August 19, 2010
I had a couple hours to spare after hiking a section of the A.T. with MEB, so I decided to hike Sugarloaf in Dixfield, Maine. I noticed this mountain a couple of months ago while coming home from a hike. It looked like there would be a view from the top so I've had my eye on it. The question was: Is there a trail to the top? It was time to explore. I parked on the west side of the mountain near an old dirt road that had a chain across it.
It was steep right off the bat. The road went up to a small home which appeared not to be lived in. The road ended but I saw some orange flagging tape. I began to follow it. Up, up, up I went. The trail got steeper and steeper. I came out on an old skidder road. I took a right. I followed this for a minute when I spotted a trail to my left. It actually had a red blaze on it. Ah, ha! The trail got even steeper. This took me up to the col between the north and south peaks of Sugarloaf. North peak was higher and the peak that I was after.
Because of recent logging activity in the col, the trail was obliterated. The woods were very open so even though I didn't have a trail any longer, I made one final push for the top. Then I came up to a wall of rock. Hmmm? Left or right to get around. I chose to go to my left. It proved to be the wrong choice. I was again on the west side of the peak with apparently no way up. I was about to turn back when I spotted a potential way up. It required some major scrambling. I had to pick Madison up several times. I finally reached the top of the rocks for my first view of the hike.
Almost to the summit
Overlooking Dixfield
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Almost to the summit
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Looking down to the south peak.
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The top had some rock ledges so I explored a bit. I had great views to the south, west, and northwest. It was late in the day and the sun was low in the sky which caused many of pictures to be overexposed but here are a few pictures as I explored the summit.
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Here's a video clip.
There was a small fire ring at the summit so I certainly wasn't the first one to be here. It also gave me hope that there was a trail leading down. One thing for sure. There was no way I was going back down the way I came up. I found the trail easy enough and began my descent. The trail went down the southeast side of the peak. It was very steep and the pine needles made it extra slippery.
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The trail brought me back down into the col. It was time for some more exploring. Even though it would take me in the completely opposite direction, I took a skidder trail leading to the east. It ended up looping around the south peak. There has been a ton of logging activity here. After looping around the south peak I came around to the west side and found a slightly different route down. I came out about a tenth of a mile or so further down the road so I had short road walk. But the sun was setting and the sky was beautiful.
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I totally underestimated this mountain. I was expecting it to take me 30-45 minutes round trip. I spent two hours on it. Of course, my estimate was based on finding a trail that led me all the way to the top, and I did do some extra exploring.
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