| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Sugarloaf Mountain, Spaulding Mountain, Mt. Abraham, ME |
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 | Trails: |
Ski trails, Sugarloaf Side Trail, Appalachian Trail, Spaulding Side Trail, Abraham Side Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Wednesday, December 28, 2016 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We parked at the golf course lot at Sugarloaf, next to the West Mountain lift. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Ice Axe |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Bridged |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Handful of blowdowns |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
you can't take dogs up the ski trails per Sugarloaf's uphill policy |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Pretty big out and back for a day hike, but these three peaks were the last of our 67 so we went for it -- we finished with headlamps despite a 730 AM start. For ski trails, we went west mountain to timberline. Sugarloaf has an uphil policy on their website which asks hikers to stay towards the west side of the mountain and buy a $10 uphill pass. On our way up we only saw ski patrol readying the mountain. They did not check passes, but asked us to check in with the ski patrol at the top of the summit chair and let them know our plans -- this did not seem like standard operating procedure b/c ski patrol up top did not ask us for much info. Sugarloaf staff pointed us toward the hiking trail when we chatted with them. The trail can be accessed by following the road to the radio/cell towers and looking for a gap in the trees on the right. There was no signage unfortunately. Sugarloaf hiking trail has blue blazes and descends to a junction with the AT (white blazes). An unsigned yellow blazed trail (boundary trail maybe?) crosses the Sugarloaf trail near the summit -- don't take this. Once on the AT, we trekked over to Spaulding and followed the sign for the 150 yard detour to reach the wooded summit. We then trekked over to the Mt Abraham trail junction with the AT. While the AT had one set of tracks that we used for navigation, Abraham had no signs of recent travel. We broke trail through an ice crust with 6-12 inches of powder underneath. Large drifts slowed us to crawl at points. The trail is well blazed and relatively easy to follow even in unbroken conditions. There is a substantial (call it .5 miles) above-treeline portion with small cairns. Navigation was easy due to high visibility as the summit can be seen on the approach. This was the only technical portion of the hike with two sections of ice. Our snowshoe crampons were fine, but a full crampon or possibly even an ice axe might be desired by some. We used snowshoes from start to finish. |
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 | Name: |
Jon and Tom |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2016-12-28 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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