Date of Hike: October 9 & 10
Trail Conditions: Generally good except for an long stretch of water and mud that continued for 15 to 20 minutes. This begins a short way above the ledges on the western side of Sugarloaf where the trail starts to level off and continues a point just below the junction with the Sugarloaf Spur Trail. The mud and water was not that deep for the most part, but it made walking a little tricky for quite a ways. The “bridge,” a 2 X 12, over the South Branch of the Carrabassett River was intact. A dusting of snow on the talus fields of Mt. Abraham made the footing a bit challenging at times. The Sugarloaf Spur has water running down the trail here and there, but considering the extensive rock work, it is easily managed.
Special Equipment: None.
Comments: The “bridge” looks very tenuous. It is cabled to a rock on one end (closer to Caribou Valley Road), but the other end appears to just be sitting on a rock. It is easy to imagine it being dislodged in high water. The climb to the Sugarloaf Spur is very rough and requires some scrambling. It required the same amount of time to climb down as it did to climb up due to this. The rocks are well blazed and easy to follow, but in the winter the trail might be significantly harder to follow and there are certainly areas where going off trail might have some consequences. (Admittedly, I suspect this trail is infrequently used in the winter due to the CVR closing and the river crossing.) Next time, I think I would prefer to go up from the ski area and then down the Sugarloaf Spur to access this area. The walk along the ridge to the the Mt. Abraham Spur is very pleasant, with excellent views into the Rapid Stream Valley from the overlook shortly after passing the Sugarloaf Spur. The views from the summits of Sugarloaf, Spaulding and Abraham were superb, although the foliage is a little past peak now. While my 2004 AT Guide describes the summit of Lone Mountain as sparsely wooded, it seemed pretty grown up now and it does not have any views.
I stayed at the Spaulding Lean-to, which was fine. There is a tiny tentsite there, too, immediately off the AT, which looked pretty unappealing to me. If one were interested in tenting, I would consider continuing on to the Mt. Abraham Spur. The old logging road opposite the spur appeared to offer better options further off the trail. However, there was no water nearby, so one would have to get water at the Lean-to before continuing south.
Jay Baxter
[email protected]
Trail Conditions: Generally good except for an long stretch of water and mud that continued for 15 to 20 minutes. This begins a short way above the ledges on the western side of Sugarloaf where the trail starts to level off and continues a point just below the junction with the Sugarloaf Spur Trail. The mud and water was not that deep for the most part, but it made walking a little tricky for quite a ways. The “bridge,” a 2 X 12, over the South Branch of the Carrabassett River was intact. A dusting of snow on the talus fields of Mt. Abraham made the footing a bit challenging at times. The Sugarloaf Spur has water running down the trail here and there, but considering the extensive rock work, it is easily managed.
Special Equipment: None.
Comments: The “bridge” looks very tenuous. It is cabled to a rock on one end (closer to Caribou Valley Road), but the other end appears to just be sitting on a rock. It is easy to imagine it being dislodged in high water. The climb to the Sugarloaf Spur is very rough and requires some scrambling. It required the same amount of time to climb down as it did to climb up due to this. The rocks are well blazed and easy to follow, but in the winter the trail might be significantly harder to follow and there are certainly areas where going off trail might have some consequences. (Admittedly, I suspect this trail is infrequently used in the winter due to the CVR closing and the river crossing.) Next time, I think I would prefer to go up from the ski area and then down the Sugarloaf Spur to access this area. The walk along the ridge to the the Mt. Abraham Spur is very pleasant, with excellent views into the Rapid Stream Valley from the overlook shortly after passing the Sugarloaf Spur. The views from the summits of Sugarloaf, Spaulding and Abraham were superb, although the foliage is a little past peak now. While my 2004 AT Guide describes the summit of Lone Mountain as sparsely wooded, it seemed pretty grown up now and it does not have any views.
I stayed at the Spaulding Lean-to, which was fine. There is a tiny tentsite there, too, immediately off the AT, which looked pretty unappealing to me. If one were interested in tenting, I would consider continuing on to the Mt. Abraham Spur. The old logging road opposite the spur appeared to offer better options further off the trail. However, there was no water nearby, so one would have to get water at the Lean-to before continuing south.
Jay Baxter
[email protected]
