View Full Version : Grafton Loop status
The MATC website states that the Grafton Loop trail is not yet open. Do any of the Mainers on Whiteblaze have a more up-to-date status on the trail?
Thanks!
TJ recently asked the same question on VFFT (http://www.viewsfromthetop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16522&highlight=grafton+loop).
Yes it is not officially open yet. It is going to open this year. They said it was going to open this year during the annual MATC meeting but I can not remember the date they said they were going to open it. I can not find it in the meeting minutes either. The person that may know would be Walking Home.
walkin' wally
05-15-2007, 08:07
There is, or was, a problem with a change in land ownership on the west side of the road. At the time of the change of ownership the new owners balked at letting hikers across their land.
There is more info at matc.org . Click on Grafton Loop Trail. The news is from last year.
Mr. Clean
05-17-2007, 03:51
I believe that they said in June it would be open, right after mud season, but I have no proof of that in front of me.
There is, or was, a problem with a change in land ownership on the west side of the road. At the time of the change of ownership the new owners balked at letting hikers across their land.
There is more info at matc.org . Click on Grafton Loop Trail. The news is from last year.
I believe the problem was the refusal of the owner to allow hikers on the land until the purchase was completed. Completion, if I remember right, needed some money from Congress. Since the REpublican Congress never did complete action on the budget last year, the land was not purchased.
I understand the budget was finally passed earlier this year. All that remains is the transfer of the deeds, which I suspect has already happened. The official opening, I think, will happen in a flury of press releases on Trails Day in June.
The "northern" portion of the trail, which was built by MATC opened a couple of years ago. The "southern" portion was built by AMC and is the portion that has been delayed by the property dispute.
This is all based on a somewhat and increasingly faulty memory. So if it is wrong I'll deny ever having written this.
Weary
Here's what the Lewiston (Maine) Sun JournaL reported in March:
GRAFTON TOWNSHIP - Sometime within the next two months, the state will finally take ownership of nearly 3,700 acres of the Mahoosuc Range in the Grafton Notch region.
It will protect 3,688 acres of stunning, rugged landscape that largely drapes the shoulders of Old Speck and Sunday River Whitecap mountains.
Descending to the southeast from the 4,180-foot summit of Old Speck, one of Maine's highest peaks, the Grafton Notch parcel is surrounded on three sides by Maine Public Reserve Lands and Grafton Notch State Park, a popular tourist destination.
The Maine Department of Conservation's Bureau of Parks and Lands won't be purchasing the $3 million parcel from Wagner Forest Management Ltd. of Lyme, N.H., former landowner Bayroot LLC's land agent.
Instead, it'll be buying it from the Trust for Public Lands-Maine, which bought the parcel in mid-December after realizing that the state's efforts to raise the money would take too long, according to Sam Hodder, the trust's Mahoosuc project manager.
"We saw it as the first step on the way to complete conservation," Hodder said late Wednesday afternoon in Portland during a three-way phone conference with Kathy DeCoster of the federal Trust for Public Lands in Washington, D.C.
The trust also holds an option to buy the neighboring Stowe Mountain parcel of 3,300 acres in Newry from landowner Carthage Lumber of Canada. Although the property is in the preliminary appraisal process, the price is $1.1 million, bureau Deputy Director Alan Stearns said by phone Wednesday afternoon in Augusta.
Regarding the Stowe parcel, Hodder said the trust has been talking with the landowner about buying it for more than a year, whereas the Grafton land buy was several years in the making.
Besides providing continued opportunity for sustainable timber harvesting, the Grafton acquisition helps guarantee permanent protection for existing trails.
That includes ITS 82, a snowmobile trail that provides a critical link to a Maine-New Hampshire network that runs through the property along Bear River.
"We've just guaranteed that 3,700 acres will be public access hunting, hiking and snowmobiling. That land will never be posted against hunting. We're buying it for perpetuity," Hodder added.
Part of the as yet unopened western side of the 42-mile Grafton Loop Trail is on Stowe Mountain and within the Grafton Notch parcel. That's why the property's public protection is critical to the trail's completion, he said.
The Grafton Loop Trail is a newly-constructed Appalachian Trail spur that runs from East Baldpate Mountain across several peaks before ascending the southeast slopes of Old Speck and reconnecting to the A.T.
"So, (Stowe) really is a critical link, because it rounds out the high summits of Route 26 within the Table Rock and Old Speck viewshed. It certainly is a beautiful valley. These are the two final pieces of the puzzle. We're just one step closer," with the Grafton parcel bought, Hodder said.
According to Steve Wight, chairman of Newry's Board of Selectmen, the project secures multiple-use access in a region that relies heavily on its spectacular natural landscape to maintain its recreational, tourism and wood products economies.
Gov. John Baldacci announced on Friday that the $2 million from the federal government was awarded to the Grafton project, which was the nation's top-ranked U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Legacy Program project in federal fiscal year 2007.
"The final appropriation has totally cleared Congress, but we won't get the check until closing," Stearns said.
Most of the rest of the money came from a Land for Maine's Future grant of $660,000, coupled with $40,000 from the Maine Department of Transportation's Scenic Byways Program, and $10,000 from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Program.
walkin' wally
05-17-2007, 11:07
Thanks for the update Weary. It is hard to keep up with all the articles in the different papers.
The comment "It certainly is a beautiful valley" is quite accurate to say the least.
Weary:
What is you best guess regarding the closing date on the remaining land? I'm thinking I might want to hike the loop after the ATC Biennial in late July. Any assistance you could provide would be gratefully appreciated.
Oops. Sorry Weary. I missed your comment about National Trails Day being a potential opener.
WalkinHome
05-22-2007, 22:57
It is also my understanding that the loop will be dedicated and completely open on National Trails Day.
It is also my understanding that the loop will be dedicated and completely open on National Trails Day.
THanks guys. It's looking likely that my daughter and I will be hiking from Stratton to the Kennebec River in July after the ATC Biennial. The cabin we'll be staying in near Saddleback is too far a drive from Grafton Notch. I understand it's not too far "as the raven flies", but that it's 2-3 hours by vehicle because the roads don't go north/south in that area. Plus, she wants to learn how to fish, so the section we're thinking about hiking is ideal for that.
I'll have to look forward to hiking the loop some other time. I hope to see some of you on the trail this summer, or at the ATC Biennial.