Success Pond Rd. 2011

Anyone looking to hike the trails off of Success Pond Rd., it is now blocked off at the Berlin end..I will attempt to post as soon as it is open..Lefty E

FYI, the reason its blocked from the Berlin end is that its mud season. There are spots on that road many years that will swallow a subaru whole !

Let's hear about the Subaru!!!!!

Yeah, even during the best of times you have to drive that road like a skier on a slalom course.

I heard a rumor that the owners of the vast woodlands in Success want to restrict access to it by keeping the Berlin end locked with access granted only to camp owners...has anyone else heard this?? Still cabled today 5/14/11..

A Shuttle Service????

I knew there was a reason I bought a big on/off road motorcycle. I can ride the ATV/dirt bike trails (Jericho Terrain Park), therefore I can LEGEALLY bypass the gate. Now the only question is: how much is it worth for a ride to the trailheads?

A better question: Does anyone DARE ride on the back with me driving????

I expect that limiting access to Success may be the start of a typical Dillon campaign to market the property. The TPL has an option to buy the land once Dillon finishes cutting it. By actually limiting the access or implying that it may be limited, the area gets in the news, various articles are published decrying that access to an area is going to be lost. Then the TPL comes out with a fund raising campaign to "save" access to the area, this drives the property to the top of conservation funding lists and eventually a deal is brokered. Then prsss releases are issued thanking the landowner for deciding to sell the land for a price welll over waht he originally paid for it. Generally the term "greenmail" is applied to the technique.

The Success Pond owners have a deeded right to access their camps via the road, but I do not know if they have specific right to access via the Berlin end. I believe that at least a portion of the land along the road on the Maine side is owned by a different landowner and therefore I exepct access may be obtained. Of course I believe there is one major water crossing that needs to be maintained from the Maine end of the road that at one point had washed out and blocked access from that end. The road rapidly degrades unless there is ongoing maintainence, no one knows what entity is going to maintain it once the logging stops, I expect after a few seasons of neglect, driving on the road with passenger vehicles will be a non issue.

With regards to the "legal" off road use of the road by OHRV's, contrary to what is currently occuring, the majority of the road is specifically posted from OHRV use for a majority of its length with the exception of the first mile. The reality is that many OHRV's use it as a race track. On most weekends it is a fairly dangerous place to drive as there are all sorts of vehicles flying down the road at unsafe speeds oblivious to incoming traffic. As there appears to be minimal enforcement, I expect the use of an licensed on/off road bike to circumvent the gate would be an interesting loophole. At a minimum the on/off road bike would need to be dual registered as an OHRV and a road legal bike to legally access the Berlin end via the OHRV trail.

The Success Pond Road has always been blocked by the owner during mud season and is generally opened at the end of May. The Conservation Fund has the option on the purchase of Dillon's Success land. Whether that option is exercised is dependent upon the county or local towns getting their act together to create a town or county forest. So far, the idea has not picked up much traction from the county government.

The Northern Mahoosuc AMC trail adopters access Success Pond Road from both the Berlin and Maine sides. Please post as soon as it is noticed that the barricading boulders are removed in Berlin and I wll forward the info to the adopters.
Thanks.

I should also have noted in my earlier posting that the US Forest Service acquired 4,700+ acres of the Sucess tract on the north side of the AT corridor last Fall, thanks to The Conservation Fund (TCF), Appalachian Trail Conference, and AMC. The tract is on the south side of Success Pond Road from just north of Bald Cap to the NH/ME state line. The boundary line comes down to the road around the Success Trail and the Goose Eye and Carlo Col Trails, all of which are now in the USFS owned tract. The USFS will manage the tract as AT boundary coridor and the USFS will have legal access through Success Pond Road. Much of the lower elevation/heavily cut section on the south side of Success Pond Road was not federally purchased. TCF has an option on the remainder of the Success land to the north, as I previously mentioned. Future maintenance of the road is still an issue to be resolved, just as is the future ownership of the remainder of Dillon's Success land.

The southwest corner of Success, roughly 2,700 acres, was purchsed from Dillon a few years ago by the Androscoggin Valley Region Refuse Disposal District. Dillon retained cutting rights for several years.

FormerStarMan

FormerStarMan said:

The USFS will manage the tract as AT boundary coridor and the USFS will have legal access through Success Pond Road. Much of the lower elevation/heavily cut section on the south side of Success Pond Road was not federally purchased. TCF has an option on the remainder of the Success land to the north, as I previously mentioned. Future maintenance of the road is still an issue to be resolved, just as is the future ownership of the remainder of Dillon's Success land.

Click to expand...

Both the USFS and land trusts often close roads to land they purchase, that would make the Mahoosucs a wilder experience

That why I wanted to post that there could be limited access to the trailheads from Berlin side..it was rumor but sometimes rumors come true.

The discussion in Shelburne to reopen the trail to the DC3 from the south via Ingalls Valley may end up being real handy if the Sucess Pond Road closes.

I don't think it is likely that the Success Pond Road would be closed to traffic accessing the trailheads there. The AMC & ATC have much invested in those trails. There is only one other access to the Northern Mahoosuc trail sections and that is on the Wright Trail from Ketchum over in Maine. You can also climb Speck from Grafton Notch.

As of the past weekend, the Rt 26 access to Success Pond Road was closed about 1.5 miles in. I expect it will be opened after things dry out.

There are already three access points to the AT in the Southern Mahoosucs from Shelburne and there is a lengthy process for approving new side trails connecting to the AT that is controlled by NPS and the ATC. A southern connector at the DC-3 site might not be favored.

FormerStarMan

I would also point out that protection of the AT along with the Success, Carlo Col, and Goose Eye Trails was the sole purpose of the acquisition of the 4,700 acres of Success. Stranger things have happened, but it would be surprising if access to the trailheads followed.

FormerStarMan

Thanks to PB and FSM for the more detailed information!! Hopefully the info I heard was only rumor...

Success Pond Rd. May 23 2001

Success Pond Rd. was open this morning, from the Berlin end...

Success Pond Road Berlin End is still gated as of 4/22 2012