Caribou Valley Road?

[hikes-with-him]

Any status on the Caribou Valley Road?

Hubby and I would like to do either the Crockers or Sugarloaf and Spaulding on Sunday...but, want to come in the shorter way...

We have a Subaru (tough little car but low clearance).

 

[Tom Rankin]

Any status on the Caribou Valley Road?

Hubby and I would like to do either the Crockers or Sugarloaf and Spaulding on Sunday...but, want to come in the shorter way...

We have a Subaru (tough little car but low clearance).

Ask Paradox!

 

[TEO]

Any status on the Caribou Valley Road?

Hubby and I would like to do either the Crockers or Sugarloaf and Spaulding on Sunday...but, want to come in the shorter way...

We have a Subaru (tough little car but low clearance).

If it's an Outback--marginally higher clearance--then you should be fine. There are a couple of spots that you have to be careful about scraping the underbelly, but if you go slow, you won't damage anything. The obvious spots are couple of the bridges, but also look out for some of the rocks, particularly above the metal-grate bridge. You should have no problem making it up to the fork 1.1 miles past the AT crossing.

If it's not an Outback, you should still be fine, but you'll probably scrape your bottom once or twice. Again, if you slow down, you'll be fine.

 

[Jay H]

3rd Generation Subarus (2005+) have higher clearance than 2nd gen and older so consider that, the 05 has a claimed 8.5" though I probably wouldn't test that in real life without a skid plate.

Jay

 

[hikes-with-him]

Dicey?

Is is water, mud, just rocky and crappy bridges? Can you move rocks out of the way?

We have the Outback...but...we're still paying for it

 

[TEO]

No, I wouldn't consider it dicey. On two or three of the bridges, there some big holes that, at worst, if you're going slow and with a little care, will not be a problem, though you may scrape the underside of your bumpers. There are some rocks you have to watch for, but can they can be avoided with care. My car is a '97 Outback, so the clearance is less than the newer ones. I think I scraped the bottom three times, but did no damage. No water or mud.

 

[MichaelJ]

Unless it's been regraded, you will want to park at a wide, grassy parking area just *before* the metal grate bridge. The reason is that on the other side is a steep incline that had a deep washout rut coming lengthwise down it. If you've got experience with roads like this and know your car really well, and have the better ground clearance, you might dare it, but otherwise just park and start walking there. It's about, what, a half-mile before the AT?
Parking Area
Metal Grate Bridge
Washout

Getting that far, just drive carefully, watch for deep mud puddles, and carefully aim your wheels when going across one of the bridges that has a lousy approach.

 

[hikes-with-him]

Good pictures...

am looking at others in that slide show...I realize that those pictures were taken heading up Redington...but, hopefully the AT trail is obvious (you know...where we go from walking that 0.5 mi from our car on the road to turning onto the AT heading towards either Crockers or Sugarloaf?

These pictures have me a bit worried I'll get lost...or miss the trailhead (something hubby and I are FAMOUS for...we once wasted 1 1/2 hr trying to find the loop trail head for Tumbledown...yes, you did read this correctly!)

 

[MichaelJ]

The AT isn't signed at the road, I wouldn't call it "obvious," but it's not hiding, either. It looks just like this on your right when heading in.

 

[Mike P.]

If that is the steel bridge I am thinking of, the picture doesn't do the inclince justice. It looks almost flat but they may have made some repairs to the road on either side since I was there. (It's been a couple of years but they don't do much maintainence unless they are logging)

Nice pictures MJ

 

[MichaelJ]

Thanks. Yes, the picture really doesn't do the incline justice ... it's pretty steep.

I did it in my Subaru Outback several years ago, but it was tricky and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're willing to accept the consequences.

I believe it's not simply logging, but also snowmobiling, that keeps at least some of the bridges open and maintained.

 

[TEO]

Having driven CVR within the last several days, you're making the washout seem a lot worse than it actually is. One thing to keep in mind is that the road is wider than it looks--don't be afraid to get friendly with the soft branches along the side of the road. The other thing is to avoid riding in the ruts (though on CVR, they're not bad), the washout is kind of like a deep rut, if you stay to one side of it, you'll be fine. Finally, just remember to go slow in general and really slow in the few rough sections.

There's no reason why you couldn't do CVR in many non-4wd cars, though a Honda Civic's clearance might be pushing it. If you're really uptight about your car, rent one for the day. But, if you own an Outback, you owe it to the car to drive it all the way up to the bridge with the red handwritten "Not safe..." sign, 1.1. miles up from the AT crossing (which, is very easy to drive by).

(If you want to practice, go to your local ski area and drive up and down their maintenance roads.)

 

[smitty77]

Not having been there, I don't want to comment on the road itself, but I will say you can tackle a lot in a 2wd vehicle with a little finesse. The places I've seen Max take a car.... Most notable was a '94 Dodge caravan down a skidder road while looking for a shortcut back from the Marlboro trailhead at Mt. Mondanock. We bailed out and turned around when the sounds of undercarriage scraping at 2mph were too much to take.