Also on this trip

Trails Used

Stratton Brook Pond Road, Firewardens Trail, Appalachian Trail

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Dry trail until roughly 3K ft, then patchy snow and soft ice. Threw on the rock spikes for the remaining ice flows as you approach the col and kept them on for the ridge. Surprisingly little snow left even in the trees along the ridge and quite supportive despite the warm temps. Snowshoes went for a ride. Seems this week’s rescue didn’t serve as a learning experience for the late starters today without any traction wearing just sneakers.

Parking

Stratton Brook Pond Road winter lot is the place to park, or along Route 27 at the AT lot. Beyond the winter lot of SBPR, there are 4 CLOSED signs from the Maine Bureau of Land Management. One person ignored the signs and drove to the summer lot since it’s not gated. I would not recommend this in an effort to keep the road in good shape for future months since it is soft and there is already significant rutting. Maine trailheads are rough enough, let’s not make it worse :(

Water Crossings

All easily hopped. Plenty of running water for filtering water along Firewardens. No water along the ridge.