Elevation: 3,074 ft (overall) 3,374 ft (total)
Time: 3:45 (Summit) 6:25 (total)
Trails: Fire Warden's Trail
Today's hike would be the last of 5 hikes I would need to do in the Stratton, Maine area. Feeling Mt. Abraham would be too much to add onto and out and back of Spaulding Mtn and Sugarloaf Mtn, I came back to get this peak along and came in from the east side on the Fire Warden's Trail. Parking is at an old bridge crossing (washed out) of Ladd Brook along Rapid Stream Road. The road was rough in places, but with care even a low clearance car such as mine would make it fine.
You now park right at the river crossings since the bridges have been washed out. The first crossing was easy right where the bridge use to be. Another 100 feet later is the second crossing, and this was easiest about 30 ft downstream. The two hikers who left just before me determined this and it was easy for me to watch them as I caught up. You then almost immediately turn right on an old logging road which is now actively used as an ATV/snowmobile trail. You follow this for about 1/2 mile and then come to the old trail head.
First river crossing
From here, the trail is very easy. You gain only about 1,000 ft of elevation in the first 3 miles. There are a couple brook crossings, but nothing difficult or too big. The hardest part was a muddy section around a large blow down and making sure you are on the proper trail in a couple places where it seems to have been rerouted. I found if there is confusion, take the route to the left on the way to the mountain. There was one spot that from the new portion of trail I could still see a blaze on the old portion. I see this as the most like place to make a mistake.
A casual walk in the woods to start
While walking through this section of forest, at one point I heard noise in the bushes just ahead of me. Then 2 small dark animals started to climb trees about 20 feet from me. My initial thought was "oh crap, where's mom?" thinking they might be bear cubs. Then they climbed higher and I could see that they had long tails, certainly not bears. Whew. It turned out to be 2 Fishers that were trying to run off. One picked a good tree and was able to climb high up it. The other picked a dead tree that had broken off so he couldn't go very high. But by the time I got the camera out, he had managed to find a better one and get further up. No pictures today, but still a memorable event.
Eventually you cross a brook near the old Fire Warden's Cabin which has been removed and is now replaced with tent sites. From here, the trail turns almost 90 degrees and heads right up the mountain. The real climb starts now without much for switchbacks. Through here was the worst section for blow downs. A good day of clearing could be spent on this trail. There was even one large blow down that require a large difficult detour that is starting to turn into a herd path. In all reality though, it doesn't take too long before you start to come out of the trees.
Easy to avoid blow down
Coming out of the trees
While the summit sits at only 4,050 ft, Mt. Abraham has the second largest alpine area in the state (behind Katahdin), so you will be out of the trees quite a bit on this hike. The trail is easy to follow over the rocks with cairns and some stone work done. There are some places that require paying attention to your footing though. Keeping steep to start, the trail will go back into small patches of trees at times as it levels off a bit before the summit. There was plenty of blueberries along the trail today and I was able to have a nice snack on them before the final push to the summit. As you get closer to the summit, you can see the remains of an old fire tower that resides there.
View of Spaulding and Sugarloaf from the summit
Summit fire tower
Stone structure at the summit
It was a little breezy at the summit, but it was sunny and mostly clear. There were also great views in all directions. Following another hiker's ideas, I normally say that if there is a fire tower, you need to climb it. But seeing as I was already above the trees and the structure had most of guy lines broken and a couple braces out of place, the short tower didn't seem worth it. There was also a small stone structure at the summit. It had a decent roof on it that was partially covered in rocks, but wasn't very tall. There was a simple opening to get into it, but you had to duck to fit in. I didn't venture in as other hikers at the summit said it stunk in there and there was just some trash. I'm curious as to what this was used for though. Maybe A quick place for the wardens to retreat to when a storm wouldn't make it safe to hike down the mountain.
Saddleback peaks to the west
Redington and Crockers to the west
Brook near the old cabin site
The hike down from the summit went quick and easy while seeing a few more hikers headed up. There were no more big animal encounters and no surprises since I had already come up the same trail. This hike was a very nice one and certainly something I would repeat. I do still think though that the best way to get this peak would to do a traverse from Caribou Valley Road over Sugarloaf and Spaulding on the way here. Maybe next time I can convince someone to come with me so I can spot a car.
For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE
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