Trails Used

Road walk, Stonehouse Trail, Lookout Loop, White Cairn

Trail Conditions

Notes

Nice view day on the Lookout Loop and White Cairn Trail..8 other hikers seen..some areas of the trails had lots of leafs hiding rocks and causing slips on the way down White Cairn Trail especially..

Parking

Room for 4 or 5 at the gate with some spots along the road..there were 4 upon return and 1 down the road a short distance

Water Crossings

Just small drainages no issues

Wildlife

Skeeters at the trailhead in the AM and blackflies when stopped later in the morning..one tick taken off pant leg..

Trails Used

Road walk, Stonehouse Trail, Lookout Loop, White Cairn

Trail Conditions

Notes

Nice view day on the Lookout Loop and White Cairn Trail..8 other hikers seen..some areas of the trails had lots of leafs hiding rocks and causing slips on the way down White Cairn Trail especially..

Parking

Room for 4 or 5 at the gate with some spots along the road..there were 4 upon return and 1 down the road a short distance

Water Crossings

Just small drainages no issues

Wildlife

Skeeters at the trailhead in the AM and blackflies when stopped later in the morning..one tick taken off pant leg..

Trails Used

Road walk, Stonehouse Trail, Lookout Loop, White Cairn

Trail Conditions

Notes

Nice view day on the Lookout Loop and White Cairn Trail..8 other hikers seen..some areas of the trails had lots of leafs hiding rocks and causing slips on the way down White Cairn Trail especially..

Parking

Room for 4 or 5 at the gate with some spots along the road..there were 4 upon return and 1 down the road a short distance

Water Crossings

Just small drainages no issues

Wildlife

Skeeters at the trailhead in the AM and blackflies when stopped later in the morning..one tick taken off pant leg..

Also on this trip

Trails Used

White Cairn Trail, Blueberry Mountain Loop, Blueberry Ridge Trail, Bickford Slides Trail, Bickford Brook Trail, Red Rock Trail, Stone House Trail, Rattlesnake Pool Spur

Trail Conditions

Notes

Beautiful spring day today! High 50s- low 60s all day and excellent visibility 50+ miles. Still quite a bit of patchy snow visible on the Presidential range. I would highly recommend Bickford Slides trail for those who love waterfalls, as that trail had about as many awesome waterfalls in 0.5 miles as you can get. The snow is almost fully gone in this area, but there was still a few small patches of snow, mostly on the upper section of Bickford Brook trail. It was all avoidable or minimal enough it could be walked over easily. In this section there was also a lot of Moose droppings, but no Moose unfortunately. The West side of Blueberry Mountain on Blueberry Ridge Trail had a decent amount of slippery wet rock, and care will be required in this section to stay on your feet. A lot of loose leaves throughout (A lot of Beech) and this can make some sections a little slippery, but for the most part this wasn't an issue. 6 new completed Redline trails today!

Parking

I was the 5th car at 10:30 and there were two cars when I returned at 4. There is a small lot for 3 or so cars at the Stone House gate, but room for a few more cars to park on the right side of the road just before the gate.

Water Crossings

Bickford Slides trail has a few crossings but all were rock-hoppable, and the crossing of Bickford Brook at the start of Blueberry Ridge Trail was easy enough to hop over as well. There are bridges on the crossings on White Cairn trail and Stone House trail.

Wildlife

Some flies were zipping around at the summit of Speckled but nothing that was a nuisance

Trails Used

Blueberry Mt trail out and back from the southeast

Trail Conditions

Notes

Blueberry may have been delisted but it is still an awesome hike with multiple open vistas. We went past the summit to the open ledges that looked west to VT.

Water Crossings

There are a few spots near the summit where there are large pools of standing water on the trail. All are rock or log hoppable except one. With the upcoming rain, these could get deeper/longer.

Trails Used

road walk : White Cairn Trail : Blueberry Ridge Trail : Loop Trail : Bickford Brook Trail

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

No traction is necessary if you hike only to Blueberry Mountain. I was able to hike all the way to Speckled Mountain without traction. On descent, I wore some old microspikes. There were a lot of dry leaves on both the White Cairn Trail and the Stone House Trail (somewhat slippery). The relocation section of the Stone House Trail with its many switchbacks has no blazes and requires attentiveness to remain on the trail through the deciduous forest. All of the exposed ledges are bare rock with secure footing. There is standing water or running water in the low spots on the dips in the terrain on the Blueberry Ridge Trail. The snow cover was intermittent uphill of Blueberry Mountain up to about 2500 feet where it became more consistent. Even up high, there were some bare ground in places. The softest snow was on the Bickford Brook Trail uphill from the upper junction with the Blueberry Ridge Trail in the relatively flat stretch in the open forest. Thankfully, the snow wasn't too deep. There were several piles of fresh moose droppings in this section. Great views from the ledges and the summit. Make sure to visit Rattlesnake Pool (green water and a cascade) and Rattlesnake Flume just off the Stone House Trail. Also, some good views of area lakes/ponds. Met two hikers from southern Maine on the White Cairn Trail and a hiker from Porter Maine on the Blueberry Ridge and Bickford Brook trails.

Parking

Stone House Road was passable to the parking by the gate 1.1 miles in from route 113. There were some snow/ice, mud, shallow ruts, and dips so drive with care.

Water Crossings

no significant water crossings

Wildlife

A few flies.

Trails Used

Blueberry Mt. Trail northern approach

Trail Conditions

Notes

Great day to be out. We saw no one. No snow left. Only issue we had was ice on the slabs from running water freezing overnight. Probably melted later in the day.

Parking

Road before gate has washed away so you have to park along side the road.

Water Crossings

A couple very small brooks.

Wildlife

None yet