Haystack - Miles Notch redlining

[Maineman]

When received the 29th ed of the WMG as a Father's Day gift the first thing I did was check to see if these trails had been abandoned (thus off my redlining list) but no such luck.

My buddy Conor & I spotted two bikes at the Spruce Hill trailhead and the drove down to the Haystack Notch trail to start our journey.

The WMG states that the trail "may require care to follow" - from previous redlining adventures, I know what this means! We came to the first stream crossing and debated whether we should remove our shoes. We decided it wasn't safe to cross barefoot or with flip flops and decided to plow right through with our shoes on. This turned out to be a wise choice as there were no less than a dozen shin to thigh deep crossing on this hike, and copious shoe swallowing muck holes.

We made the height of land and descended, carefully focusing on where the trail goes. There was one spot where the trail leaves a logging road and turns left, despite an arrow here it would be easy to miss this turn off of a very obvious path.

The water is beautiful here and we began to enjoy the crossings, cooling our feet and washing the mud off our shoes. We arrived at the clearing where the Miles Notch trail begins and the sun was oppressive. There has been extensive work done to the logging road very recently and the trail follows the road, crosses a metal bridge and the road then turns right. Major clearing has been done here and we were very confused as to where the trail goes from here. We followed the road and just after a small yellow sign denoting the National Forest Boundary the road splits at a wide clearing. There is a faint path on the right leading into the woods - this is where the trail proper begins. Whew!

We climbed through the overgrown trail brush and climbed to the Red Rock trail junction. The WMG says that "the trail must be followed with GREAT care" (oh no!) as opposed to just "regular care". In many places the treadway is utterly obscured requiring extensive searching for the correct path. One spot in particular (Butters Mtn?) required several minutes of searching around. (The trail turns abruptly right at a spot marked only by old three blazes carved into a grey birch)

The trail here is very rough with many small ups and downs not shown on the map. After a nice soaking rain shower we finally emerged on the summit of Speckled Mtn to excellent views all around. The Bickford Brook trail seemed like a paved super-highway after what we'd been through and we made great time to the Spruce Hill trail junction.

The minor climb up Spruce Hill was devastating after the days exertions, but soon we were on the final steep descent to Route 113. We enjoyed a glorious downhill ride back to the car, then straight to Gorham for poutine at Mr Pizza!

Marking my redlining map with the sharpie was immensely satisfying this time around, with almost sixteen miles of trail that was all new to me. A huge thank to Conor for joining me for yet another "hare-brained scheme"!!

477 miles left!

 

[jake L.]

Way to go, you're getting close!

 

[TJsName]

Sounds like my kind of trip!

Also, I hope you now realize that the Church Pond loop is in fact no longer a loop. I know you enjoyed that hike!

 

[Maineman]

I saw that TJ - at least the entire thing hasn't been abandoned (although it probably should be)

 

[TDawg]

A couple summers ago, I also found the area around Butters to be confusing. I can only imagine that it is worse now.

 

[Becca M]

congrats - that is a very remote area - seriously, it's like there's no trail at all!!!!!

 

[Maineman]

I'm planning to carry a pair of loppers when I go back to do the Great Brook/Red Rock/Miles Notch loop and do a little brushing in the worst spots on the ridge - darn hobblebush is getting thick up there!

Gotta love the road less travelled...

 

[TJsName]

Yeah - that's not a bad idea. I'd also suggest bringing friends with loppers and saws too!

Also - do you have a picture of your redline map?

 

[vegematic]

I hiked the Haystack Notch Trail and the same section of the Miles Notch trail last fall in the pouring rain. Water crossings weren't as bad for us and the trail was easy to follow. Since then, however, the lower part of the MN Trail has been bulldozed. How far up did that damage go?
-vegematic

 

[Andrew]

I see now reading this after your other post I responded to that the road work is farther into the WMNF.

We hiked to Haystack Notch this spring from 113 and opted to wear barn boots, but sounds like the water was lower so no problems. If you take the time to listen carefully on the lower section of the trail, there are some impressive little gorges and falls off trail that the sound will lead you to. There is also an impressive double parallel ravine below the crossing with the arrow that you mentioned that is worthy of exploration. My favorite kind of territory.