Western Maine 4ks

Our group will be based out of the Rangeley Lake Resort in Rangeley the week of July 19 - 26 to bag the 11 western Maine 4ks plus any other activities we can jam into the week (i.e. kayaking, mtn biking). Your info/suggestions on nearby restaurants, places of interest to enhance the experience would be greatly appreciated.

We will have two cars so I am thinking about a thru-hike of Sugarloaf, Spaulding and Abraham, in that order via the ski slopes. Is that the best way? Also want to try the Horns Ponds Tr to pick up the Horns in the Bigelows loop hike via Fire Warden Tr. Planning the Crockers and Redington via the CVR. Any other hiking suggestions or variations?

As always, thank you for your great advice.

sorry, posted this to the wrong forum...

Big OOPS!

Moved, NP.

With two cars, you have a lot of options. If you're not opposed to backpacking, you can do Saddleback, the Horn, Abraham, Spaulding, Sugarloaf, Redington, and the Crockers in 3 days. You start one group at Saddleback and the other at Route 27 near Carrabassett and exchange keys in the middle. Actually, if you made it a 4 day trip, you could add the Bigelow loop at the end (or beginning for the North to South group).

Go up Saddleback via ski trails, then use the AT for the rest. Sugarloaf and Abraham are both on spur trails (Sugarloaf is .6 miles and Abraham is over a mile).

There are pages for all these peaks on Summitpost with route beta.

Drive in and do Mt Abrams (and Spaulding ) from the SE on the AT. Thread is here:

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=31148&highlight=Abraham+Maine

Watch out for the moose on the roads at night.

Eats - Restaurant at Loon Lodge in Rangeley is great. Setting on the lake is wonderful, espec with with a drink. Orange Cat in Kingsfield had great brfst and sandwiches for the trail. Also the Rack on the access road to the 'loaf for the ribs. Double Diamond in the hotel at the base of 'Loaf. The others (that we visited) were not-so-hot.

rup said:

Eats - Restaurant at Loon Lodge in Rangeley is great. Setting on the lake is wonderful, espec with with a drink.

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My wife and I strongly agree. We love the place and go at least twice a year, but it is somewhat pricey.

For cheaper pub fare with a lakeside view, try Parkside and Main on Main Street (route 4) in Rangeley. It has a deck in the back abutting a lakeside park. Good brews on tap, too!

For something a bit different, try the restaurant at Bald Mt. Camps on the eastern shore of Mooselookmeguntic Lake (Bald Mt. Road). It is a very old sporting camp with rustic charm that has recently been renovated. Would suggest you call ahead, as they may serve a limited menu and they used to be BYOB, but I think they now serve alcohol. Oh, and if you go, look to the left facing the lake and you will see Mt. Washington.

Hope you enjoy the Rangeley area.

I will totally second the suggestion of backpacking from Rte 4 to CVR as a means to get Saddleback, the Horn, Spaulding, Abraham, and Sugarloaf. Staying at Poplar Ridge and Spaulding lean-to's splits the trip up nicely. Only two crossings of concern if really high water is present: Orbeton Stream, and the North Branch of the Carabassett. Note that Poplar lean-to has a "baseball bat" style floor, so bring a thick pad.

The Crockers make a nice day hike. One common route is to go up from CVR, over South to North, then come back to South, then go out to Redington, then come back down from Redington via the logging roads for a very easy walk back to the car.

If you want the South Horn NE100 peak on your way to the Bigelows, that's a long but eminently do-able day hike to go up past the pond, over South Horn, then across the ridge, tag the two Bigelows, and come down the Fire Warden's trail. However, camping up in the Bigelow col is beautiful so again, if you want to make a backpack out of it, it will give you plenty of time to lounge around up on the summits.

I think that your proposed Sugarloaf-Spaulding-Abraham hike is a fine idea, too, but I'd go the other way. Going up the ski slopes is just not enjoyable. I would head up the Abraham Fire Warden's trail, which is a really fine route and quite lovely, enjoy that summit 'cuz it's the best of them all, then head down the spur to the AT, over to Spaulding and its tiny spur, then to the Sugarloaf spur, then either come down the ski slopes or back to the AT for the steep, descent down to CVR.

How is the herd path from South Crocker to Redington? It is obvious to follow and/or does it required map and compass and bushwhacking?

It starts out very obvious, but the further you go it peters out so a compass is good to have, just to maintain your bearing. You'll eventually come out in a clearcut, and if you aim for the far side, same elevation (or higher) it's alongside a road. Go up that road and before the height of land the "bushwhack" (aka trail) to Redington goes up on the right. Note that you'll then come into a fork on the way up. Taking the other branch of the fork on the way down will take you to the other side and the logging roads in the Caribou Valley, from which you can easily walk to CVR.

I found Google Earth (or Map) satellite view immensely valuable for navigating these roads. It's actually very easy, you're basically going down to the loop road, then left. It looks like this only you needn't do the *extra* loop around the pond (lower left arc segment) that we did. I don't have a track or imagery for the Crocker-Redington portion.

EDIT: Well, it *used* to be very obvious back in '05.

See Yvon's post, he just did it.

Note also that you have to be careful, you'll cross the AT boundary cut, which feels like a rough trail when you cross it. Make sure you cross it and don't follow it.

1) To echo an earlier comment, BEWARE of moose when driving at night. If you're driving more than 40 MPH on any road then your chances of avoiding them are slim. Your odds of surviving a head-on collision with a moose are not good. There WILL be moose along the road, regardless of whether or not you see them.

2) The Wolf Burger at the White Wolf Inn, in Stratton, is a great post-hike meal.

3) Do not fear the CVR. With some caution and thought, it is quite easy to drive well past the AT crossing (at least that was the case last summer).

4) Do NOT hike up the Sugarloaf ski trails--there's absolutely no reason to. Abraham, Spaulding, & Sugarloaf can be done via a nice loop starting from the CVR AT crossing, involving a very easy bushwhack in from the Caribou Valley logging network to the AT. PM for details.

TEO said:

1)
2) The Wolf Burger at the White Wolf Inn, in Stratton, is a great post-hike meal.

3) .

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Very good advice. They make a super fiddlehead soup, as well.
Great dog friendly accomodations, great food and beer, and reading the AT Thru Hiker log book is time well spent.

TEO said:

4) Do NOT hike up the Sugarloaf ski trails--there's absolutely no reason to. Abraham, Spaulding, & Sugarloaf can be done via a nice loop starting from the CVR AT crossing, involving a very easy bushwhack in from the Caribou Valley logging network to the AT. PM for details.

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+1

Use the AT when you can. The exception to this would be Saddleback. If you park at the ski area, you shave off about 3 miles of hiking and you have access to potable water.

una_dogger said:

TEO said:

2) The Wolf Burger at the White Wolf Inn, in Stratton, is a great post-hike meal.

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Very good advice. They make a super fiddlehead soup, as well.

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And, when the wild Maine blueberries come in later in the summer, they use them in their cooking. If you're there during that time, you owe it to yourself to try any special that mentions them.

The pan-seared salmon in blueberry glaze was otherwordly.

There is a seasonal dirt road between Carrabaset and Long Falls Dam road that was reopened for summer use a few years ago that saves an incredible amount of time (a couple of hours)accessing the east side of Mt Bigelow from the Sugarloaf side. It makes the traverse of the Bigelow range a lot easier. Its on the Delorme guide but depending upon what edition you have it may be shown as gated. It starts on a local road south of Sugarloaf near the town offices and ends up very close to the turnoff from the Long Falls day to the road that accesses the east side of the Bigelow preserve along Flagstaff lake.

I'd skip the ski trail approach unless you have a real nice day & CVR is in bad shape, it sould like CVR will get you to the AT just fine unless you have a real low profile vehicle. The only pro for going up the ski trail is the views toward the Bigelow's are really nice.

(I went up the ski trails in the 90's when the road was bad & my rental was a Concorde.)

Tall grass & a fairly steep slope (ski slopes are designed for thrills when going down on snow & they don't mow then much if at all, good for ticks) don't make for a great trail. if you are in supurb shape - 80 miles a wekk on a bike 30+ running climbing stadium stairs for staying in shape - this may be a nice approach but otherwise, I'd do the AT.

I'm a day-hiker for the most part, I did the loaf, Spaulding & Abraham as a day hike, but the shelters out (& also by Saddleback,) there looked nice. If I was going back to the those peaks again, I'd look into backpacking; there are few other places I'd say that about.

When I was out there with my wife (still 90's) Kingfield had a few places & was pretty nice. For car camping Cathedral Pines is the place to go.

I made this map last year while planning to head out there - I never made it (work got in the way.) It's based on a lot of other maps by people here - Michael J, Marc Howes, and any other beta I could scare up.

I noticed the possibility of bushwhacking from the CVR up to the ridge for Sugarloaf, Abraham and Spaulding but can't comment on the practicality of it not having done it (but you can comment if you've done it.) If I were the camping type, I would be far more interested.

Tim

bikehikeskifish said:

I made this map last year while planning to head out there - I never made it (work got in the way.) It's based on a lot of other maps by people here - Michael J, Marc Howes, and any other beta I could scare up.

I noticed the possibility of bushwhacking from the CVR up to the ridge for Sugarloaf, Abraham and Spaulding but can't comment on the practicality of it not having done it (but you can comment if you've done it.) If I were the camping type, I would be far more interested.

Tim

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The northern of your two green routes is closer to what I did last summer. I started at the same clearing as that, which IIRC, is the second left after you start on the Caribou Valley Loop. There were three possible 'roads' from the clearing, you've marked the right-most. From the clearing, I took the road --more like a path--just to the left that heads northeast and then curves around to the East and then East-southeast. The one that you have marked was wet & grassy. I can't remember what compass bearing I used, but basically follow the path of least resistance through the old logging cuts generally in the direction of your bearing. As you near the AT, it turns into more of a bushwhack, but it's relatively open and easy.

Last fall,I finished the 111s on Abraham.We drove on CVR and camped just before the iron bridge.The next morning,we reached the AT to climb Spaulding and Abraham and we came back by the same trail.

Took ±12 hrs.Arbraham is a very nice mountain with lots of views.

Bye
Danny

I was there a few years back. I spent 4 days 3 nights on the trail hitting all the peaks you mentioned, it was a fantastic stretch!! Poplar Ridge, Spaulding, and Crocker Cirque sites were all real nice, specially Crocker Cirque.

In response to your questions, there was a semi-obvious route heading down towards CVR from the AT-Abraham Spur junction. We met a guy that day who was going to use it and he said it was an easy bushwhack/herdpath. Though, I can't comment on that personally. From the map, it looks like just a, "set your compass and go downhill," venture.

I wouldn't hike the ski trails with the AT route up Sugarloaf/ Spaulding/Abraham right there. Interesting views of Caribou Valley, Crockers, and the ravine on the backside of "the 'loaf" from the AT. Ski trails? Boooooorrrinnnngggg....

If you take the route from the Abraham Spur back down to the road, you could make a loop of it using the CVR to get back to your car.

Picture album of my trip, we had great weather all 4 days. Highlights were Abraham summit, Saddleback, and the ridge out to Horn summit.

My wife and I camped at the Crocker Cirque for two nights. Did the Crockers before breakfast the first day, then took the roads up to Redington. The next day we went up the AT to Spaulding and Sugarloaf. Beautiful views going up that way. Opted to save Abrams for another day.

We based at Cathedral Pines for the Bigelows. I'd recommend going up the steep way to West and Avery before heading over to the Horn, it's much easier going down via the pond.

Drove in from Kingfield to do Abrams, a wonderful hike and a nice way to finish in that area. Longfellow's Restaurant in Kingfield has a great two for one dinner special on Tuesdays. The worst meal I ever had in Maine was in the Nostalgia Tavern in Kingfield. Did not think much of Tufulio's either.

We've eaten just about everywhere in Rangeley, and liked the pub in the Rangeley Inn the most. Good food, not very expensive (on par with the pub across the street), but not open all the time.

That's a really beautiful part of Maine. We try to go back every two or three years.