Success Pond Road, Tim Pond Road, Wiggle Brook Road, etc.; drivable by a Corolla?

The subject header probably says it all.

Last week I tried to drive Route 12 from Lewis, New York, to Upper Jay, but didn't make it all the way. We went 4.1 miles on the dirt road, starting where Seventy Road goes right, which took us beyond the height-of-land, over a stream that looked as if it had been filled in with chunks of asphalt, over three chassis-rattling gullies... but we were stopped at a sharp right-hand turn by a mud wallow that had foot-deep ruts on one side and a puddle of indeterminate depth in the middle. Reluctantly—extremely reluctantly, because I didn't want to have to drive over again what I'd just driven over—I turned around and got back to Lewis in one piece. No harm done.

Back in 1998, I took my ’86 Corolla a ways down Notch Road (by Mount Greylock, toward North Adams), but I wouldn't want to risk my relatively-new ’99 like that. The road was so bad, Susan had to get out and walk a couple places, to lighten the load for clearance's sake. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but not long after that ’98 journey, the car needed a new gas tank.

So how are those roads in New Hampshire and Maine for ordinary autos?

I read recently that the Wiggle Brook bridge was gone, but that's of little consequence if I can't get within 20 miles of it without renting a high-riding truck. (As if Hertz would appreciate that!)

I did Success Pond Road in my Corolla back in July with no problem. Same goes for Jefferson Notch Road which I did the length of in June. I think they deteriorate over the winter and are regraded in late spring.

I hear Sandwich Notch Road is very rough most of the time. I'd steer clear of that one.

Raymond,

those are all primary woods roads. You should have no problems. There is always the possibility of localized mudholes and such, but in general, those 3 roads ares solid.

spencer

Wiggle Brook Bridge removed:

I posted this on another thread, but it's relavant here: I got this email from a friend. I didn't see it posted here, so here it is:

We hiked White Cap and Kennebgo Divide on Aug 30, 2004. On the way in we found the Wiggle Brook Bridge over the Kennabago River was removed. It is now impassable and there are no plans to replace the bridge. As soon as you turn off Canada Road you can see the three girders from the old bridge on the left. You can still drive into the the interior by taking the Backside Road on the west side of Little Kennebago Lake. Backside Road is located a half mile west of Canada Road on Lincoln Pond Road (10.3 miles from Maine 16 by way of the Morton Cutoff Road). The Backside road is the replacement for the bridge. It was not completely finished when we took it. There was a short section that was like going through a one lane tunnel. The under construction replacement section for this "tunnel" was blocked at both ends with boulders.

Click to expand...

Pb

My low-slung Geo Prizm made it up Burnt Mt. road way up the Cupsuptic Valley with no problem. Even hit 40 mph a couple of times! I was going up there to find another approach to Cupsuptic Mt. I'll put my findings in a Trip Report.
JT

On Success Pond road they have, in the past, spray-painted bright pink any rock sticking up more than a couple of inches. So watch for those!

I'd echo what Bob Kittredge said.
I have a '93 Corolla, I've taken it over Sandwich Notch once, won't do that again. But this road is an exception -- I believe the right-of-way was granted with some kind of a restriction that limits road width & essentially prevents major improvements to the road. (saw this somewhere in a local history book)

All the other major unpaved roads through the WMNF are easy drives, they'll rattle your skull a little bit but that's it. I've driven the road to Mountain Pond in Chatham [Slippery Brook Rd?], Wild River road, Zealand Rd, Jefferson Notch Rd. No problems. Kudos to the US Forest Service.

Success Pond Rd is very passable, but otherwise most of the timber roads in Pittsburg & the North country make me very nervous in my car. (I'm hoping the road to the Magalloway Mtn trailhead is easily passable) The road through Nash Stream Forest is OK but a bit rough.

The Delorme Atlas from Maine seems to give you a good feel for road quality. But don't trust the Delorme map for NH: it gives you very bad clues as to driveability or whether a road goes through or not. There are plenty of Class VI roads (town owned but not maintained) in Southern NH which need better vehicles than a Corolla. The town of Grafton & other hill towns in the NW and SW part of the state seem to keep their standards low (maybe it keeps out the flatlanders ) -- it makes life interesting during mud season.

Hmm -- this seems to call for a "road conditions map", through the power of technology we could update it when each of us try driving, green = paved, yellow-green = nice graded dirt/gravel, yellow = rough dirt/gravel but easily passable, orange = major ruts & rocks, requires high-clearance vehicle, red = don't bother...

I haven't been on Sandwich Notch Road since 1983. I'm actually surprised that it's still awful. Glad I haven't been tempted to check it out in the last 21 years. I was told back in the day that it was once the major trade route between Boston and Northern Vermont.

Sounds like good news on the other ones anyway; thanks. Susan was pretty nervous during that drive through the Jay Mountains.

While I'm thinking of it: Are those Maine roads in the Cupsuptic/White Cap area marked? (Is there a sign that really says "Wiggle Brook Road," for example?) Where do these names come from? Are they actually there on signs, or are they just roughly descriptive of whatever feature the roads are near?

I'm wondering how easy it is to navigate them sans GPS.

I've been on most of the roads arghman mentioned, and I haven't had much trouble with them. I did clobber a rock with my tire on Tripoli Road a couple months ago—ouch. I figured some of these other roads might be more like the roads, say, to Mt. Abraham in Maine, where there are lots of potholes, soft, sandy soil, and close, door-scraping brush; or Caribou Valley Road, where I only drove as far as the Appalachian Trail crossing once; the next time, I stopped before the last bridge before the AT.* I can't imagine how people can drive all the way to the Redington trailhead. When we were there, two years ago, one of the bridges was scarcely even there anymore, and elsewhere there was a large rock right in the middle of the road that you'd have to be driving truckasaurus to get over.

* If only the roads ran on as well as that sentence.

Just drove on the Success Pond road yesterday in a Corolla. No problems. A few pot holes and washboard sections, but nothing major.