| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Snow Mountain (Cupsuptic), ME |
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 | Trails: |
Herd path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, October 19, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Many reports include directions as this one is a little tricky to find. I found today consistent with other trips and reports for distances, so no significant reroutes.
More important are road conditions. All roads had some mostly shallow potholes/puddles and some exposed rocks, but none that would cause damage to undercarriage of average vehicle. A coupe of rocks or deeper potholes could cause wheel/tire damage if going too fast. Speed limit is 25 and maintaining a speed of 25-30, with watchful eyes, shouldn't be a problem. Some roads have rougher segments and larger or more severe hazards. Rating the roads on 1-10 scale with 10 best - Morton Cutoff 8, Lincoln Pond Rd 7, Kennebago River Road 6 (lower segment near lake and camps 5, upper segment 7), Wiggle Brook Road 7, Forest Road to trailhead 5-6.
Directions: From Junctions with ME4, ME16, ME 17 in Oquossoc (just west of Rangeley) Morton Cutoff 3.1 to Lincoln Pond Rd. Turn right, immediately a road intersects from left, continue to the right 7.6 mi to four way intersection just after a bridge and parking area on left. Turn left here onto Kennebago River Road. Straight ahead is now Tim Pond Road that connects to main roads north of Eustis. At 3.2 mi on KRR, Wiggle Brook Rd intersects on Left. Straight ahead will take you to Canada. Immediately after turn onto WBR, go over a sketchy looking bridge (top layers of planks are badly eroded, but bridge is strong enough to support logging vehicles, so should be OK for passenger vehicles). At .1, Bear Brook Road intersects on right. This is the most common way to reach White Cap and Kennebago Divide. WBR dips down to a low point and then steadily climbs to a high point right before junction with Ox Bow Road. Before this junction at 4.3 from KRR, a forest road intersects on left. Take this road .4 to small parking area on right. There is an open field on other side that could hold more vehicles if you don't mind parking in tall grass or beating it down. This portion of the drive takes 45-50 minutes, with no traffic, at 25-30 mph. Morton Cutoff is widest segment, on all others you will need to take care if encounter oncoming traffic. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet Trail, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Only water crossings are over culverts on the logging road segments |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
This is an unmaintained series of herd paths, but some key points are marked with cairns.
There are a large number of deadfall on the summit segment, but most are easy stepovers with only a few requiring a little extra efforts. All are trimmed, some only partially. Some of those require care to avoid getting snagged. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
This would be ok hike for dogs. Nothing technical. No water on trail, other than stagnant puddles. I could hear running water along the first logging road segment, but didn't explore. May be a small brook off trail. Logging roads are very brushy, so fur may pick up plant debris and ticks. |
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 | Bugs: |
None - Cold temps (40's for most of hike) and late in season. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
About .5 from summit found 3 deposits of human excrement right on the trail. Woods are open so plenty of options to avoid this. I bet that person didn't file a trail report.
I didn't notice on the ascent, but did on the descent, very close to the summit there were some scattered bones, apparently a very small moose, right on trail. |
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 | Comments: |
The hike consists of generally easy to follow paths. The first half traverses several overgrown logging roads at easy to moderate grades. The second half is a generally well-defined path through the woods at moderate to steep grades, with several turns and switchbacks that are sometimes difficult to follow if you are not paying close attention.
The first road segment continues on the road that takes you to the parking spot. This segment is the wettest and muddiest. There is evidence of recent vehicle traffic and unless you have an off road mudder, forge it. Most of the worst spots can be avoided by careful route planning, but I would recommend waterproof boots if you have 'em. This segment is only .3, where a herd path intersects on the left in the middle of another logging road. This path is marked with a cairn, but it is very low and small, so you could miss it if you are focused on the ground. Start looking left as soon as you see the opening on the left.
The path goes through waist to chin high vegetation, but the path is wide enough so this isn't a major problem. I used my trek poles to brush away any encroaching plants in case they had thorns. (I didn't notice any, but better safe than sorry.) There are a few wet/muddy spots, but nothing like the first segment. This segment goes for .25 mile to a clearing/intersection with another logging road. The path continues straight and uphill, marked by an even smaller cairn and the remnants of an old arrow made from branches pointing straight ahead. If I hadn't previous knowledge of the arrow, I never would have noticed it.
The path continues forward through sometimes even higher plant growth and takes a sharp left. The turn is marked by a one or two rock cairn, but there is no visible path straight ahead. Right after this turn you hop over an partially exposed culvert and continue a short ways to the final clearing/intersection. Footing on this segment is a bit less wet than the previous. Total distance for this segment is again about .25 mile.
It's here that you need to find the summit path. The trail report I was using as a guide says to "bear right" here and proceed over some logging slash. I took a visible path just to the right of a cluster of evergreens, with many footprints in the mud on a steep pitch. However that path started to turn left at a flat to descending spot, so obviously was not the correct route. I followed a series of paths that headed toward the right and slightly uphill until I crossed a very well defined path headed steeply up toward the summit. On the descent I again got off the summit path in this same general area. (There are several braided paths here, so I am not the first to get off course.) When I reached the clearing on the descent, I followed the intersecting road to the right (facing uphill) (TURN right, not BEAR right) and 40-50 feet along this line there is a small cairn, and then 30-40 feet beyond this cairn is a second one. At neither cairn was a visible path into the woods. However, about 10-20 feet beyond the second cairn is the path. There is almost no logging slash left, so at one time this might have been more tricky to navigate as several older reports mention navigating through the slash.
The summit path is generally well defined. However, there are several sharp turns and switchbacks that are sometimes a little difficult to spot without stopping and looking in all directions. The lower portion is clear of most leaves and debris, with only a few very small deadfall. There are some steep muddy pitches with some slippery footing. The upper section has many more deadfall, more leaves, a few very small spruce traps (that the trail goes through), and some areas overgrown by ferns, so it is easier to get off trail here, but the summit cone is getting narrower, so it is easy to find the correct path. This segment has many more switchbacks and some of the overgrown segments may actually have been off trail. I missed a few turns, but it became evident quickly and I could generally spot the path further ahead.
Hope this helps people avoid the mistakes I made. But in the grand scheme of things, these are probably the most minor mistakes I've made on the 76 of the NEHH completed to date.
PS - Anyone interested in helping an old man do Vose Spur and Scar Ridge next year, late spring? |
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 | Name: |
SpartyHikerfromMaine |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-10-19 |
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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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