Sadie
New member
Friday July 16 North and South Crocker:
Finally, our first trip into Maine as I attempt the 67 New England 4Kers and have gone through 48 in NH and 4/5 in VT and 0 in Maine! The distance from Boston area and unfamiliarity with the area has shyed me away from this area until now. Because of the drive, just about all these peaks are overnight trips for us, which is difficult to fit in with our 2 and 4 year old at home. But we managed to find a weekend where we had willing grandparents for babysitting—we wanted to make the most of our time away so we made an ambitious plan to do the Crockers on Friday and Sugarloaf/Spaulding on Saturday!
So we set off Friday morning, made pretty decent time with getting the kids off and all and ended up in Carabasett ~2:30. We were on the search for Caribou Valley Road that I have read so much about questionable condition of on various trip reports! After we entered the Bigelow reserve area on 27, we realized we passed it, so we turned around and found it—looks more like a dirt driveway than a road and the sign is not a real street sign—a painted wood sign nailed to a tree set in the trees a little! We headed down dodging large potholes and pointy rocks, a good workout for my Forester! We saw cars parked just prior to the metal grate bridge, but we decided to try going further. The last ½ mi past that metal grate bridge is definitely a white knuckled ride with sketchy wood bridges that look structurally unsound over little ravines and monstrous potholes and rocks in the road. But we spotted the white dashes for the AT and figured we’d made it!!
It was just before 3 when we started up. It was refreshingly cool from the earlier rain that was just ending—a nice treat after the recent hot weather. It was a quick easy trip to the cirque campsite turn off, but immediately after that it got pretty steep for about ½ mi (the wet from the rain made it a bit slippery too). Going at a good speed for us, it was about 1.5 h when we reached S. Crocker summit. Some nice limited views of S. Crocker. We pushed on. At one point in the col between N & S Crocker we thought we lost the trail briefly, there is a large blowdown blocking the trail in one spot. It was an obvious path around people were using to go around the blowdown, so we went that way. Trip to N Crocker was nice, limited views as well. We turned around and headed back quickly wanting to make sure we had enough sunlight to spare since it was getting late.
When we got to the steeper section below S Crocker, we needed to slow down a bit because it was quite slippery with the roots, mossy rocks, etc. We took a quick side trip and checked out the cirque campsite—good size area with several large tent platforms (though one has a log protruding on the corner). We got back to the car 6:50, just under 4 h for the trip. The drive back out, however, took us ½ h as we saw the even “uglier” side of the wooden track bridges—they looked even less sound coming out! Next time we would definitely walk the extra half mile and park just before the metal grate bridge—every one of the wooden bridges had me holding my breath we wouldn’t break through and end up tipped into a the small ravine!
After the hike, we went just around the corner to the hotel, we stayed at Sugarloaf. It felt weird being covered in mud and sweat from hiking and going up an elevator at such a fancy place! But we cleaned up and got some good dinner and settled into the featherbed for the night!
Day 2: Saturday July 17: Sugarloaf and Spaulding
The next morning, we decided no more crazy driving adventures, we were going to take advantage of our locale and just hike up the ski trails to Sugarloaf. While the rest of the guests at the hotel were either heading to golf or get ready for a wedding, we walked through the automatic doors headed up the slopes. We went to the right side of the mountain past the Timbers Condos. We mostly followed a dirt road looking path. It was hot and sunny and the heat was just baking on these open trails. We were at the top in ~1.5 h—beautiful views if you ignore the towers. With some help from an AT through hiker (he said it was 2nd time doing the AT!), we found the real trail towards the AT and headed towards Spaulding.
The hot day and the previous day hike was definitely wearing on us, but we pushed on. There was a section of the AT where there were signs of a ton of blow downs that it looked like people had recently done a ton of trail maintenance on. We also spotted a placque in honor of those who built the AT in the 30’s! Once we got to Spaulding, we took an extended breather. Some lunch and mending of my blister covered heels. I think it is time to finally retire my 12 yr old Scarpas that I can’t let go of because they have taken me up most of the NH 4Kers already, but the blister problem is getting worse—the lining inside is getting torn (anyone had success getting leather boots reconditioned?).
After taping up, we headed back down. We were feeling worn and were moving slower for sure. We tried some of the ski trails on the way down, but with the thick low brush scratching our legs, we headed back for the access road and found that easier. I’m not sure if this is the same road mentioned in the AMC guide because it surely wasn’t 4 mi as stated in the book, maybe~2.5. Total RT was ~7.5 h. It was a long exhausting weekend! But tons of fun! Great to start getting more familiar with this area of Maine! 56/67 New England 4Kers done!
Finally, our first trip into Maine as I attempt the 67 New England 4Kers and have gone through 48 in NH and 4/5 in VT and 0 in Maine! The distance from Boston area and unfamiliarity with the area has shyed me away from this area until now. Because of the drive, just about all these peaks are overnight trips for us, which is difficult to fit in with our 2 and 4 year old at home. But we managed to find a weekend where we had willing grandparents for babysitting—we wanted to make the most of our time away so we made an ambitious plan to do the Crockers on Friday and Sugarloaf/Spaulding on Saturday!
So we set off Friday morning, made pretty decent time with getting the kids off and all and ended up in Carabasett ~2:30. We were on the search for Caribou Valley Road that I have read so much about questionable condition of on various trip reports! After we entered the Bigelow reserve area on 27, we realized we passed it, so we turned around and found it—looks more like a dirt driveway than a road and the sign is not a real street sign—a painted wood sign nailed to a tree set in the trees a little! We headed down dodging large potholes and pointy rocks, a good workout for my Forester! We saw cars parked just prior to the metal grate bridge, but we decided to try going further. The last ½ mi past that metal grate bridge is definitely a white knuckled ride with sketchy wood bridges that look structurally unsound over little ravines and monstrous potholes and rocks in the road. But we spotted the white dashes for the AT and figured we’d made it!!
It was just before 3 when we started up. It was refreshingly cool from the earlier rain that was just ending—a nice treat after the recent hot weather. It was a quick easy trip to the cirque campsite turn off, but immediately after that it got pretty steep for about ½ mi (the wet from the rain made it a bit slippery too). Going at a good speed for us, it was about 1.5 h when we reached S. Crocker summit. Some nice limited views of S. Crocker. We pushed on. At one point in the col between N & S Crocker we thought we lost the trail briefly, there is a large blowdown blocking the trail in one spot. It was an obvious path around people were using to go around the blowdown, so we went that way. Trip to N Crocker was nice, limited views as well. We turned around and headed back quickly wanting to make sure we had enough sunlight to spare since it was getting late.
When we got to the steeper section below S Crocker, we needed to slow down a bit because it was quite slippery with the roots, mossy rocks, etc. We took a quick side trip and checked out the cirque campsite—good size area with several large tent platforms (though one has a log protruding on the corner). We got back to the car 6:50, just under 4 h for the trip. The drive back out, however, took us ½ h as we saw the even “uglier” side of the wooden track bridges—they looked even less sound coming out! Next time we would definitely walk the extra half mile and park just before the metal grate bridge—every one of the wooden bridges had me holding my breath we wouldn’t break through and end up tipped into a the small ravine!
After the hike, we went just around the corner to the hotel, we stayed at Sugarloaf. It felt weird being covered in mud and sweat from hiking and going up an elevator at such a fancy place! But we cleaned up and got some good dinner and settled into the featherbed for the night!
Day 2: Saturday July 17: Sugarloaf and Spaulding
The next morning, we decided no more crazy driving adventures, we were going to take advantage of our locale and just hike up the ski trails to Sugarloaf. While the rest of the guests at the hotel were either heading to golf or get ready for a wedding, we walked through the automatic doors headed up the slopes. We went to the right side of the mountain past the Timbers Condos. We mostly followed a dirt road looking path. It was hot and sunny and the heat was just baking on these open trails. We were at the top in ~1.5 h—beautiful views if you ignore the towers. With some help from an AT through hiker (he said it was 2nd time doing the AT!), we found the real trail towards the AT and headed towards Spaulding.
The hot day and the previous day hike was definitely wearing on us, but we pushed on. There was a section of the AT where there were signs of a ton of blow downs that it looked like people had recently done a ton of trail maintenance on. We also spotted a placque in honor of those who built the AT in the 30’s! Once we got to Spaulding, we took an extended breather. Some lunch and mending of my blister covered heels. I think it is time to finally retire my 12 yr old Scarpas that I can’t let go of because they have taken me up most of the NH 4Kers already, but the blister problem is getting worse—the lining inside is getting torn (anyone had success getting leather boots reconditioned?).
After taping up, we headed back down. We were feeling worn and were moving slower for sure. We tried some of the ski trails on the way down, but with the thick low brush scratching our legs, we headed back for the access road and found that easier. I’m not sure if this is the same road mentioned in the AMC guide because it surely wasn’t 4 mi as stated in the book, maybe~2.5. Total RT was ~7.5 h. It was a long exhausting weekend! But tons of fun! Great to start getting more familiar with this area of Maine! 56/67 New England 4Kers done!
