Road closures

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
hikes-with-him

hikes-with-him

New member
Joined
Feb 5, 2009
Messages
479
Reaction score
51
Location
Small Town in Maine
We have 7 left...and want to complete so we can attend the banquet in April (figure, we need to mail the application by 1st week in March).

So...we want to save: Cabot, Tripyramids, Waumbec, and Moriah for actual "winter".

That leaves Garfield and Carrigan for now...my question, when do they close the roads for these two mountains? Hoping to prevent the need for longer hiking by getting these two done before the roads close.

Thanks for the info
 
hikes-with-him said:
We have 7 left...and want to complete so we can attend the banquet in April (figure, we need to mail the application by 1st week in March).

So...we want to save: Cabot, Tripyramids, Waumbec, and Moriah for actual "winter".

That leaves Garfield and Carrigan for now...my question, when do they close the roads for these two mountains? Hoping to prevent the need for longer hiking by getting these two done before the roads close.

Thanks for the info
Click to expand...
Early November. However, the whole hike to Garfield is so ridiculously easy that the extra tiny bit of road walking you do when the gate is closed is relatively meaningless. It's actually a nice walk. The walk on Sawyer Road to Carrigain is longer (~2 miles each way) but not terrible either.

-Dr. Wu
 
Generally speaking, the FS keeps the roads open until after hunting season. However, a good storm can hasten that.
 
dr_wu002 said:
Early November. However, the whole hike to Garfield is so ridiculously easy that the extra tiny bit of road walking you do when the gate is closed is relatively meaningless. It's actually a nice walk. The walk on Sawyer Road to Carrigain is longer (~2 miles each way) but not terrible either.
Click to expand...

While I don't debate that it's a very easy & fine road walk, that distance can't be right. There are 1.6 miles between the Gale River and Garfield trailheads, plus the distance from the road (or Beaver Brook) to the Gale River trailhead.
 
MichaelJ said:
While I don't debate that it's a very easy & fine road walk, that distance can't be right. There are 1.6 miles between the Gale River and Garfield trailheads, plus the distance from the road (or Beaver Brook) to the Gale River trailhead.
Click to expand...
She just said "Garfield" -- don't you park at the South gate during winter which is like 0.8 miles to the Garfield TH? I'm not looking at a map but I remember it being close. Even if it's 1.6 miles each way, what's that? an extra hour added to your hike? Still better than Lincoln Woods! :D

-Dr. Wu
 
LRiz said:
Plus, if the roads are closed that usually means SNOW! :D
Click to expand...

This silver lining (white, actually) means that you can ski these sections, which can actually be quite nice, unless you're toting a full winter overnight pack. The Sawyer Road is pretty gentle and progressive, unlike, say, the Zealand Road, which has a steep section at the end (near 302) that will have you careening down the iced logging-truck tracks out of control (AAAAHHHHhhhhhhh!!!... CRASH!).

Enjoy!
 
They close based on the snow, a couple of years ago Sawyer River Road was open for a couple of weeks of winter.

The gate closest to the Garfield trailhead has a smaller lot that the Beaver Brook X-C parking area (for Galehead access) It's been a while since I've been to Garfield, wasn't there a bridge out? Has that been fixed? How is the stream crossing where the bridge was?
 
Last edited:
dr_wu002 said:
She just said "Garfield" -- don't you park at the South gate during winter which is like 0.8 miles to the Garfield TH?
Click to expand...

I would, but that branch of the road is still closed with 4 bridges out, and from what I remember of someone posting pics here of them, they're not easily crossable.
 
MichaelJ said:
I would, but that branch of the road is still closed with 4 bridges out, and from what I remember of someone posting pics here of them, they're not easily crossable.
Click to expand...

Very easy crossings - think there are only 2 bridges you have to deal with. Remember crossing on the left side of one and the right side of the other. Neither were difficult.

They do not plow the south lot in Winter, so you need to park at Trudeau Rd and walkd down if there is snow.
 
Update on S.Gale river rd

I spoke with the construction crew a few weeks back and they said the bridges will be completed by Jan 1 (although he did not say what year {satire}). This will eliminate the water crossings this winter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

skiguy
Hogan Road Closure
Replies
1
Views
635
peakbagger
P
P
A couple of new SOPAs on the WMNF Website
Replies
3
Views
1K
peakbagger
P
Rhody Seth
Grinnell Glacier Trail - August 13, 2023
Replies
6
Views
847
Rhody Seth
Rhody Seth
P
A quick trip to Olympic National Park
Replies
0
Views
743
peakbagger
P
Ear Drum
Pemi Loop 3-night backpack, Aug 21-24 2023
Replies
15
Views
2K
JoshandBaron
J

Latest posts

Top