View Full Version : Trail Conditions in Maine
I am soon leaving for a section hike in Maine. Am interested in this seasons bug conditions & stream fording. Really looking forward to big K!!!
We have had an excepitionally wet summer. Yesterday I climbed Mt. Abraham which is not on the AT but a short side trip,. I climbed on the old firewardens trail. Stream crossings were difficult (we had an inch of rain Saturday), the trail was very muddy. The rocks and roots were wet and slippery. I took a couple of falls. Unfortunately the summit was completly in the clouds and it was raining. I had a wonderful hike and Abraham with it's 4 mile alpine zone is as intresting as Katahdin and if any thru hiker has a few extra hours it is a first rate side trip off the AT. Today it is 68 degrees, the sun is shining and a perfect day to hike, The streams will go down, the trail will dry out. Maine is a very difficult State to hike but perhaps the most beautiful and definitely the wildest part of the entire AT.
Very few bugs and yesterday no tics, By next week if the weather holds conditions will be perfect.
I forgot to mention, I will be climbing Katahdin August 9th. If you are there then look for a 200 pound hiker with white hair who talks too loud.
Footslogger
07-24-2006, 08:22
We hiked Rangeley down to Gorham a couple weeks ago. It did not rain while we were hiking but they had gotten a lot of rain just before we got there. The trail was pretty muddy in spots. Many of the bog bridges sink well under the water/mud levels when you step on them. Take your DEET. The bugs, mainly skeeters and gnats are out there and very annoying. Last but not least, where the trail is normally pretty narrow the brush on both sides is extremely overgrown in sections. You can look down and see an earthen path at your feet but if you look up and forward there is no indication where the trail goes, unless you can see a blaze. The worst of this was on Cascase Mountain and Mt Hayes, near Gorham. It get's better further north.
'Slogger