Scenic and serene: Maine's slice of the White Mountains

By TOM ATWELL, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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Trail name: Caribou Loop Trail Nearest town: Gilead Region: Western Lakes & Mountains Length: 6.3 miles Difficulty: Intermediate Elevation gain: 2828 feet above sea level Other: Parking is available at the trailhead on Route 113. The White Mountain National Forest charges parking fees at trail heads. You can pay $3 fees at the site by dropping the cash in an envelope, but those are good for only one day and for the one site. For $5, at any national forest office, you can get a weekly pass good for all sites. For $20, you get an annual pass and for $25 you get an annual pass for two vehicles in the same family. Directions: Take Route 113 North into the White Mountain National Forest. The Caribou trailhead will be on the right, marked with a small sign. Be sure to have a map. Note: Parts of Route 133 close in the winter, so call ahead to the Bethel office of the White Mountain National Forest (207-824-2134) if you're not sure if it's open. Maps: Get driving directions from MapQuest. View a topo map from Maptech MapServer.

The White Mountains are in New Hampshire. Everyone knows that.

Perhaps that explains why during three warm, basically dry late June days of driving, hiking and fishing the 50,000 acres of the White Mountain National Forest that bumps into Maine, it at times seemed like I had the place all to myself.

"None of the Maine portion of the White Mountain National Forest gets heavy use," said Pat Nasta, an assistant ranger with the Androscoggin Ranger District of the National Forest. "People who come to the Maine portion tend to know that, and they are looking for a quieter experience."

Frank Ruehl, who has been coming to Hastings Campground from Maryland with his wife, Janet, and two daughters since the mid to late 1980s, fits that profile.

"It's quiet, serene," said Ruehl on a Wednesday morning while planning a late breakfast and a hike for the day. "You don't have any trailers right next to you where they've put out lawn ornaments. Some years we've come up and been the only ones here" at the campground.

The forest offers plenty to do. State Route 113, which follows Evans Notch through the national forest from Gilead to Stow, crossing over to New Hampshire in sections, is one of Maine's most scenic drives. Dozens of hiking trails of varying difficulty offer outstanding views. The Maine section has two campgrounds, Hastings and Crocker Pond, and three others sit just over the line in New Hampshire. The fishing in sections is good to great. The rivers and streams have some good swimming and wading holes. Bicyclists use Route 113 for touring and the dirt roads and some hiking trails for mountain biking. Hobby mineral collectors use several areas. In winter, there are several snowmobile trails, including parts of Route 113 itself. And a self-guided auto tour describes how the forest evolves.

That doesn't mean no one uses the Maine section of the national forest. Although no one knows exactly how many do use it.

"There's no gate, no fence," said Nasta, "so there is no way to know."

But a recent survey conducted in the entire White Mountain National Forest shows 2.7 million users per year. That is lower than the figure of 6 million to 7 million that is usually given, but the recent survey counts only people who get out of their car to do something and not those who just drive through. The person who did the survey told Nasta that about 15 percent of those visits would occur in Maine, which comes to 405,000 visitors per year.

The variety of trails in the Maine section of the White Mountain National Forest is amazing. Several loop trails bring you back near your car without retracing your steps. Others head from one spot to another, often connecting with other trails. Some are steep and head to the top of mountains. Others follow riverbeds or railroad tracks, and are gentle.

The national forest office in Bethel has sheets describing most of the hikes, and you can buy for $4.95 a DeLorme map showing and describing 250 hikes in the White Mountains.

During my three days, I completed two loop hikes and spent some time walking out and back on other trails.

My first hike was quick, on the Albany Notch trail near Crocker Pond. Nasta had told me a beaver dam is used as part of the trail, and that the area is popular with school kids. I thought I would check it out, and enjoyed it.

Next I climbed Caribou. Caribou and Speckled mountains are the most popular hikes on the Maine side, although that varies.

"If 'Backpacker' magazine does a story on Baldface (just over the line in New Hampshire) everyone wants to do Baldface," she said.

I chose the Caribou loop because it was shorter than Speckled, 6.3 miles with an estimated time of 4.5 hours. I carried a canteen with a quart of water ­ leaving a 20-ounce Moxie bottle filled with water in the car for when I got down ­ and a global positioning system trail tracker. I also took three granola bars and bug repellent.

The hike started well, following Morrison Brook, crossing it a number of times, seeing a lot of small waterfalls and crossing streams entering from the various sides.

After 2 miles along Morrison Brook and 2.4 miles from the start, I came to Knees Falls, a 25-foot drop. It was an OK falls, but it mostly was a chance to sit down and rest. But what was more spectacular, just 100 or so yards beyond, was a tributary of a smaller stream that came down a large cliff. Another excuse to stop and rest.

Then I kept slogging along and came to the end of the Caribou trail, which really occurs at the junction of Bog Brook Trail   which heads toward Route 2 in Gilead   and Mud Brook Trail, which heads back to the car. But you're in the middle of nowhere. And the trail description says you still have 0.6 miles to the summit of Caribou. I had to stop to rest twice before I came to what I thought was the summit of Caribou. It was ledge and the trail started going down. Trees growing among the ledge blocked them to an extent. I thought they couldn't cut them down because it was the wilderness area. But it was an excuse to rest.

After going downhill for a bit, the trail on the ledge starting going up again. This time there were few trees and a lot more ledge, and I knew I had hit the summit because there was a brass marker in the rock telling me so. Another excuse to stop and rest. And I actually had enough energy after a while to walk around the ledge a bit, looking at the view and feeling the breeze.

In the wilderness area, the trails aren't as clearly marked as elsewhere in the national forest. And while I was never in danger of getting lost, my male pattern blindness kicked in and it often took me a few seconds to find either yellow dashes painted on rock or piles of rock showing where I should be going next.

When I started down, I had about one swallow of water left in my canteen. I made good time down the Mud Brook Trail, stopping occasionally to splash my face with water from the several streams that crossed the trail. The water was cold and refreshing, and I was tempted to drink some, but didn't.

I got back to the car 3 hours after I left it, cutting an hour off the estimate in the pamphlet. Not bad for a 56-year-old guy.

During the entire walk, I saw five people. A mother and grade-school children were in the parking lot, and I doubt they took the entire loop. They were leaving and they didn't look tired. And I met a college-age man and woman heading up Mud Trail when I was about 20 minutes from the end. Except for those people, I had the mountain to myself.

The next day I walked about a half-mile up the Highwater Trail, which has a great pedestrian bridge over the Wild River. I had taken this trail before while fishing, not knowing it was a hiking trail.

My legs were tired, but I took the Roost Loop, 1.8 miles and moderate difficulty. Some of the hiking seemed more difficult than moderate, but my legs were tired from the day before. Once you get to the summit, there is a sign that says simply "VIEW" pointing down the hill. Your legs are tired. It's a steep bit, and you know that if you go down that steep pitch, you are going to have to come back up. But the trip is worth it. You can see the Wild River, a section of Evans Brook, the entire flat opening that was farmed first by a runaway slave named Tom and then became the logging village of Hastings. And the breeze was wonderful.