Redington Road and Wiggle Brook Road

[Raymond]

The day after hiking Saddleback and The Horn, we went up Route 16 to Stratton, taking a side trip down this unpaved road, hoping to get a nice profile shot of the mountain. We didn't really find as great a shot as I was hoping for, but I was surprised by a) the amount of truck traffic on this road and b) the sudden appearance of a sign warning that the road is owned by the U.S. Navy (!) and unauthorized vehicles are prohibited.

Why on Earth does the Navy own a road in the back of beyond, miles from the ocean? My 1981 DeLorme Atlas doesn't indicate that the land is government property or otherwise off limits, although it does show a gate across the road (which we didn't see the other day).

And while I'm at it, what about this road that's supposed to go past Little Kennebago Lake to Kennebago Divide and White Cap Mountain? The same DeLorme atlas shows a gate below Little Kennebago Lake; no road at all along Wiggle Brook, just a trail; and no connection between the Wiggle Brook side and the Porter Brook side.

There's a decent-looking road from Route 16 that runs between Black Brook Cove of Aziscohos Lake and Observatory Mountain that goes to Eustis (though it deteriorates into "unimproved" before it gets there), but most of its side roads are shown as being blocked by gates. (A road from Wilsons Mills that winds to the west of Aziscohos Lake does eventually reach Porter Brook, according to this atlas, but beyond the Little Magalloway River in Lynchtown, it's shown as an unimproved road, and probably way too many miles to risk with my Corolla.)

 

[spencer]

The AMC Maine map #1 shows the actual boundary of the Navy facility.

You'll need a new Gazetteer, Raymond. They put out the newest one in '03. Privately owned industrial roads are very dynamic. I travel them a lot for both work and play and even my '01 version is out of date.

the road from LKL to Coburn Gore is called the Canada Rd. It goes all the way through although parts of it are gated. It is owned in parts by IP, Seven Islands, and the new owners of the Mead ownership (it's managed by Wagner, but it's owner is undisclosed). Wiggle Brook Rd. takes a left off the Canada Rd. just after the last of the small oxbows on the Kennebago River. The bridge over the river was out a few months ago, but I suspect it's back in operation again.

There are several alternative approaches to KD, WC, and Snow, but they are more complicated and longer.

A new Gazetter costs about $20 at any Maine gas station. DeLorme makes a really nice laminated version for close to $50, but you can't write notes in them very well. Buy one or the other...it's the best investment a Maine peakbagger can make.

Good luck!

spencer

 

[el-bagr]

I agree with Spencer's analysis of the roads in that part of the state. If you have questions about the current status of those roads, talk to him -- he just might have the key (or at least a chainsaw).

Several articles in the Portland Press Herald today about survival training in Redington -- though they don't mention the facility by name. See this story.

 

[Raymond]

Thanks for the info. I'd read that milk-and-cookies story before, but had forgotten all about it. It was more prominent in my mind when we were bagging Mount Redington a couple years ago. So Redington Falls, highlighted by the Gazetteer, is off limits now? It all seems awfully close to the Appalachian Trail, but I haven't seen anything about it in the Appalachian Trailway News.

Any idea what all the truck traffic's about? They seemed to be constantly driving back and forth, kicking up dust. There were a couple telephone trucks at the Route 16 end of the road, too. Are they doing some construction down there? I know, I'm nosy.

Yeah, I've known for a while I needed a new Gazetteer, I've just been putting it off. My ’81 was $8.95, so I was delaying the sticker shock. I have replaced New Hampshire and Vermont in recent years, but not yet Maine. (Come to think of it, are the Maine maps topos now? I have a nagging thought that they weren't, which is why I wasn't buying a new one, but maybe I'm wrong.) Another thing I haven't been too crazy about is that the newer models of the Atlas have fewer maps than the old ones (for example, 59 maps to cover Vermont in my 1978-79 Atlas; 37 in my 2000).

I had actually hoped to stop at the DeLorme factory store in Freeport the other day and pick up a Maine one, but there wasn't time. Maybe I should wait until 2005, if they only update it for odd years.

 

[spencer]

Raymond, I'm not sure if it's odd years or not. That hadn't really occured to me.

The maps are topos but not really good enough to cover all the angles while bushwacking (contour interval is 80ft). There are 70 maps for ME. each one covers about 29 x 21 miles.

This winter, someone was going to great lengths to plow the first few miles of the Caribou Valley Rd. GO might have more info b/c he lives over there and goes pretty regularly. Plum Creek was/is the owner of most of the valley, but I vaguely remember something about a sale of part of it. Also, where the plowing ended in the winter, a road headed west and uphill from CVR. It's very possible that there is a smaller, private chunk in there that is being developed (if telephone trucks are any clue). Of course, I'd be sorry to see that, but that seems to be the way things go, unfortunately.

spencer

 

[audrey]

Years ago we used Burnt Mt Rd (the one that goes along the Cupsuptic River) to access Bull, Snow, and the Twins. We tried to get to Bottle Mt that way too but were stopped short by a metal grating bridge that looked too spiky for the car's tires. You'd theoretically get to Wiggle Brook Rd. I'd want a truck, though.