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  1. #1

    Default Southern Intersection of AT and Caribou Pond Road in Maine

    Hello! I will be hiking Sugarloaf, Spaulding, and Mt. Abraham in Maine around Memorial Day weekend. I will be driving in and out (coming from the South, I95) and am considering a few options for routes. One option is to drive up what becomes Caribou Pond Road until the southern intersection of the AT at latitude/longitude 44.993799, -70.370626.

    I have three questions:

    1) How are the road conditions on the southern part of Caribou Pond Road? I hiked the Crockers and Redington last year and there was a gate near the northern intersection of the AT.
    2) How are the AT trail conditions and how long is the AT from the road until Lone Mountain? I will drop a link below as "Lone Mountain" is a pretty common name.
    3) Does anyone know of a good trail and road map for the Carrabassett Valley area? The local outdoors stores only have maps of Baxter State Park and Acadia National Park.

    Map of the area from the 4000 Footers website:

    http://4000footers.com/MAP%20sugarloaf.pdf

    http://4000footers.com/abrahamme.shtml

    Thanks in advance!

  2. #2

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    Never heard it called the Caribou Pond Road, I have always heard it called the Caribou Valley Road. It is logging road. There are a couple of bridges that can be sketchy. Worse case is you park before the bridge and walk a bit farther. Do note that the crossing of the South Branch just off the road can be difficult in high water. There is occasionally a plank tied to the trees for crossing. The climb up Sugarloaf is steep but after that its fast walking along the ridge. I got dropped off around 10 AM and was planning to stay at Spaulding Shelter but got there real early. I could have stayed at Orbeton Stream but I pushed a bit and camped at Poplar Ridge that evening. I included the spur up and down to the Sugarloaf Summit.

    The Rapid Stream Road sometimes really gets crappy after the last camps. Its been awhile but there are two bridges near the trailhead that were out several years ago.

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by peakbagger View Post
    Never heard it called the Caribou Pond Road, I have always heard it called the Caribou Valley Road. It is logging road. There are a couple of bridges that can be sketchy. Worse case is you park before the bridge and walk a bit farther. Do note that the crossing of the South Branch just off the road can be difficult in high water. There is occasionally a plank tied to the trees for crossing. The climb up Sugarloaf is steep but after that its fast walking along the ridge. I got dropped off around 10 AM and was planning to stay at Spaulding Shelter but got there real early. I could have stayed at Orbeton Stream but I pushed a bit and camped at Poplar Ridge that evening. I included the spur up and down to the Sugarloaf Summit.

    The Rapid Stream Road sometimes really gets crappy after the last camps. Its been awhile but there are two bridges near the trailhead that were out several years ago.
    That's what I saw last year; sinkholes in the road and you had to walk from the gate to the AT.

    Does anyone know what the road is like if you're not coming from Maine 27, but rather from 142 through Barnjum? The road is marked on GoogleMaps as Banjum Road until it forks after the Perham Stream. The north fork (take a left) goes on to Caribou Pond. Are there any out bridges, sinkholes, gates, etc.?

    Here's a snip from GoogleMaps showing the route I mean.

    Capture.JPG

  4. #4
    Registered User egilbe's Avatar
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    That looks like that little cart track that parallels Orbeton stream for a little bit. I think it's a snowmobile trail. Probably not something I would depend on.

    The bridges over rapid river were replaced a couple years ago in preparation for some logging that was planned in the area. Good sturdy bridges, nothing like those sketchy wooden planked bridges on CVR. People still report driving up it. I can remember some lifted and partially washed out culverts on CVR that were as bad as the bridges. CVR is a snowmobile trail in the winter, so it makes sense that Banjum road would be, too.

  5. #5
    Registered User egilbe's Avatar
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    Maine Gazateer has the best maps if you are looking for roads and trailheads. Not so good for hiking. The gate at the Northern end of the AT was to prevent people from driving over that partially damaged bridge. It may have been repaired in the last couple years since I was down that road last. Snow is still melting up there. Not sure how reliable, or recent, any trail reports are going to be. Guthook maintains the trail to the summit of Mt Abrahm. I haven't seen any posts from him recently talking about the trails or the conditions. That flattish section between Spaulding and Sugarloaf PB mentioned holds snow pretty late in the year.

    Between RT 4 and rt 27 is a three or four day hike. Fast through hikers can do it in two. There is a connecting trail from the AT to Mt Abraham. If your goal is peakbagging, that's how I planned on doing it, but the winds were howling so badly, crossing that talus field after a long day of hiking was looking for a broken leg.

  6. #6

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    Thanks for the info! I think I'll shoot Guthook a PM just in case.

    Yup, peakbagging these three. I'll finish the NE67 this year. Hopefully the weather will stay above freezing all next week, I'll be watching Mountain Forecast. Driving up via Banjum Road would mean the shortest hiking distance, but if it's not available...

  7. #7
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    you will not get up too close from barnjum road it is gated, caribou valley road is the better way. if you want to you could start at the old firewarden's trail on Abraham

    https://www.mainetrailfinder.com/tra...e-warden-trail

  8. #8

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    If Barnjum is gated, I will probably start at Sugarloaf and go up the trail next to the ski slope. Doing out the math, that's the shortest route unless I use two cars (park one at CVR/Sugarloaf and the other at Rapid Valley) or book a hiking taxi/Uber. Weather depending.

  9. #9
    Registered User egilbe's Avatar
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    The guy who does gear shuttles for Maine Huts and Trails, Greg Roy, can probably give you a ride, for a price. We used him on one of our hikes from Saddleback to Sugarloaf.

  10. #10
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    Oh hey! I just happen to have gone up Mt Abraham today! The trail is in fine condition... still a decent amount of snow and ice between the summit and the AT, but I bet it'll be nearly gone by next weekend. The Rapid Stream Road is in the best condition I've seen it-- still quite rough, but I managed to get my car right to the trailhead without destroying anything important on the car :-)

    Didn't go any further onto the AT though. So that's about all the firsthand info I have.

  11. #11

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    A few years ago the MATC had a AT anniversary event up in the area. They set up a bus ride over to the Barnjum area. They drove a bus past a couple of gates before finally ended up at a gate about a half mile from the AT. A local may know which gates are open when and what roads are in use but someone going in cold would spend a lot of time wandering. CVR road is usually passable its just somewhere you need to drive with caution and take your time and use common sense. The road accesses quite a large area and the landowner seems to keep it maintained to keep it passable for emergencies and has done so for years.

    FYI don't even think about coming in via the Navy facility road from the west.

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