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Maine Parking Info
- Section - 1: Mt. Katahdin to Southern Nahmakanta Lake
- Section - 2: Nahmakanta Lake to West Branch of Pleasant River
- Section - 3: West Branch of Pleasant River to Monson
- Section - 4: Monson to Kennebec River
- Section - 5: Kennebec River to Maine 27
- Section - 6: Maine 27 to Maine 17
- Section - 7: Maine 17 to New Hampshire Line
Mile Marker | Directions, Comments, Source, and Year Last Reviewed | Number of Vehicles |
---|---|---|
19.60 miles East Flagstaff Road |
From Bingham: Take US 201 South to Solon, 8 miles. Make right turn on US 201A and cross Kennebec River. Go 1.5 miles. Make right turn on Across Town Road. Follow this 4 miles. Make right turn onto Wentworth Road. Follow to its end (2.5 miles) and make another right on ME 16. Take this to New North Portland. Here bear right at a gas station/convenience store onto Long Falls Dam Road. At 17.4 miles north of North New Portland leave the paved Long Falls Dam Road turning northwest on the gravel Bog brook Road. At 0.7 mile Bog Brook Road comes to a fork. Left fork is East Flagstaff Road which intersects the AT in 0.1 mile. Allow 50 minutes for this 38 mile trip. For car shuttle to 7.9 Main Logging Road: Retrace your route .8 mile back to Long Falls Dam Road. Make left turn. Go north on Long Falls Dam Road about 6 miles. Turn right on the road that has the sign to Pierce Pond and go 2.5 miles to the end of that road. Turn right and go 1.3 miles to fork. Bear right at the fork and go 3.4 miles to the trailhead. The trail is difficult to see, so watch your mileage. This car shuttle is 14 miles and allow 40 minutes. Mostly gravel roads (except the 6 miles on Long Falls Dam Road). When on logging roads make sure you remember that logging trucks have the Right of Way! --- Southbound: Continue on AT to the summit of Bigelow-Avery Peak passing Safford Brook Trail. Then retrace your steps on the AT back to Safford Brook Trail and take this trail out to East Flagstaff Road. This hike is 12.7 miles with 4,240 feet. By doing the hike this way, you can break this stretch of the AT into two dayhikes without backpacking, as the next day you can do a loop from the south (see MM 35.5). --- Aaron Schoenberg --- |
10 Park in gravel pit on the right side of the road. |
19.60 miles East Flagstaff Road |
2/15/08 --- |
|
26.00 miles Safford Brook Trailhead |
Confirming directions above, as of August, 2020, gravel East Flagstaff Rd is in good shape. Some jutting rocks but very drivable with any vehicle. Safford Brook Trail access to AT is across the street from the Parking area. There appears to be two trails, use the trail with the Blue blaze. 08/31/20 --- Sean Carolan --- |
Many |
26.00 miles Safford Brook Trailhead |
The same directions as 19.6 East Flagstaff Road, but you continue beyond 4.5 miles along East Flagstaff Road to this trailhead parking area. --- This hike offers a short car shuttle but is the first of 5 very strenuous hikes southbound, going over 10 - Maine 4,000 footers plus a good number of other peaks. Each of these five hikes is 12+ miles and has over 4,200 feet of elevation gain. Looking over my notes in the next few road access locations, you will see how you can do these hikes without backpacking. But a zero day somewhere between these hikes especially due to weather might be highly recommended. Also note that other than the Bigelow hikes, the car shuttles in section 6 are incredibly lengthy. --- Aaron Schoenberg --- |
10 |
35.50 miles Stratton Brook Pond Road |
N45.11180 W70.34937 el.1,266
GPS for alternate parking at end of Stratton Brook Pond Road is: N45.10995 W70.33739
9/25/2011 --- car --- |
3 |
35.50 miles Stratton Brook Pond Road |
For the last two road access points in section 5 and all the way to MM 32.2 in section #6, I used Kingfield, ME as my base. So directions are from this town which has a campground (Deer Farm CG) with cabins and several lodging establishments including the grand Herbert Hotel right in town. From Kingfield: Follow ME 27 North 18 miles to the crossing of the AT. Continue another .6 mile slowly looking for a sharp acute right turn on to a rough gravel road not clearly marked and easy to miss (we missed it). Follow this road (Stratton Brook Pond Road) for 1.4 miles to the AT crossing. Allow 1/2 hour for this car trip. From Stratton, ME: Stratton Brook Pond Road leaves ME 27 on the left, 4.6 miles from town. --- It would be so much simpler to park out on ME 27, so you might ask why go in on this dirt road? Because if you park at the AT crossing of Stratton Brook Pond Road you can do a 13.9 mile circular hike without car shuttling, including a 7.6 mile stretch of the AT continuing where you left off at the summit of Bigelow-Avery Peak on the previous dayhike. This hike which includes 4570 feet of elevation gain starts out by walking along Stratton Brook Pond Road for another .7 mile to the Firewardens Trailhead. Then we follow this all the way up to Bigelow Col and the intersection of the AT. Next you go up and back on the AT to the summit of Bigelow-Avery Peak to finish the link from the previous Bigelow Hike. Then you follow the AT all the way around and back to your car. So now you have traversed the entire Bigelow Range along the AT. Save this hike for a nice day as it is one of the all-time favorite New England hikes to do. However, even though we split this Bigelow 15.9 mile stretch of the AT into two strenuous dayhikes, we did make it so that you dont have a monster car shuttle as one hike is a circular and the other requires only a 4.5 mile car shuttle along East Flagstaff Road. Three spurs of note I strongly recommend you consider, if you have the time and energy. 1) Take the spur trail over to North Horn, worth the view and the different perspective. 2) Make sure you go down to the Horns Pond lakeshore for possible moose observing. 3) Take the short spur to the south of Horns Pond for a beautiful view back east of the pond. I prefer to get the road walking done while I am fresh at the beginning of the hike. You also can do a 0.7 mile shuttle but walking along the dirt road is short and quick and not worth the hassle in shuttling. --- Aaron Schoenberg --- |
4 You can also park another 6 vehicles at the Firewarden Trailhead at the end of Stratton Brook Pond Road. |
36.30 miles ME 27 - Stratton |
From Kingfield: Follow ME 27 North 18 miles to the crossing of the AT. --- It is an easy 0.8 miles in either direction from Stratton Brook Pond Road. So I added it to the next strenuous and lengthy hike. This eliminates any car shuttle on the Bigelow Circular Hike. Thus if you are slackpacking or dayhiking the AT with car shuttles, I would not use this road access point even though it is so accessible. However, if you are doing a dayhike 15.2 miles southbound, up and back to the Crockers and Redington (bagging three 4,000 footers) and you dont want to deal with Caribou Valley Road (understandable) then this access point makes good sense. 4/20/2006 --- Aaron Schoenberg --- |
20 Parking is on the left side of the road when going northbound on ME 27 from Kingfield. This is a large turnout on an old Route 27 spur. |
36.30 miles ME 27 - Stratton |
Confirming directions above. The parking area is about 3 miles north of the Sugarloaf Mtn resort on ME 27. 08/31/20 --- Sean Carolan --- |
20 |
36.30 miles ME 27 - Stratton |
Hwy 27 trailhead for AT on old rd on W side of Hwy 27. --- We parked our car there for four days and everything was fine. 01/13/10 --- Phil Arnold Coach --- |
1 |
36.30 miles ME 27 - Stratton |
GPS N45.10355 W70.35682 el. 1,423
9/25/2011 --- car --- |