Do trail maintainers in Maine have to plow their sections in winter?

[The Scribe]

haha. Just kidding

My heart got ahead of my head this weekend. Between the pretty much non-existent winter we had in Maine this year, and going to the annual Maine Appalachian Trail Club meeting on the 9th, I got inspired and decided to hit the trail this past Saturday. Nice day hike from Long Falls Dam Road into West Carry Pond and back.

I wasn't surprised to see some snow but it was in small patches. But as I got higher on Roundtop there was more and more. But it was weird. The trail was often clear which got me thinking about the the title of this thread. I laughed about it until I started down the sheltered northeast side of Roundtop. Extended snowfield. And I could see West Carry was still completely iced in. A totally different world.

My original goal was to make it to Arnolds Point but seeing how much snow was along the shore, I knew "Snow Cove" would be impassible or at best not worth it. So I made it to the lean-to, had lunch and took a break. To avoid going up the snowfield on Roundup on the way back I took the Arnold Expedition Trail back to LFDR. I actually walked that trail to its end at Flagstaff Lake before road walking back to my vehicle. Thanks to the Arnold Expedition Historical Society for the work done there.

So, for a while anyway I had a good laugh thinking about trail maintainers clearing their sections. What a great day it was.

[rafe]

Hiked to the summit of Mt. Jackson yesterday, that's at the south end of the Presi range. There is still a foot or two of dense snow in the woods up high in places where the sun hasn't melted it yet. Open ledges exposed to lots of sun are all clear. The trail itself was a river of ice above 3000 feet -- impassable w/o spikes or crampons. In a normal year you'll still be finding icy spots and patches of snow right through May and even early June.

[peakbagger]

There is an issue that many of the roads in the region despite the lack of snow are still closed for mud season. A winter without snow tends to drive the frost in deep and until there are consistent nights above freezing, the deep frost takes a while to get out of the roads especially in shady sections. I still expect the road will open early but I am not sure if the land managers are going to take it into account and just may stick to open before Memorial Day.

I do hope to go walk a section of AT boundary early this year if the bugs hold off.

[The Scribe]

Yeah, didn't drive off pavement with LFDR being paved, but in following the Arnold Expedition route back out the couple of logging roads it follows were really bad. Lots of obvious mud but also lots of deceptive surface. Looked dry but step there and go in 3-4 inches. Yup no driving for a while on those. In Southern Maine it's the first winter I can remember in a long time where none of the usual big frost heaves showed up. The AT itself was fine overall.

[egilbe]

I had forgotten about the meeting in Lewiston until I was halfway up Old Speck. Still way too much ice on the trails higher up, but lower down, they don't seem to be any muddier than usual. The normal wet spots are still wet, but the drier parts of the trail are dry. Especially for this time of year. GF and are are planning an overnight up over the Bald Pates and back the next day, if we can navigate the ice. We will see when we get there.

[Snowleopard]

Be careful in the mud: an elderly Nantucket man died of hypothermia after being trapped in chest deep mud in Nantucket.
http://www.capecodtimes.com/news/201...es-at-hospital