3-5 day early spring backpack route?

[nsherry61]

Help, I'm going stir crazy.

This is going to be my first ever spring living in the NE United States. So, I don't know the area all that well.

I want to plan one or two nice, early spring, 3-5 day backpacking trips (read 30-80 miles).

Are there any especially good/recommended areas or routes here in the NE US that would make for good early spring backpacking in that 30-80 miles sort of range?

I've been hiking and climbing ice and snow all winter and I don't want to contribute to excessive trail damage by walking endlessly muddy spring trails. Are there any areas/routes that are moderately well drained and not just endless ridgelines that would be appropriate for a short escape this time of year?

Thanks in advance for any knowledge you are able and willing to impart!

P.S. Any insight on when we can expect the bugs to start coming out in force?

[moldy]

Last Spring starting on 18 May I hiked the AT in Vermont between Bennington to Norwich and it was great. Even though the NE experienced a huge late Winter snow storm it was all gone by that date with great hiking, pleasant temps, no rain and no mud. I know that every year is different when it comes to the weather but last Spring is was excellent. The trail clubs have always discouraged hiking in Vermont until after June 1st because their effort to clean up all the Winter deadfalls involves a team effort and to assemble and deploy large teams requires time. Perhaps with Global Warming they should adapt as opposed to using scare tactics like stories about lakes of mud, quick sand and giant man eating wood tick's.

[Slo-go'en]

Mud season will definitely be here and gone early this year, but we're still a good 3-4 weeks away from having decent conditions for a distance hike in Mass or southern Vermont.

If you do go out early, help out by removing as many sticks and tree limbs as possible from the trail. There will be a lot of them.

[egilbe]

Graftons Notch Loop Trail is 37 miles long, up and down mountains and Valleys. Part of it runs along the AT. GF and I hiked it last year first weekend of May and the lower elevations were fine. Above 3000 feet there was still 6 feet of snow in spots. The storm that killed Kate Marastrova did a lot of damage to that area, but it's all mostly cleaned up, now. Memorial weekend we spent cleaning blow downs and the trail was fine, after we cleaned it up.

To echo what Slo-go'en said, if you see sticks and brush on the trail, by all means, lend a hand and throw it off the trail. If you see a water bar clogged with leaves, feel free to use your trekking poles to clear the drainage. If you see some work that is beyond what you can do, make a note and use the comment cards to notify the trail maintainers.

Every little bit helps

[Cosmo]

Mass is pretty well thawed at this point. Not even particularly muddy except normally when it rains.

Cosmo

[nsherry61]

. . . If you do go out early, help out by removing as many sticks and tree limbs as possible from the trail.
I always try to.

Coming from the west coast, if I want early spring hikes I hit up the wild river canyons that are crazy hot by mid summer, but snow and ice free in early spring. In peak summer heat I try to either head up high and enjoy the alpine country or go to coastal areas with their moderate temps. I was just realizing today, that there aren't those same extremes out here in the east. We tend to experience similar weather patters across the whole region. We don't have coastal temperate wetlands and 100 mile away high desert and/or alpine zones in the same way we do out west.

BUT, surely there are different wild areas or specific trails in our region with very different terrain that is more suitable to mud-season hiking, bug season hiking, and/or summer heat season hiking?
The Adirondacks, where I was this fall, were generally pretty wet, although, there may be areas that are more drained that I didn't hike through that would be good spring hikes.
Thanks for ideas in Vermont and/or Graftons Notch as good options. Loops are easiest to manage logistically.

Any other good ideas floating around you your heads out there?

[Slo-go'en]

There is still a lot of snow and ice over in Maine. It will be a while before those trails are passable without a lot of difficulty.

Day hikes are easier to manage this time of year as you can more easily pick a good weather day and not worry about it changing on you. You can also pick trails that might be in reasonably good condition, which would be trails with a lot of southern exposure and at relatively low elevation.

However, your living on the south shore means your a good couple hours drive away from any good hiking which makes day hiking a little harder to pull off. I'm afraid you just have to wait a while longer for the weather to improve and get into real spring weather instead of the teasing we've been getting lately, spring one day, winter the next and back again.

[Puddlefish]

http://www.srkg.com/ for dayhikes, no overnight camping, have to pay attention to portions closed for logging. Not all that many muddy sections at this moment, based on the few trails I've hit lately.

Not to be confused with http://www.msgtc.org/ which isn't remotely loop shaped, but has sporadic shelters.

Good chance of rain in the area in the next two days, everything could change!