The trail is well defined the entire way. On the west between old speck and Sunday river whitecap there in an overgrown section. On the east there are a few blowdowns that require a little crawling.
There are plenty of water sources along the way and a few spots to dip in the river on the east. While most AllTrails users know to check the books to determine distance, it should be noted this distance is closer to 38 miles. The map is an accurate guide and the elevation is a little over 11k. There are many camps along the way though so this would be perfect for a multi day backpacking trip. I did the trail counter-clockwise starting from the southern end, at the Stewart Family Preserve.
We did it in 4 days, 3 nights. All the campsites were great! All had privies. Bull Run had a bear box and tent platforms. East Baldpate and Bull Run had good water, but Stewart just had a puddle.
There is a short section about a mile before East Baldpate Campsite that was overgrown with blowdowns. However, the worst section was between Old Speck and Slide Mountain campsite.
There was very thick brush you had to walk through and some of the ground had rocks that you could trip on because you couldn't see your feet through all the brush.
We did see evidence that trail maintenance had been done recently in some sections, taking care of some of the blowdowns that had been there, and possibly the cutting of some wood for new puncheons near Stowe Mountain. As we descended from Stowe and Bald Mountains, there were nice staircases that looked pretty new. All in all, a rugged, challenging, steep, yet beautiful trail with a lot to offer.
Loved all the little swimming holes. We had great views on Lightning Ledges and the Baldpates. The AT section of the trail was definitely epic, and it was cool running into some hikers on their way to Katahdin. I would hike this trail again, but maybe try to push a little farther on the 1st or 2nd day so I wouldn't have to hike the Baldpates and Old Speck on the same day!
We were night hiking through the thick brush to get to Bull Run on day 3! Did the trail clockwise from the southern trail head. A few really nice views, but a lot of the trail is badly overgrown. At times, it felt like the trail had been left to fade away as unused.
The campsites we stayed at Bull Run and Lane were good though. Hiked this trail with my teenage daughter and two of her friends last August. We did 3 overnights and hiked it clockwise. Beautiful hike - good times had by all. Only regret is we saw no Moose - only poop!
The mountain views are amazing! Saw a copperhead so be careful in the overgrown sections. Saw a porcupine and evidence of moose and bear, but no sightings. Some of the planks are rotted, but there is evidence of work being done on the trail. Stewart campsite didn't have water. Fill up with water when you can as some of the creeks have dried up.
It is a long trail; I clocked it at Well worth it and so glad that I did it. The AllTrails app and website listed the mileage at It was a challenging and fun hike but we put in 40 miles and there was more to go. This was my first ever backpacking trip. As such it's hard for me to properly review it because I have nothing to compare it to. I went alone. It was a bit too ambitious for me.
Alltrails has it listed as 33 miles but the other hikers I came across claimed it was So I did it in three days but it was the hardest thing I've ever done.
Still I was impressed. I was not expecting such nice campsites. They all had toilets and most had platforms and bear boxes. The Lane site didn't have a bear box but every other one did. There was practically no one else on the trail.
On Thursday I didn't see a soul. Some of the views were pretty spectacular. The trail in parts was really overgrown and had lots of blowdowns. I don't know if that's normal or just because of the pandemic? Less maintenance? The AT section felt like luxury lol. Wide and very clearly marked. We would absolutely do it again, hopefully doing the full loop next year.
We found the AT section to be the most strenuous, the view from Sunday River Whitecap to be the best, and the summit approach for Old Speck to be our favorite stretch. We camped Friday night at the Bald Mountain Campsite 2 miles from Rt 26 which had 2 wooden tent platforms, designated kitchen area with bear box, and composting outhouse.
It felt a bit like glamping, which we enjoyed given our newbie status. Saturday was a beautiful hike up Bald and Stowe mountains; nothing too steep and the AMC has done some great additions of planks and stairs in the most steep areas.
We had lunch at the Sargent Brook campsite, which didn't have any water source we could find. We then went up and over the Sunday River Whitecap, which was the only section above the tree line. The only issue for us was we didn't encounter any water between the base of Stowe Mountain and the Slide Mountain campsite.
There's a very pretty brook with a little waterfall that you cross to get to the campsite from the trail. We had both campsites to ourselves each night, but crossed paths with a few other hikers and groups on both Saturday and Sunday. Our nights were cold, in the 30F's, but reasonable with the gear we had.
Sunday's summiting of Old Speck was my favorite part of the hike; super gentle inclines through some beautiful forests. We actually arrived at the summit by 'accident'; we heard some voices, turned a corner, and were there! The most strenuous hiking we had was the decent down the AT to the parking lot; those are long four miles with packs when you're a newbie.
Did the loop clockwise in 4 days, 3 nights. Started at the south end and hiked Campground had a running stream and 3 sites with 1 bear box. Next day was around 14 miles to Lane Campground. Highly recommend Lane campground, it has a waterfall and small pools to take a dip chilly but soothing. Next day was 8. Stream dried up at Stewart so make sure to fill up at the stream at the base of Puzzle.
Final day was 4. Lovely loop, campsites were full every night, but everyone always got a spot. AT parts of the trail are much better maintained than the other parts which are pretty overgrown. We saw a moose, an owl, plenty of toads, and some beautiful birds! Highly recommend. The trail was clearly not kept up this year, very overgrown particularly between Old Speck summit and slide campgrounds.
All that being said, we had a great 3 days with particularly beautiful views white cap. Tough elevation but worth it in the end! Trail was marked, including signs for upcoming camp sites. In some areas the trail was over grown and we did find a few blow downs. Currently there seems to be plenty of water.
Fun hike. All of the streams were full and the trail had ankle deep water. Bear box at Slide was left open and full of water. Privys were functional and the campsites are solid. Trail Map. Click on a parking icon to get custom directions.
Comments 3. Please Log In or Create Account to add comments. June 10, I did the full loop in June of and had an excellent time. Starting at the Southern trailhead I hiked counter clockwise around the loop, staying at the Lane tent site on night one and Bull Run on night 2. There were some times that the trail was a little touch and go, the section between Town Corner and Lightening Ledge Knob was particularly hard to follow, but not impossible.
It was similar to a Wilderness Area trail, like you might find in the Wild River. Day 2 was certainly the most challenging with the ascent of Baldpate, descent to the road followed by the ascent of Old Speck, however all of this was along the AT with plenty of people and trail marking and maintenance. I've come away thinking that the non-AT sections of the trail are used significantly more by Grafton Notches moose population than human population and that is quite okay with me.
I saw one Moose and many tracks along with plenty of scat. August 13, I hiked the western half of the loop and found the trail to be difficult to follow at times. I would suggest keeping a GPS handy, because there were several times when I could not see any markers and had to reference my GPS to figure out where the trail was. I get the impression that it does not see a lot of traffic as it is very overgrown, in places it felt like we were bushwhacking because the growth was so thick.
We stayed at the Bull Run campsite, which was great. It has an awesome water source, two tent platforms and a privy. We easily found three pairs of trees to hang our hammocks from. Views from the top of Old Speck were great, unfortunately we were in the clouds at the summit of Whitecap, but I bet the views would have been phenomenal!
May 11, Lots of blowdowns along the trail. There was still snow on anything above feet. This potentially has the makings of a great trail, but the only views were on Sunday River Whitecap. The tent site at Slide mountain consisted of privy. The one at Bull Run is non-existant as far as we could tell. Sargent Brook tent site was decent with a bear box and communal cooking area.
Bald Mountain tentsite has a privy and tent platforms. I will probably go back up with a saw and clear some of the blowdowns, The trail kind of disappears when a 40 ft tree falls on it. Map View Add a Service. These awesome businesses support our goal of connecting people to outdoor adventures in Maine! No Results No Services Found. MATC maintains the trail east of Route 26, including four designated campsites. The Appalachian Mountain Club maintains the trail west of Route 26, also including four designated campsites.
The trail is a rugged, remote backcountry trail, and much of it is on private land. If you are interested in maintaining a section, please see the Baldpate District in the current vacancy section of our Trail Maintainer Page.
0コメント