Stratton Maine Area

[elvios lincoln]

I am planning to go up to the Stratton Maine area to hike 10 Maine 4Ks in this area. I plan on a 2-3 night overnight along the AT in the Sadleback/Sugarloaf area. I plan on one day hike in the Bigelow area and probably one on Reddington. I would not be completely opposed to doing the Reddington Bushwhacj from the AT if I had company.

This will take place over the course of 6 days or so. I probably end up going the the end of this month or first week into August. I will use the Stratton motel as a base when I'm not camping out.

Can anyone give any advice on the lean-tos on the section of the AT, between Rt 4 and 27? I would leave my tent home if I new the AT lean-tos were in good shape.

Any advice on this arrea is welome. I am leaving from the central Massachusetts area.

Thanks,

el

 

[peakbagger]

I would strongly urge you to take an alternative shelter rather than depdending on the AT shelters. There is a large amount of traffic running through this area during August and the shelters are not large. You will encounter a lot of early thru hikers who "expect" a shelter space (that point has been debated to death in the past) but nevertheless is a reality.

The best way to check out shelters on line is to go to whiteblaze.net and go to the shelter forum, there are pictures and postings for nearly every AT shelter.

No need to stop at Piaza Rock shelter as its only a few miles in from RT 4. The next good camping spot is Pleasant Ridge shelter (I am working from memory so the names of the shelters may not be exact) which is an old style Maine AT shelter with a "Baseball bat" floor consisting of 2 to 3" poles nailed next to each other to form a floor. About the only way to get comfortable on that floor is to use a Thermarest, dont even try it with a foam pad!. It is probably a 6 to 8 person shelter. A few miles father there is good camping at Orbeton stream but no shelter. Depending upon your pace, you can skip the Spaulding? shelter and go to the top of Sugarloaf to stay in the warming building (you have to carry water up). Note the warming building is normally open to hikers but may not be dependent upon the Sugarloaf management. I think the Spaulding shelter is one of the new MATC styles. There are no more shelters from the top of Sugarloaf to RT 27. There are campsites just before the Caribou Valley Road and at Crocker Cirque.

 

[albee]

Not sure how much this will help, but check out my TR (with pictures) for the same trip you are planning:

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14048&highlight=4000+footers+maine

If you have someone helping with car spots or shuttling, it may make sense to start with the ski slopes at Saddleback. Poplar Ridge (Pleasant Ridge??) Lean-to has the baseball-bat floor. I second the advice to at least bring a bivvy since the main push of thru-hikers will be comng through around then.

The best way to Redington is from South Crocker - it is about a 2 hour round trip "bushwhack", but if you lose the herd path you shouldn't be allowed to ever hike alone - it is plainly obvious to follow. Just do your research here beforehand - when you get to the clear-cut field in the col, just get across to the far side and the ATV road will take you up to the 2nd half of the herd path.

Crocker campsite is about 1 mile after CVR if you are heading northbound... a good place to plan to stay if you want to finish your backpacking portion with South Crocker, Redington, and Crocker and head out to Rt 27 in one day.

Good luck, and have fun!