lx93
New member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2005
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Why even bother to file a trip report so late? Because so few other hikers file them for Maine peaks, and I enjoy helping out other hikers. I did take pix; if I've not yet posted a link to them by the time you're reading this, PM me to remind me to do so.
Caribou Valley Road, aka CVR, as it’s known in some places, and Caribou Pond Rd., as the little teeny-tiny sign calls it from Maine Hwy 16/27, gets my nod as THE WORST road I have ever driven on, and I have bagged 69 4k+ peaks in 5 different states. Having said that, I didn’t greatly fear getting stuck on the plowed part (3.3 miles in), but really wouldn’t recommend trying past that. I drive a front-wheel drive sedan- not a low-rider but definitely not high-clearance, either.
The AT crossing, for a reference point, is kind of difficult to spot, too- the blazes are set back a distance from the road, and there is no sign at all to designate it. The best clue is the parking area on the right-hand side right before it; it has room for about 6 vehicles.
After that, if you’re just doing Redington and not bush-whacking it from S. Crocker, The directions from Mohammed’s website really are good, with just 1 area which has probably changed since he wrote them. More on that later.
Even with Mohammed’s directions, it is somewhat confusing as there are lots of new or overgrown skidder roads not distinct enough to mention, but still visible enough to cast doubt in your mind. This is a hike where you need to plan time to get sidetracked.
However, Mohammed’s directions worked very good for me, except for the part in the 2nd to last paragraph, which reads, “You will reach an obvious fork where a newer road goes up to your right, ignore it and continue straight ahead on the now grassy road (cairns and arrows mark it).” Perhaps when he wrote these directions, that’s how things appeared. But now, it looks like the part where you are suppoused to go straight is just a footpath, you would never guess that it had been a road at that point (later on it widens up). The “newer road to the right” looks like it has always been one and the same road with the road that you came to this fork on. Perhaps the snow makes things look differently, too.
Even though the next turn to the right only had a little bit of flagging, for me it was the easiest part. About 200(?) feet in, it starts to have extremely faded orange blazes. The 1st blaze is on a blow-down, with the blaze precisely at the point on the tree where it appears to have been hit by lightning.
The summit has wreckage of a wind tower; from what I could tell, it didn’t look like they were planning on raising it. The cannister has the old elevation of 3,980 printed, and someone has handwritten “4010” on it.
I looked around for evidence of a herd path to S. Crocker, but could not discern any- maybe the snow obscured it. Once the snow all melts & the mud dries, I would guess that even a bushwhack from S. Crocker might be easier to navigate- just leave one trailed summit and go for the highest point on Redington, not hard to figure out where that is. The brush wasn’t the thickest I’ve seen. There was, however, on the opposite side of the summit from where you’d expect a herd path to S. Crocker, red flagging. I started to explore this area but gave up after it was obvious that noone else had recently tracked it out.
The view from Redington definitely isn’t worth it- it’s certainly better than Owl’s Head in NH, to be sure, but the only reason I did this is because of the NE67.
As points of reference, you can easily see Sugarloaf/Spaulding/Abraham (snowcovered on this date), Crocker/S. Crocker. For those who like to set your friend’s minds at ease when safely back in the car, you do get a cell signal at the point where CVR stops being plowed.
Caribou Valley Road, aka CVR, as it’s known in some places, and Caribou Pond Rd., as the little teeny-tiny sign calls it from Maine Hwy 16/27, gets my nod as THE WORST road I have ever driven on, and I have bagged 69 4k+ peaks in 5 different states. Having said that, I didn’t greatly fear getting stuck on the plowed part (3.3 miles in), but really wouldn’t recommend trying past that. I drive a front-wheel drive sedan- not a low-rider but definitely not high-clearance, either.
The AT crossing, for a reference point, is kind of difficult to spot, too- the blazes are set back a distance from the road, and there is no sign at all to designate it. The best clue is the parking area on the right-hand side right before it; it has room for about 6 vehicles.
After that, if you’re just doing Redington and not bush-whacking it from S. Crocker, The directions from Mohammed’s website really are good, with just 1 area which has probably changed since he wrote them. More on that later.
Even with Mohammed’s directions, it is somewhat confusing as there are lots of new or overgrown skidder roads not distinct enough to mention, but still visible enough to cast doubt in your mind. This is a hike where you need to plan time to get sidetracked.
However, Mohammed’s directions worked very good for me, except for the part in the 2nd to last paragraph, which reads, “You will reach an obvious fork where a newer road goes up to your right, ignore it and continue straight ahead on the now grassy road (cairns and arrows mark it).” Perhaps when he wrote these directions, that’s how things appeared. But now, it looks like the part where you are suppoused to go straight is just a footpath, you would never guess that it had been a road at that point (later on it widens up). The “newer road to the right” looks like it has always been one and the same road with the road that you came to this fork on. Perhaps the snow makes things look differently, too.
Even though the next turn to the right only had a little bit of flagging, for me it was the easiest part. About 200(?) feet in, it starts to have extremely faded orange blazes. The 1st blaze is on a blow-down, with the blaze precisely at the point on the tree where it appears to have been hit by lightning.
The summit has wreckage of a wind tower; from what I could tell, it didn’t look like they were planning on raising it. The cannister has the old elevation of 3,980 printed, and someone has handwritten “4010” on it.
I looked around for evidence of a herd path to S. Crocker, but could not discern any- maybe the snow obscured it. Once the snow all melts & the mud dries, I would guess that even a bushwhack from S. Crocker might be easier to navigate- just leave one trailed summit and go for the highest point on Redington, not hard to figure out where that is. The brush wasn’t the thickest I’ve seen. There was, however, on the opposite side of the summit from where you’d expect a herd path to S. Crocker, red flagging. I started to explore this area but gave up after it was obvious that noone else had recently tracked it out.
The view from Redington definitely isn’t worth it- it’s certainly better than Owl’s Head in NH, to be sure, but the only reason I did this is because of the NE67.
As points of reference, you can easily see Sugarloaf/Spaulding/Abraham (snowcovered on this date), Crocker/S. Crocker. For those who like to set your friend’s minds at ease when safely back in the car, you do get a cell signal at the point where CVR stops being plowed.
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