View Full Version : Tell me about southern Maine
LIhikers
07-05-2016, 13:59
I wife and I have been hiking north on the AT, in short section hikes, for years and are presently in southern Maine.
Last summer we finished up in Grafton Notch State Park. This year we plan to hike between Grafton Notch and route 4, near Rangely, or farther if time allows. We have a map set dated 2009 and a Thru-Hikers Companion from 2014. What info can you help me with that is not listed in those resources. There's nothing like hearing from someone who's been there and done that recently. Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.
peakbagger
07-05-2016, 14:48
Believe the profile maps. There are lots of steep up and downs on a daily or twice daily basis. In general not as gnarly as the Mahoosucs. These aren't for wimps, few if any switchbacks. Each notch usually has a nice stream for a water source. Pine Ellis in Andover is still actively hustling for your business :) and is the logical shuttler in the area. There is no publically accessible exit from Sawyer Notch (hasn't been for awhile but landowner activity has ramped up to block it ). There is a picnic table next to the stream just past the road crossing at Sawyer Notch that would be a really nice place to camp now that there is no public access. There is a brand new handicapped accessible privy at the base of Moody mountain just before South Arm road, no official campsites and the bootleg ones have been brushed in. There is an interesting abandoned cabin at Surplus Pond just off the trail on a old road near the outlet.(its on NPS land but they had not gotten around to ripping it down as of last year).
Logistically your chosen stopping point at RT 4 makes sense, not many options to go further east without committing to an three extra days.
Its Western Maine, not Southern...
New Privy next to South Arm rd in Andover. Frye Notch shelter is haunted. There are a lot of ups and downs so be sure to take in the views and enjoy yourself. Plenty of water along that stretch of trail. Andover and Rangeley are trail towns. They love hikers. Rangeley is the gateway to the High Peaks region of Maine along the AT. Most of Maines 4kers lie along the stretch of the AT from Rangeley to Kingfield and the planners made sure that the AT crossed every peak, or as close as they could come to it.
Slo-go'en
07-05-2016, 15:05
Your map and guide book will be accurate. Nothing significant has changed up there as far as the trail goes. Hope your up for a good work out.
SteelCut
07-05-2016, 15:08
Frye Notch shelter is haunted.
Any details ??
Any details ??
Just what I've heard, and after spending a night there, I believe it.
Tough but beautiful terrain. A bit easier than the Mahoosucs, but not by much. Other than Baldpate and the Grafton Loop, I haven't been there in ages, but I remember it being really hard hiking but with no shortage of breathtaking views.
For resources, you've got Andover, Rangeley and Stratton. Andover is a great place for slackpacking, if you're into that. Good access to town from three or four successive road crossings between Grafton Notch and Hwy. 17.
while parts of this stretch are tough, to my memory they are very short and not as bad as the mahoosucs or the whites by quite a bit, and on top of that, there are long stretches of very (not exaggerating) easy mixed in.
i hiked it south to north and started 2pm thursday and finished 2pm sunday. thats a lot of miles in 3 days for up there, and it wasnt hard to do.
i have no idea on the legality of such a thing, but i camped on top of old blue (right at the summit) one night and the stars were pretty darn amazing.
Rain Man
07-05-2016, 23:50
Brutal hiking (my opinion) but well worth it. I was happy to average 6 mpd there. We stayed at The Cabin in East Andover with Bear and Honey. They had a work for stay past thru hiking helping out and between the three of them did all our shuttling, every other day.
I have a photo album if you'd like the link, from last September, from Grafton Notch to Rangeley.
peakbagger
07-06-2016, 07:31
There are some real nice long stretches along the ridge line in between the steep drops into the valleys. I slacked the entire section years ago. We did from South Arm road up over Blue and Bemis over to height of land one day on a 90 degree plus day, just about broiled us.
Farmhouse Inn in Rangeley is now the place to stop for hikers. They recently bought the Stratton Motel..so if you plan to stretch your hike north, these folks can coordinate transportation and perhaps even some slackpackin
Not listed in The Companion in 2014....see their website http://www.thefarmhousemaine.com/
colorado_rob
07-06-2016, 08:45
Southern (and of course, yes, western) Maine was one of my favorite stretches of the AT... but I was glad I was "warned" about its ruggedness! Right up there with the White's in NH. Fantastic! But yeah, slow in MPD terms.... Overall, I agree with many others who say Maine was the #1 state on the AT in pure enjoyment.
Brutal hiking (my opinion) but well worth it. I was happy to average 6 mpd there. We stayed at The Cabin in East Andover with Bear and Honey. They had a work for stay past thru hiking helping out and between the three of them did all our shuttling, every other day.
I have a photo album if you'd like the link, from last September, from Grafton Notch to Rangeley.
i seem to recall from glancing at your write up about that trip that you found a few spots to go surprisingly fast and ended a couple of days very early. its these spots i was thinking of when i said there are places through that section where it does get surprisingly easy for a prolonged stretch, with a likely net result that the entire section as a whole probably doesnt take many people as long as they might think it would. specifically, the 14 or so miles south of rangely might just be the easiest stretch of AT anywhere north of the VT/MA border, certainly north of glencliff. 6 MPD would mean taking over 2 days just to do that stretch alone. that sounds interminable to me and i doubt thats what anyone, yourself included, does.
there are other similar stretches through there. not as long or as easy, but in the ballpark. i guess to my mind "brutal" means prolonged agony. a moderate 10 miles with 2 incredibly challenging spots of a mile each is not a brutal hike to me no matter how hard those 2 miles (or 3 or 4) might be. my memory of that area is just- a mostly easy to moderate walk and then every so often theres a crazy cliff with some rebar to climb up or down.
The 10 mile section between East B Hill Rd and South Arm rd has a 6 mile section thats fairly easy to do. What do I remember most? The four mile section that includes Hall mountain and Moody mountain. I crashed and burned hiking up Moody mountain. I would hike for 10 minutes and rest for 10 minutes. I have no idea if I was dehydrated or just constantly bonking. I drank and snacked at every break and when we got to the top, took a nice leisurely afternoon break. That little climb was harder, for me, than Katahdin.
The 10 mile section between East B Hill Rd and South Arm rd has a 6 mile section thats fairly easy to do. What do I remember most? The four mile section that includes Hall mountain and Moody mountain. I crashed and burned hiking up Moody mountain. I would hike for 10 minutes and rest for 10 minutes. I have no idea if I was dehydrated or just constantly bonking. I drank and snacked at every break and when we got to the top, took a nice leisurely afternoon break. That little climb was harder, for me, than Katahdin.
people talk about that section all the time and i literally have no memory of it. maybe it was so hard i blacked out?
much like some people say about the roller coaster in VA, it was over for me before i even realized i was in it. and i'm by no means one to go around bragging about how easy i find all these super hard hikes to be, not by any stretch. that section really didnt phase me in the least. i was even horribly out of shape that year, it was late september and i hadnt backpacked in nearly a year and had barely done any day hikes. didnt matter a lick.
I've heard the section between South Arm and RT 17 is kinda difficult, too. Bemis mountain is within an 8mile section that should be easy to do in a weekend. My Grandfather worked in that area when he was in the CCC in the 30's. I always walk these stone treadways and wonder if my grandfather built them.
peakbagger
07-06-2016, 10:14
The AT in western Maine was one of the last sections to be finished on the AT in Maine and most likely the entire trail. Much of it was subsequently relocated to the ridgeline as the original route tended to follow old logging roads around the mountains My second edition guide dated 1936 just has a note that when this section is finished from RT 4 to the Maine line they will issue a supplement. The third edition from 1938 has a map and description and much of the route is different than the current route. The AT went off the ridge east of Baldpate to the Frye Brook valley past the Cataracts (a very interesting series of waterfalls and flumes now owned by the state of Maine) crossed South Arm road and headed via a main logging road to Surplus Pond. It then went north to C Pond and then east to South Arm road skipping Hall, Moody and Old Blue. It went up a drainage to a pass between Old Blue and Elephant skipping Bemis crossing the current AT route and then went east to RT 17 via the Bemis Valley route which is still a blue blaze. The run from RT 17 also has been moved around quite a bit mostly to get away from development. In theory there could be some sections of old CCC work in this section but much of it is newer trailbed.
A lot of the relocations go back to a land claims settlement in the seventies where the paper companies who owned much of the Maine woods handed over land along the ridgelines to pay off a big legal settlement with the state of Maine. I maintain corridor boundary from the top of Hall Mountain to South Arm road and this entire section dates to this era.
Some day when I have time and access to a large format scanner I would like to do a series of slides showing the evolution of the AT route in Maine as it has moved around quite a bit. Apparently at some point the ATC had set a deadline to finish the trail and was threatening to make Mt Washington the northern terminus. If it wasn't for Avery, Helon Taylor and several other deicated volunteers filling in the gaps, the AT could have been a lot shorter and far less interesting. Dave Fields book, https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9780738574516 gets into the early history of the trail in Maine a good read if you are interested in the early history. The other issue driving the trail in Maine was that by law, folks couldn't kindle fires on private lands without a Maine guide, the route tended to run between state lots and sporting camps which tended to be in the valleys
Very tough terrain, but very good hiking. Wherever you see the word "notch" prepare for a workout.
Seems like the Maine ATC takes some pride in having maintaining a challenging trail, in fact, I've heard Maintainers say as much.
illabelle
06-19-2017, 16:51
Farmhouse Inn in Rangeley is now the place to stop for hikers. They recently bought the Stratton Motel..so if you plan to stretch your hike north, these folks can coordinate transportation and perhaps even some slackpackin
Not listed in The Companion in 2014....see their website http://www.thefarmhousemaine.com/
Planning a trip in Aug/Sep, have tried to reach Shane, but no response. Anybody have a different number than 207-864-3113? Or maybe he's on vacation somewhere ...?