Crockers and Redington, 8/20/2011

[BIGEarl]

August 20, 2011: S. Crocker, Crocker, and Redington

Trails: Appalachian Trail, Bushwhack & Herd Path to Redington

Summits: S. Crocker, Crocker, Redington

Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue), and me



Day one of a back-to-back weekend in Maine and it was going to be a long one. We had an early meet time, and a five-hour drive to the trailhead. The final piece of the trip was a great wake-up call for the day. Over the previous few days I had read various comments about Caribou Valley Road (CVR) leading to the Appalachian Trail crossing point. I understood the road was very rough, there were washed out culverts, and some of the bridges were very questionable. CVR is an old logging road and the bridges were built to handle very heavy trucks loaded with logs. On the surface the bridges look pretty rough but the structure underneath is solid. We dodged rocks and big potholes along the way in and the bridges required some extra care but we were able to drive to the A.T. crossing point without a problem.

There were two particular bridges that provided the most interesting test. Before reaching a steel grate bridge, one of the wooden bridges has rotted planking and it is necessary to hit a single plank with the tires on one side of the vehicle in order to cross. We managed to hit the plank perfectly each time we crossed (four times over two days). The other bridge is after the steel grate bridge and has very rotted planking plus there are significant wash-out areas on each side of the bridge. The truck was able to climb through the approach wash-out and onto the bridge deck, cross, and drop off into the departing washout. On our first time across I was a little fast on the departing side and my transfer case skid plate made contact with the edge of the bridge, but that’s what it’s there for.

The area near the A.T. crossing has room for perhaps six vehicles to park. After the drive on CVR we were awake and ready. It didn’t take long to get our boots on, grab our packs, and start hiking. Our first target for the day was Crocker Mountain (south peak). The trail leading to S. Crocker is in great shape. There is no water and very little mud along the way. We had a comfortable temperature, lots of blue sky and sun, and a light breeze. These conditions made for a really nice day. The humidity was high and it didn’t take long to get warmed up. Roughly a mile into the hike we came to the spur that leads to the Crocker Cirque Tentsite. I pulled out my camera for a quick picture and it died. When I powered it on the lens extended and then froze up giving a Lens Error. Sue took over photographic responsibilities for the trip. The camera is on the way to the Canon Service Center for repair.

After the Tentsite spur, the trail starts to climb and it’s a pretty constant climb all of the way to the summit. There are a couple places were limited views are available but the trail is generally in thick wooded areas. We reached the summit sign, got a few pictures and walked to the man-made clearing area for some distance views and the breeze. I noticed a difference between the elevation posted on the summit sign and the elevation listed on the 4000 Footer Forms and other AMC documents. Does Maine measure all summit elevations from Main Street in Freeport (that would explain the difference)? Soon we were on our way to the next target for the day, which was the main peak of Crocker Mountain.

The walk from S. Crocker to Crocker is a quick one mile with ~450 feet in elevation along the way. With a clear and dry trail this didn’t take long and we were soon on Crocker Mountain getting pictures but there were no views to enjoy from the densely wooded summit. With no good reason to hang around we headed back to S. Crocker. Somewhere around this time I started to think this was Maine’s answer to Tom/Field/Willey in New Hampshire; climb the middle peak, hike to one of the others, return to the middle peak, and hike to the final peak on generally densely wooded viewless trails. Fortunately, distance views aren’t required to enjoy a hike in the mountains.

Back at S. Crocker we were set for our hike to Redington. There is no formal trail leading there but a herd path exists that can generally lead the way. We had the benefit of terrific guidance from Marty on hiking S. Crocker to Redington. His instructions were perfect and got us from peak to peak without any confusion, even in the area of the A.T. boundary. The herd path starts out pretty thick and it’s necessary to watch the ground to actually find and follow the tracked-out path. In some places the growth opens a little making the path more obvious. It’s only a mile, but it’s a long Maine mile. We took our time and worked our way to the clear cut area in the col between the peaks. From there the hike got a little less difficult, for a little while. We crossed the clear cut area, hit an old logging road, and followed it to another bushwhack section. Soon, we cleared the second bushwhack and were on the herd path to the summit. The final approach was fairly open and more trail-like. We hit the summit, found the canister, and signed the register. The most recent previous visitors on the register were Skip and Liz Otto and Ken and Karen Robichaud.

Instead of a return hike to S. Crocker, we decided to follow more open conditions that are described on Mohamed’s site. It’s a longer way out but the route stays with trails and old logging roads for the distance making for much easier hiking conditions. As explained on Mohamed’s site, the route is very easy to follow with cairns and other navigation aids along the way. We enjoyed beautiful afternoon sun all of the way back to the A.T. crossing. The final ~2 miles along CVR were loaded with obstacles to vehicle travel. The A.T. crossing is currently about as far as a highway vehicle should be expected to travel on this road.

Reasonably on-plan we found our way back to the truck. Another hiker and his dog had arrived at the same time. They were to camp for the night at the Tentsite before hiking the same hike the next day. We all visited for a while and soon packed to head back out the obstacle course called CVR.

Thanks Sue – it was definitely an interesting start. That’s three down, only two to go for the weekend. I’m a little grumpy about the camera.


I’ve posted some pictures from the day.


BIGEarl's Pictures


Straight to the slideshow

 

[loanshark]

Crockers and Redington

Hey Earl, Glad you made it across the last bridge reasonably unscathed. I was on Redington last week with some friends. Unfortunatley Liz couldn't get out of work. I also noticed the posted elevation on the summit sign on Spaulding to be at 3988. I guess Maine has a differant way of measuring peak hieghts.

 

[BIGEarl]

Hey Earl, Glad you made it across the last bridge reasonably unscathed. I was on Redington last week with some friends. Unfortunatley Liz couldn't get out of work. I also noticed the posted elevation on the summit sign on Spaulding to be at 3988. I guess Maine has a differant way of measuring peak hieghts.

Hey Skip,

I musta mis-read the register on Redington. I thought it said "Skip and Liz".

BTW - we made it across the last bridge unscathed. There were no problems in either direction, both days.

I heard from Ken Robichaud earlier concerning the road conditions, etc. Glad you all had a good few days. Too bad about the rain. There has been a lot lately.

 

[marty]

Earl,
glad you guys made it and I loved yours (I mean Sue's) slideshow It brought back some good memories of my previous times there. Those directional log arrows on the road walk from Redington were sweet. I just remember seeing some old rotted ones the times that I did it.

Glad my bushwhack suggestions weren't wrong, too. Guess my memory isn't quite shot yet.

Regards,
Marty

 

[BIGEarl]

Earl,
glad you guys made it and I loved yours (I mean Sue's) slideshow It brought back some good memories of my previous times there. Those directional log arrows on the road walk from Redington were sweet. I just remember seeing some old rotted ones the times that I did it.

Glad my bushwhack suggestions weren't wrong, too. Guess my memory isn't quite shot yet.

Regards,
Marty

Thanks Marty,

Your guidance from peak to peak was perfect. Picking up the herd path on South Crocker, locating it again at the A.T. boundary, and getting on the second bushwhack all worked out great. Your comment about Mohamed's directions also was a very helpful pointer. Originally I thought it would be good to simply head back to South Crocker for the exit. The day was very warm and humid, and neither of us was interested in doing a reverse run through the bushwhacks back to South Crocker. Using Mohamed's route for the exit was longer but we enjoyed it.

You've still got a sharp memory.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Tuco]

Nice report and pictrures as usual Earl.

Rols and I had the benefit of personal guiding service from Marty for this hike. Only.....

 

[BIGEarl]

Nice report and pictrures as usual Earl.

Rols and I had the benefit of personal guiding service from Marty for this hike. Only.....

Thanks Eric,

I haven't seen much from you or Rols lately. I was beginning to wonder if something unfortunate may have happened.

Marty is definitely one of the good guys. His knowledge and willingness to share it definitely made our day easier than it otherwise would have been.

One of these days we all need to get together again to share a few trail miles.

Thanks again.