GRAFTON LOOP TRAIL
THE COMPLETE TRAIL MAP AND BROCHURE-- COMPLETE WITH TRAIL DISTANCES -- CAN BE DOWNLOADED AT: http://www.matc.org/gltbrchr.doc. (It is a 2.24 MEG file.)
Research conducted by the Appalachian Mountain Club found that use of the Appalachian Trail (AT) in the Mahoosucs has increased by over 300% since the 1970s. When the Maine Conservation Corps constructed, from Steve Spencer's design work, the Wright Trail to Goose Eye Mountain, it quickly became a popular and heavily used trail.
Spencer, the recreation specialist for the Bureau of Parks and Lands in the Maine Department of Conservation, did the Wright Trail layout, while assisted by Mike Cooper of Bethel, who laid out the new Grafton Loop Trail in consultation with landowners.
The new trail will connect to the AT at two points on either side of Grafton Notch to create a loop, 42 miles in length. The design is intended to connect a series of scenic peaks, woods and streams with a trail that will provide a 3- to 5-day, semi-wilderness experience for backpackers, while also providing an alternative route to AT hikers, drawing people away from the heavily used AT.
With a planning grant from the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund and matching donations from other individuals and organizations, the trail layout has been completed as has the northbound section to the east of Route 26.
The route leaves the AT from East Baldpate, crosses over Lightning Ledge and Long Mountain before ascending Puzzle Mountain, one of the higher, but rarely climbed peaks in the area.
Descending to Route 26, the trail will cross the highway at a trailhead parking lot, cross the Bear River and then follow a series of minor peaks before traversing Sunday River Whitecap. This parking lot at the southern trailhead is completed. The second half of the Loop Trail is completed, and expected to possibly be opened for hikers sometime in June 2006, pending negotiations with a landowner.
After Sunday River Whitecap, the trail will skirt the slide on Slide Mountain, descend into the upper Bull Branch (of the Sunday River) valley, and finally climb the southern flank of Old Speck to reconnect with the AT.
On page 25 of the May 2006 issue of Backpacker magazine, there is an article about the Graffton Loop Trail, complete with photographs.
From the outset, a diverse group of people (now known as the Grafton Loop Trail Coalition) involved in the project, has made education an essential goal of the project.
When the whole trail is complete, there will be brochures, maps and signs to educate the trail's users on the area's pattern of land ownership and its various uses. A brochure is available with a detailed map and other information about the trail.
The group also sees this project as a model of collaboration among public, commercial and private land owners and managers and other trail and user-group organizations, to create opportunities for backcountry recreation that co-exist with other land uses.
On Oct. 3, 2002, promoters, proponents, builders, backers and a few members of the press got a "sneak preview" of the newly completed footway that leads from Route 26 in Newry to the bare, rocky summit of East Baldpate Mountain, one of the principal peaks along the Appalachian Trail.
| ***MAP: To download the map of this newly completed footway, use this link and save the file as is: http://www.matc.org/gltmap.jpg. The black and white map is a 1.47 MEG file, which prints to a size of 8.04 inches by 10.5 inches. Cartography and trail mapping was done by Larry Garland, Appalachian Mountain Club. To download the Trail Description and Trail Distances, use this link and save the file as is: http://www.matc.org/distbrief.doc. It is a 25 kb file written by Maine Appalachian Trail Club former Baldpate District Overseer Paul Johnson, who wheeled the trail, managed the log, and did the math. Cooper then compiled it into Word format. To download the Private Lands Etiquette that accompanies the map, description and trail distances, use this link and save the file as is: http://www.matc.org/privatelands.doc.
"the cellphone coverage here is really bad," Cooper says.****** |
The section is one half of a total scheme that eventually envisions a 42-mile backpacking circuit called the Grafton Loop Trail.
With the western half of the trail completed and opened on June 30, 2007, the Loop is about 34 miles of new trail connected to an 8-mile segment of the AT.The completed trail is located on both sides of Route 26 and will link with the AT on Baldpate Mountain and Old Speck.
The eastern half of the Grafton Loop Trail (GLT) consists of a 21-mile arc that leaves Route 26 in Newry, Maine, and returns to the road in Grafton Notch State Park via 4 miles on the Appalachian Trail (AT).
| Directions to Grafton Loop Trail trailhead:
The southern trailhead is located just north of where Eddy Road meets Route 26 in Newry, Maine.
The trail leaves Route 26 and continues 17.1 miles to the summit of East Baldpate where it intersects with the Appalachian Trail. It is 4 miles from there, south on the AT back to Route 26 and the large trailhead parking lot in Grafton Notch State Park. The trail is a rugged, remote backcountry trail, much of it on private land. The only camping is at 5 designated campsites on the trail. Water is available at each campsite. The closest campsite from the road is 5 miles in, on the other side of 3,000-foot Puzzle Mountain. Please prepare accordingly. |
Seventeen miles of this northern leg are newly constructed trail, which traverses four mountain peaks and includes five primitive campsites. Approximately two-thirds of the trail's length is on private lands with the remainder located on public lands managed by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.
Construction of this leg of the Trail has involved many individuals and organizations, including the Maine Appalachian Trail Club, the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, the Appalachian Mountain Club, Americorps, and the Maine Conservation Corps.
The ribbon-cutting was done on National Trails Day on Saturday, June 7, 2003. The north leg of the loop is open to hikers.
"Having hiked a section, I can especially recommend the 3.6-mile stretch from Route 26 to the northwest peak of Puzzle Mountain. This ledgy, windswept 3,060-foot summit offers a sweeping panorama from Central New Hampshire to Central Maine," said outdoor writer Scott Andrews, Brunswick Times-Record.
The GLT project has been a cooperative effort between landowners, non-profit organizations, community interests, and the State of Maine. The group's goal is to develop multi-day hiking opportunities that offer alternatives to heavily used sections of the AT. The group seeks to educate hikers about sustainable forest management practices and the wise use of Maine's forest resources.
For three years, a diverse group of people, now called the Grafton Loop Trail coalition, has been working toward creating a new backpacking trail in the Grafton Notch area. The project has pooled the resources of the State Bureau of Parks and Lands, Mead Paper, Hancock Timber, Sunday River Ski Resort, Outward Bound, Maine Appalachian Trail Club, Appalachian Mountain Club, Appalachian Trail Conference, and Stewart, a private landowner with a significant holding on Puzzle Mountain.
Bill Wight, Newry landowner and long-time selectman, who retired from office in March 2003, has also played a valuable role with his depth of knowledge of the land and people in North Newry. After a long process of securing permission from the landowners, writing funding proposals and coordinating the many different interests of the coalition, the Grafton Loop Trail is finally beginning to take shape.
Funding for trail design and construction came from the Maine Recreational Trails Program, Maine Community Foundation, Maine Bureau of Parks & Lands, Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, Black Bear Bed & Breakfast, Hauben Foundation, Sunday River Ski Area, Robert Stewart, Fields Pond Foundation, and members of the Grafton Loop Trail Coalition.
In the early 1990s, Stewart cut approximately 15 miles of rough trails on Puzzle Mountain for his own use, and he's climbed the peak 400 times.
His key concept was to connect this mountain to East Baldpate and the 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail, which traverses Baldpate's two summits.
Stewart's idea found an enthusiastic reception with Landon Fake, program director of the Outward Bound School in Newry, and Spencer with the Maine Department of Conservation, which owns the Baldpate Mountain summits.
Fake and Spencer helped forge a 20-member coalition which includes the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Maine Appalachian Trail Club. AMC maintains the trail in Maine south of Route 26; MATC, the trail to the north.
Permission was obtained from several private landowners between Puzzle Mountain and East Baldpate, and Stewart bought an additional roadside parcel to guarantee auto access.
To design the trail, project leaders turned to Mike Cooper, an independent consultant who had worked with Spencer on similar projects.
A variety of state, federal and private funding sources were tapped.
The Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund provided money for planning and construction. "It's money that's been well invested," commented Fund Board member Sally Stockwell.
Noting the project's extensive leveraging of matching funds and use of volunteer labor, Stockwell added, "It's multiplied itself over many times."
In his 16 years of trail building, Spencer said he had never seen a longer list of cooperators. "It may well be the most broad-based partnership of any project that I've ever worked on," he added.
However, much of the grunt work was done by volunteers from the Maine Appalachian Trail Club, a 550-member organization that is solely concerned with trail-building, maintenance and protection of the Appalachian Trail corridor in Maine.
Students from Outward Bound and Gould Academy in Bethel also helped. Thousands of volunteer hours were required, said MATC Baldpate District Overseer Paul Johnson.
Working with chainsaws and handtools in parties of six to 15, trail crews started near East Baldpate three years ago and reached Puzzle Mountain and Route 26 in the fall of 2002.
"Everybody would be sweaty, buggy and dirty, but they would have big smiles on their faces," Johnson recalled. "Very few people who came out to work with us didn't have a good time. Most came back for additional work trips."
Five campsites were cleared along the new trail. They are for tenting only. No lean-tos are planned and fires are prohibited. Water is available at each campsite.
Stewart explained, "I wanted people to enjoy the land, yet I didn't want a trail system that would attract a lot of six-packers."
The inspection trip in October included two dozen representatives of the coalition. They hiked in early morning drizzle to the summit of Puzzle Mountain, where clearing skies returned.
Spencer said the new trail is the largest and most significant in the 16 years since he has been working on such projects. "This is probably the longest stretch of loop trail in the State of Maine," he noted.
He praised the willingness of private landowners to allow public use of their property.
"I'm always amazed by the generosity of people who are willing to share places like this," he said.
The current estimate of the cost of the trail is $7,000 per mile. Although the coalition hopes to reduce that amount by using volunteer labor for much of the construction, a significant amount still needs to be raised.
As well as money, the construction of the trail will require many hands. If you are interested in contributing to either, contact Landon Fake of Outward Bound at 207-824-3152; or MATC Baldpate District Overseer Tom Gorrill at tgorrill@gorrillpalmer.com or (207) 657-4249; or Kim Marion, AMC North Country Volunteer Coordinator at 603-466-2721 X192.
