| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
East Royce, Red Rock Mountain, Durgin Mountain, Speckled Mountain, Spruce Hill, ME |
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 | Trails: |
ME 113, Laughing Lion Trail, Royce Trail, Royce Connector, East Royce Trail, herd path, Haystack Notch, Miles Notch, Red Rock Trail, Bickford Brook Trail, Spruce Hill Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, June 18, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
East Royce lot is decent size room for probably 20 cars. Pulloff for 2 or 3 cars on 113 just south of Laughing Lion. Small pulloff for 2 cars just south of Haystack Notch trailhead |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Large amount of water crossings today. All were flowing low and slow for easy rock hops |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Haystack Notch is kind of a hot mess in sections east of the HOL. It would be real easy to get lost in there as many past reporters have done when fresh leaves are abundant to cover the very obscure footbed/overgrown/blowdowns/nonexistent corridor that exists in places. Could use more signage in eastern most .2 miles. Brush/grass is waist high with no footbed anywhere in places with only a few markers. A few unmarked/unapparent turns in a sea of vegetation. Red Rock trail has a lot of blowdowns and some overgrown sections |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
would have been a great dog hike. lots of water and no tough scrambles really. One long dry stretch on most of Red Rock/Speckled ridge line. 113 road walk not ideal with dogs here as the road is narrow and people fly up and down the notch sometimes. Mine was at home and missed |
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 | Bugs: |
no bugs anywhere today. Cool temps/rain/wind kept them down in hell where they belong |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
5:00AM arrival at East Royce trailhead. Road biked 1 mile to Laughing Lion, which combined with Royce trail, makes for a very steep and direct line up to the Royce col. Scrambles were mellow and dry. Found the herd path which starts by dropping north down a short, steep ledge just before the summit. There are some incorrect herd paths branching off throughout this path to the northern view ledge, Gaia helped here. The path gets pretty tight and scratchy near the end. Caught some nice early views with an abundance of clouds. Back at trailhead I drove a minute down road and retrieved bike, then re-parked at East Royce and coasted down bike 1.5 miles on 113 to Haystack Notch trailhead.
Haystack Notch was very pleasant and well maintained with minimal blowdowns up to the HOL, then all bets were off for the next 3-4 miles. The further east you get on Haystack the bigger of a mess it becomes. Sections had extremely obscure footbeds with zero trail corridor. I managed to never lose trail for more than a few seconds but I can see how a coat of fresh leaves would make this trail extremely difficult to follow at times. Lots of overgrown hobblebush and luxuriant undergrowth. Once I stepped into the overgrown logging area at the east end I Immediately took a wrong turn left down the dirt logging road that guidebook specifically says to avoid. Instead you go right a few steps then plunged left into waist high vegetation for a few hundred yards. It had just begun raining so this was a real long carwash that soaked me immediately similar to jumping into waist deep water. I relied heavily on Gaia here. There were a few rusty metal markers with yellow blazing at top through the field that helped as well. The out-and-back walk north .1 to the trailhead was very long grass. Found a few ticks just after this section.
First bit of Miles Notch is overgrown grassy forest road. It then dips right into the woods at a small wooden sign on a wooden post. The trail then climbs pleasantly along/through streams up to Red Rock Trail. Red Rock is an amazing trail but does suffer from many blowdowns and a lot of overgrown sections. It was still drizzling and the car wash effect continued all the way to Speckled. Caught partial views from the spectacular Red Rock Cliff, which was nice after being in a cloud my first visit. Was pretty gassed from the long morning when climbing Speckled, which was socked-in. I was very pleasantly surprised by Spruce Hill Trail, so much so that it was the only trail running I did all day. Easy grades and lots of good footing. Saw a group of three just below Speckled summit and a nice older couple who said they lived a mile from the haystack/Miles trailhead and agreed it was currently a mess over there. When I told him I was almost finished hiked the guidebook he replied "ah, the art formerly known as redlining" which I found simultaneously amusing and depressing. A really nice, quiet day in the mountains. It never rained hard or was too windy, just enough of both to keep it nice and cool with no insects today. Total route was about 22 miles with ~5500' with 2.5 miles being easy biking. Great route for today when the higher peaks forecast was very unfavorable. |
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 | Name: |
Spence |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-06-18 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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