Also on this trip

Trails Used

Mt Abraham trail, Mt Abraham spur trail, Appalachian trail, Sugarloaf side trail, bushwhack

Trail Conditions

Notes

Spring wildflowers are blooming :) Trail was pretty dry, only a couple little muddy bits. Overall in very good shape after the winter. Water source at Spaulding is lovely, and the seep box halfway up sugarloaf was full. The unmaintained heard path over to Redington was, as promised, very unmaintained, but not terrible. Would have been more pleasant on a dry day I imagine. Met a young moose on the way down from Crocker.

Parking

Rapid Stream Rd is ROUGH. I took my low clearance sedan and that was a solid mistake. Don't do it unless you've got something high clearance. Park at the bottom and do the road walk. Oh also, the location of the trail head on Google maps is a lie. Gaia/Cal topo have the correct location.

Water Crossings

Plank bridge at South Branch carrabassett River is still there and sturdy enough

Wildlife

Mosquitos were out in force

Trails Used

Appalachian Trail

Trail Conditions

Notes

Snow free until the last 0.25 mile near the summit where it starts with crusty breakable ice and turns into shallow soft rotting monorail that we poked through, although is mostly avoidable. Snowshoes would not help. One could argue for spikes but the snow is so soft that traction wouldn’t really bite. Opted to not go to south since it appeared to remain a soft monorail and didn’t want to kill the fun.

Parking

Parked in the large AT lot on 27

Water Crossings

None. Numerous small streams along the route for water filtering needs.

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Bushwhack, Caribou Valley Road, Appalachian Trail, bushwhacks, snowmobile trails

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

The bushwhack from the golf course is short but no clear path could be followed. Snow was balling on snowshoes from the start, until just below S. Crocker summit. 4-6 in of fresh powder after that. Broke trail all day. The slide portion was steep and a little bit tricky, hard snow but no ice. The AT between SC and C is beautiful and smooth, easy to follow. Snow pack has already reduced, just fresh snow on the trees. The bushwhack from SC to dirt road is not a clear path, some flagging here and there but can’t rely on that. That was the most fun part for us! The start of the Redington bw is very well marked, and the way up is easy. Took us one hour up and down. It was a long walk out, at one point two snowmobiles came in so it made it a bit easier for us. Took us 11 hours for the 24km.

Parking

Sugarloaf golf course

Water Crossings

All main crossings have bridges

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Bushwhack, Caribou Valley Road, Appalachian Trail

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

The bushwhack from the golf course bridge to Caribou Valley Rd was discernable and fairly well packed (recommend eye protection). Caribou Valley Rd was also well packed and we used spikes for both the bushwhack and the road. We switched to snowshoes at the AT junction. They are highly recommended/necessary for the conditions today. The previous trail was mostly discernable and relatively easy to follow until we got to the top of the very steep section up to South Crocker. Here some drifting obscured the trail in a few place but some minor meandering discovered the previous path taken. After that, the trail curled around a few winter obstacles but was relatively easy to follow. The trail to North Crocker from South Crocker was easy to follow but there were many small trees clutching and grabbing at us, especially over the last third of a mile to the top of North. Back at South, there was a discernable path heading towards Redington but we decided our legs had had enough.

Parking

Sugarloaf gold course parking lot plowed with plenty of parking.

Water Crossings

Used the bridge from the Sugarloaf golf course road for the first one. First minor stream on the AT was bridged. Second had a snow bridge about 20 ft away. Didn't notice any others.