Grafton Loop, East Side, Campsite Question

[ImYourHuckleberry]

I did a search but cannot find what I was looking for, so thought I would ask. Many years ago I did the Grafton Loop, and we couldn't find one of the campsites that was listed on the GLT map. After the trip, we learned it had been closed due to bears I believe. I'm now planning another trip around the loop, but the current maps seem to show all the same campsites as before. Perhaps the GLT map was never updated? Or perhaps my memory is faulty and there were previously 6 campsites on the east side of the loop and now there are only 5?

Can anybody that has been on the east side of the loop in recent years confirm for me if all 5 campsites listed on the east side of the current map are still open?

Map: https://www.matc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Grafton-Loop-Trail-GLT-brochure-map-2016.pdf?x43296

 

[DayTrip]

Last SEP I hiked Puzzle Mtn for what I intended to be an overnight. I believe the Stewart Campsite just North of the summit was closed. There was a sign but I don't recall the reason or how long it would be. It was raining and drizzling and the next campsite involved giving up all my elevation and going some 3 miles (to I believe Town Corner on your map) so I looped around via (Woodland or Woodburn or something like that - not on this map) and hiked out because I was meeting someone the following day.

I know that is not a definitive answer but I do recall a closed campsite. So definitely do more digging to confirm if that will be a factor.

 

[ImYourHuckleberry]

Thanks for the info DayTrip. Stewart was definitely not the one that was closed on my previous trip, which was in 2014. I contacted my friend who did the previous trip with me, and we reviewed the maps together and we believe that it was the Lane Campsite that was closed on that trip. I assumed it was closed permanently, because the signs had even been removed. But... I can find all kinds of recent references on the net to people using it, so it must have reopened at some point since then.

 

[Cartophile]

I hiked the eastern part of the loop two years later, in 2016, and the Lane Campsite was closed then, too, with the signs removed.

 

[ImYourHuckleberry]

Thank you for confirming, Cartophile.

 

[ImYourHuckleberry]

I think I figured it out. The campsite that was closed on the east side, and has in fact been removed from the updated maps, was The Knoll Campsite. I think it was located between Lane Campsite and Town Corner Campsite. I found a reference to it being closed in 2013 in this article: https://www.northeasthikes.com/grafton-loop-trail-hike-eastern-section/