crocker at least twice. My recollection is that it's pretty easy between the S. and N. peaks.

So how about up to S. Crocker, over to N. Crocker, then come back, make the 'whack to Redington, and finally follow the old logging road down the other side of the height-of-land towards Caribou Pond and pick up the far end of Caribou Valley Road to walk back to the car.

Raymond said:

I remember both a nearly-collapsed bridge and a big rock right in the middle of Caribou Valley Road somewhere beyond the AT crossing and I don’t see how anyone could drive over, past, or around them.

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You mean the one MEB drove across a year or 2 ago?

The one before the AT crossing has deep holes in the wheel ruts, especially at the far end. It's doable in a high clearance vehicle (at least it was last fall), but I don't think I'd advise taking a Prius across! I haven't tried the nearly-collapsed one . . . yet.

Number 1 rule for traveling on the CVR is bring a saw.

we were there last month ... chained a mountain bike to a tree, about four miles up CVR, right before the road got rough

we could have driven another half mile to the AT crossing, but the road was in tough shape ... figured we'd walk that half mile, why mangle the car ?

quick bike ride back to the car parked at the AT crossing on route 27 ... watch for moose

you could drive up CVR four miles, spot a bike, then drive back and park at the AT crossing on route 27 ... walk over N Crocker > S Crocker > Redington ... walk out on logging roads, ride your bike the last 5 miles to your car

tasty beverages at tufulio's after the hike

good breakfast at Kingfield Woodsman ... hope this helps

The woodsman is awesome!

Here's a tip that some of us bushwhackers use:

Always go to the trickiest place first, and always leave your car where it will be easy to find on your return trip. (i.e. If there is a chance to get lost, you'd rather get lost in the morning than at the end of a hike when it might be getting dark. Oh, and save the easy stuff for last.)

If you choose to heed this advice, you would take the logging roads to Redington first, negotiate the herdpath back to S Crocker next (may be tricky in the clear-cut section, but just head to the far left corner of the clear-cut and you'll be fine; otherwise, bushwhack northeast and you'll eventually run into the cut that is the AT boundary corridor) then out-and-back to N Crocker. If you follow the AT southbound, you'll know exactly where your car is when you come out on the road!

I really like the bike-spot idea, though.

Thanks

But what map are all these roads on?? Not the AMC.

Maybe this is it?

http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=45.0905505&lon=-70.3835678&z=14&l=0&m=h&v=2

Whether it is or not, it's not too difficult to find your way around once you're there. I printed out Mohamed's instructions for myself before we went there, then left them in the car and had to manage by memory. We still made it back to the car in good time, late afternoon. Early enough to give a lift into Stratton to a couple thru-hikers.

Its the next road to the right (east)

http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=45.086854&lon=-70.3305244&z=13&l=0&m=h&v=2

I drove the Subaru up CVR on Saturday, Aug 16th, made it PAST the steel bridge, but chickened out on the next one, didn't like the look of the logs and the large spaces in the wood slats. But if you are braver than me, you could easily make it to the AT crossing, and a little past.

Got caught in some rain and T Storms up there, and even on the way out everything was fine.

Good luck and have fun!

Mad Townie said:

You mean the one MEB drove across a year or 2 ago?

The one before the AT crossing has deep holes in the wheel ruts, especially at the far end. It's doable in a high clearance vehicle (at least it was last fall), but I don't think I'd advise taking a Prius across! I haven't tried the nearly-collapsed one . . . yet.

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Yeah, Peter. This bridge. Scarey. She's got a great picture of the hubby driving the truck over it.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2502088370059211128GyAPDi

We are tagging redington and sugarloaf tommorrow, George, and will post back here with road awnf trail conditions.

Happy trails!

skimom said:

Yeah, Peter. This bridge. Scarey. She's got a great picture of the hubby driving the truck over it.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2502088370059211128GyAPDi

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I've seen the picture of that, and still can't believe they did that. 3 years ago, I almost went thru the bridge, and I was on foot.

chinooktrail said:

I drove the Subaru up CVR on Saturday, Aug 16th, made it PAST the steel bridge, but chickened out on the next one, didn't like the look of the logs and the large spaces in the wood slats. But if you are braver than me, you could easily make it to the AT crossing, and a little past.

Got caught in some rain and T Storms up there, and even on the way out everything was fine.

Good luck and have fun!

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I was up in there today 8/24 coming back from baxter..the steel bridge was okay..the bit after it was rough but doable w/4 wheel drive and some clearance but the next wooden bridge was a little dicey for me as well.. I walked up to AT from there..10 minutes..and left a little trail magic

Last Fall when I drove past the AT the next bridge had no logs across it. It was only 2 I beams across the stream. I was wondering how the heck Ski Mom had made it across and figured she could either levitate her vehicle at will or had the perfect wheel base for the beams and a very steady hand at the wheel and incredible intestinal fortitude. Seeing her photo's it all makes sense now. Sorry Ski Mom but I am disillusioned, I was convinced that you possess superpowers.