Trip report

Grafton Loop Backpack

Backpacking DATE: 08/29/2014 - 09/01/2014

Trip/Event Location: Newry, ME
US

Trip Leader(s): Richardg , shep5

Max # People: 6

Trip Guiding / Event Fee: No, I will not be asking participants for money

Difficulty Level: Strenuous

Please join us for a spectacular, 38 mile backcountry backpack in Maine’s Mahoosuc Mountains this Labor Day weekend.  We will hike the Grafton Loop Trail and a section of the Appalachian

...
Driving directions to the location and spot to meet at:

Grafton Notch Campground:  1472 Bear River Road / Route 26, Newry, Maine 04261 Phone: (207) 824-2292
From Bethel: Follow Route 2 East to Newry Corner (Routes 2 & 26)
Turn left. Go 7 miles north on Rt. 26 (Bear River Rd.) Campground is on the left.
From Rumford/Farmington: Follow Route 2 West to Newry Corner (Routes 2 & 26)
Turn right. Go 7 miles north on Rt. 26 (Bear River Rd.) Campground is on the left.
From Errol, New Hampshire (Routes 16 & 26)
Travel 24 miles south on Rt. 26. Campground is on the right.
Eddy Road Parking Lot: 985 Bear River Rd (Rt. 26); Newry, ME 04261  (44.538936, -70.829642).
Grafton Notch State Park Parking Lot: Rt. 26: Newry, ME 04261 (44.589773, -70.946678)
 


Trip Report/Photos
Featured Photo

On Thursday, August 28th, Richard and I drove up to Newry, Maine...having dinner at the Rooster's Roadhouse on the way in Bethel.  We secured a campsite at the Grafton Notch Campground just before 9PM.

In the morning, we broke camp and drove up Route 26 to the trailhead at the Grafton Notch State Park.  We got ready quickly, but we ended up having to wait about 20 minutes for two guys, who signed up but didn't show (one of them had taken himself off the list that morning, but with no service up there, we didn't know).

We headed across the road and followed the AT for a short distance to the Table Rock Trail.  We took this up, since it offered a wonderful view over the notch.  This trail is rough to say the least...there were numerous points where we had to scramble over, under and through boulders.  This was a bit of a challenge with the added weight of a full pack.  It was well-worth it though as we were soon rewarded with ledge views from points along the trail as well as the beautiful Table Rock!  The views over to Old Speck and down the valley were simply spectacular.  After all the effort, we took a break here.  At about 10:40AM we continued along the connector trail back to the AT, which we reached about 20 minutes later.  The AT was less rocky, but with a fairly steep grade in spots, particularly after the Baldpate Lean-to.  We reached the West Peak of Baldpate Mountain (3662') by 1PM.  This was mostly treed, but just a little beyond the summit it opened up to wonderful views of the East Peak.  We sat down and enjoyed some lunch here.

After lunch (1:50PM) we started to descend into the col between the peaks.  In the col there was boardwalk across some beautiful wetland (it was totally dry though).  After this the trail began to climb steeply up the open granite of Baldpate Mountain, providing wonderful views back to West Peak.  We finally made it to the summit (3812') by 2:30PM.  There was a thru-hiker here, who took our picture.  It was also a good time for another break.  After about 20 minutes we hit the trail again, finally breaking off the AT and heading south along the eastern side of the loop.  At first this part of the trail was very overgrown, but it quickly looked more maintained and wider.  This side of the mountain had a much more gentle grade to it and it was much easier to descend, although there was still one point, where rebar rungs were set into the rock to assist.  The trail continued to meander through the woods to the East Baldpate Camp.  After this the trail started to climb again up to a shoulder summit, where Lighting Ledge was located.  This provided a number of views from various points...over the notch and to the south and west.  It was now about 5:30 and we continued our descent to the Lane Campsite.  We reached this by a little after 6PM and decided to call it a day and make camp here, while it was still light out.  This was a beautiful campsite with a picturesque waterfall nearby.  There was only one other couple here and they were on the other end of the site, so it was pretty quiet.  We set up camp, ate and relaxed afterwards for a time down by the waterfall.  It was a beautifully clear sky, but was very cold out after sunset.  Between 9:30 and 10:30PM we had turned it (I turned in earlier, due to the chill in the air).

After a cold and somewhat sleepless night, we got up before 6:30AM and prepared our breakfasts and broke camp.  We finally got back on the trail by 9AM.  The trail continued to wander through the woods and by 9:35AM we reached the point where the Knoll Campsite was (although signage for it had been removed, so it was a good thing that we stopped the night before at Lane).  We continued on as the trail proceeded through the col with and began to climb up Long Mountain.  Many of the streams and brooks through here were fairly dry.  After passing the Town Corner Camp the trail began to climb more aggressively and by 11:35AM we had reached the summit of Long Mountain.  It was a little beyond this, that there was a spur trail to a nice ledge, which overlooked the valley.  It was now 11:45 and we took an early lunch break.  There were nice views over to the Sunday River Ski Resort, as well as the double-peaked Puzzle Mountain.  It had become increasingly overcast by this time though and Old Speck was partially in the clouds.  

We descended off the spur trail back to the loop trail and continued to descend Long Mountain.  This was a fairly long stretch of trail with some woodland and some open areas.  We reached the col, where there was a good flowing brook by 2:30PM.  Richard needed some water and it was a perfect place to filter some before we began climbing up to Puzzle Mountain.  The climb stated out modestly up to the Stewart Campsite and then became steeper as it approached the first summit of Puzzle.  At least there were a series of switchbacks in the trail, which broke up the climb.  By 4:30 we broke treeline out onto the northern flank of Puzzle.  The trail was over granite and the opening provided great views back up the valley and our entire route from the notch and the Baldpates.  This "false" summit was in the trees, but continuing on towards the true summit of Puzzle Mountain, we were treated to a much more traditional summit above the trees.  It was just before 5PM and we met up with a Blaze hiking group here (a group of Backpacking Gay Men from NYC).  They were doing the loop in the opposite direction and we chatted for a bit before they continued on.  We followed shortly afterwards.  The views were beautiful and the clouds had thinned out again by this point.

The descent off of Puzzle was beautiful as it made it way along open granite ledges with near continuous views over the valley for next 30 minutes of the descent.  Afterwards the trail became less steep as it meandered through the woods towards the Eddy Road Parking Lot...the southern terminus of the loop.  We reached this trailhead by 6:45PM.  With the heavy rain and thunderstorms forecast for Sunday and Monday, we had decided to end our trip with just half of the loop.  Also, according to the map from the Maine Section of the AMC, the next camp was Sargent Camp about 6 miles away.  This would have been difficult to make.  I had since learned that a new camp was added at Bald Mountain only about 1.5 miles away.  This would have been good to know (I had grabbed a brochure from the Grafton Notch State Park kiosk and thrown this in my car before the trip...this showed the additional camp).

Anyway, after unsuccessfully trying to hitch a ride back up the valley for almost an hour, we finally called the Grafton Notch Campground and talked the owner into giving one of us a lift back to get the car.  Unfortunately, just after we bothered her, another hiker showed up and offered us a ride.  Still it was very nice of her to do that for us, especially since there was little traffic along that road at that time of night!  She drove me up to my car and I returned for Richard standing with our gear in the dark.

Despite only doing half the loop, this was still an incredibly beautiful 2 days out in the wilderness.  We saw very few people out on the loop, but the weather for those 2 days was wonderful for hiking.  It was well worth it, especially with Richard's companionship for the trip...a pretty laid back and relaxing outting overall.

Members That Participated

Richardg

Outdoor Fitness Level: Strenuous


NYC/Hudson Valley, NY


United States

Attended
shep5

Outdoor Fitness Level: Very Strenuous


Jaffrey, NH


United States

Attended
FlamingStream

Outdoor Fitness Level: Moderate to Strenuous


Weymouth, MA


United States

No Show
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