Redington Info Needed

Does anyone know how difficult it is to follow the herd path to Redington from the AT in Maine? What the approximate distance is or the kind of forest one has to go through to get there from South Crocker? Thanks.

sli74

We didn't have much trouble a couple years ago when Susan and I were there. My Trail Conditions report probably disappeared, but let me try to remember what we did...

We went from South Crocker's summit. There was a herd path behind the summit rock, more or less, that led to a narrow cut path (marked with yellow paint, I believe) that denotes the edge of the Appalachian Trail corridor. I believe the herd path continued straight across this border; don't try to follow the cut path.

There was some flagging back in there. Every now and then the herd path petered out, but one of us would look for it while the other held the last known position. The path is probably more distinct now.

The only confusing part was when we came to a large clearing. Susan was the one who spotted a survey ribbon way up to the left, and sure enough, there we found the path again. However, it disappeared again and we had to just bull our way ahead until we came to a logging road.

If memory serves, we turned right on the road and went a short way until we found a cairn on the left side which marked a trail up to the summit. There was a white canister in a tree.

I think we followed the same trail down to the road, but instead of trying to follow the herd path back to South Crocker, we turned right onto the road (heading east) and followed it down to another road. We came to a T and mistakenly turned left and went a long way before giving up and retracing our steps to that point. We should have turned RIGHT, apparently away from our car which was back near the Appalachian Trail crossing on Caribou Valley Road. See Mohamed's Web site for directions to Redington from Caribou Valley Road, then reverse them; this is what we did, except that I'd stupidly left Mohamed's directions back in the car, so I had to do it from memory. Luckily I'd read them over several times!

If you turn the right way, you'll go down a rough logging road that is probably covered with ATV tracks. It will bring you down to another T where you can turn left and get back to Caribou Valley Road. I can't remember how many intersections there were, but it was straightforward once we got going the correct way. Supposedly people can drive way up there, but there was one wood bridge that was barely holding on, and I recall a small boulder right in the middle of the road somewhere else, which seemed pretty impassable to me.

I think Papa Bear had a good description of the way; you can probably get more explicit directions off his Web site than I can provide.

I'm afraid our hike there was pre-digital camera for me, so I don't have any photos to include here.

See our trip report with pics:
http://rbhayes.net/laborday.html

The Herd Path is very eay to follow.

Why not drive in the Caribou Valley Road?

If you don't want to hike it from the AT, why not drive in as far as you can on the Caribou Valley Road, and then go up the logging road to where there is a small cairn and follow the herd path up there?

I did Redington, South and North Crocker in the winter. We were dropped off on the Caribou Valley Road, and we went first to Redington, and then bushwhacked to South Crocker, which wasn't easy, but it may have been because it was winter. Then, we got ourselves on to the AT and went to North Crocker and then down to my Jeep, which had been spotted at the trailhead.

It was a very long day with an area, where the trail made a sharp turn, and we had to spend a lot of time finding it. We also had black ice to contend with - not enough for crampons but dangerous. So, I don't have the best memories of the whole day, especially the bushwhack.

Have fun!

I agree, the herd path(s) are easy to follow. Just be sure you're heading down slightly to the right of the col (from South Crocker) and you'll hit the clear cut. Then find the skid road that goes up and becomes a woods road and you'll pick up the second herd path just at the high point where the woods road crosses the col. (If you stay on this road and go down the other side, you'll pick up the Redington Trail, but that would be no fun.) My daughter and I did it from South Crocker in September of 2002. We took 1:35 going over and 1:10 coming back.

Here's the report (lots of pictures.)

Pb

Herd Path from S. Crocker looks very easy!

Well, I take back what I said about bushwhacking over to Redington from S Crocker. RBHayes pics make it look like a walk in the park. I don't think that we ever found the herd path, or maybe it wasn't there, as we did this trip about five years ago.

Go for it!

I think the herd path came in sometime in the last 2 years. The beginning of it that leads to the AT boundary was there a few years ago, but I think the rest is new.

You know, it makes you wonder how much WE are responsible for. Think about how many times people have asked how to get to Redington on VFTT in the last several years.... Sure enough, now there is an even easier herdpath right from the Crockers. While I haven't been on it, I think someone mentioned a while ago that it was actually trimmed out in places.



spencer

Wow, Thanks everyone, now hopefully I don't get myself completely lost up there, that would NOT be fun . . . but it looks pretty straightforward and I will keep my eyes on the ground.

sli74

sli74 said:

. . . but it looks pretty straightforward and I will keep my eyes on the ground.

Click to expand...

Maybe keeping one eye on the compass might also help

Absolutely will do Mohamed

sli74

Be sure to follow the advice from Raymond on taking directions for the logging road from Mohamed's web site and follow them backwards if you choose to return to your car that way. While we didn't take a left at the first road as Raymond did, we spent 15 minutes thinking about it, before deciding to go teh correct way which is right. We made another arrow to help show the way.

Also - if you have good (stiff) back packing boots, take along a pair of sneakers to make the logging road walk more comfortable! 5 miles on a dirt road is not too comfy in hiking boots.

I will be on a backpacking trip on the AT and Reddington will be a drop my pack and hike over and back kind of thing so I won't be following the logging roads but will hopefully find my way back to South Crocker without a problem. According to Papa Bear's wonderful trip report, I am sure it won't be that bad . . .

Thanks again, everyone . . . this VFTT gang is the absolute best.

sli74

Yep, it was easier on the way back than going, since going we missed the skid road at first, which is imnpossible coming back.

One bit of advice: when you get to the clear cut, cross over on an even contour to get to the skid road. Then before going up, turn abound and look back and remember what the entry into the woods looks like. Maybe even scratch an arrow with your foot in the dirt.

Pb

I'd go one step further - part of the reason that we took the logging roads back was when we looked back we knew that it would be fairly difficult to find the entrance to the heard path from the clear cut area - bring a ribbon to tie to a tree (and remove when done) it may save you walking around in a wet area looking for the spot.