| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Moxie Mountain, ME |
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 | Trails: |
Moxie Mountain West Trail, Moxie Mountain South Trail, overlook spurs |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, September 8, 2024 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
The directions in the AMC guide are extremely useful (Google is not), but some of the mileages were a bit off. The turnoff from Route 201 is not quite 0.2 miles past the bridge, but it’s easy to turn around in the rest area. Once you start clocking from the start, everything matches up with the book until a few miles in. The turnoff from Chase Pond Rd. was closer to 3.7 miles on my odometer, rather than the 4.4 it said in the book. There’s one Y intersection that’s not described somewhere around 5ish miles (stay on the more-traveled road) and the “road” described at 5.1 miles is really an overgrown snowmobile trail. The deep culvert described in the book has been fixed. The impassable “bridge” 0.3 miles from the trailhead is actually passable in a high-clearance vehicle. It’s more like a collapsed culvert than a bridge. Up until that point, a standard sedan would have no problem at all (though it seems some people park at the sign at the turnoff 0.4 miles from the trailhead). |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
See road access note below. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Trails are in excellent condition. They are well-marked with pink/red (West) or blue (South) plastic nailed to trees and various color ribbons with cairns on the ledges, though it’s pretty easy to follow for anyone used to hiking. If you don’t drive all the way to the trailhead (see road access notes), you have to watch carefully for the beginning of the trail. There’s a cairn and a sign, but both are hard to spot. The sign for the overlook on the ledges is easy to miss if you’re coming up West. Likewise if you go for the overlook on South since it’s angled for people coming up South as opposed to those going down. For the peakbaggers out there, the summit log is under the helipad, not near the USGS marker at the true summit (not sure why). |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Easy trail for dogs. |
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 | Bugs: |
None. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Wow! We’ve never done this one before. I think the view is one of my all-time favorites. There’s just something about it that makes the sky seem so huge. Pictures just don’t do it justice but for the curious, I’ll post some on Insta (quantum.moxie) probably tomorrow. Very different than a typical White Mountain or Western Maine view. You can see all the high summits of Western Maine and, from the “helipad” (not sure I’d trust landing a helicopter on that thing…), you can see Katahdin, but then there’s the vast Central Highlands of Maine which are generally flat so you can see really far. It’s definitely worth going up West since you hit the extensive gravelly ledges first. It’s worth going a few hundred feet down South to the overlook there since you can see back to the other overlook. Because the trail itself is virtually rock- and root-free (it’s nice and soft!), it’s more of a calf-burner and achilles-stretcher since it’s a pretty steady grade of about 1000 feet of gain per mile. |
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 | Name: |
Ian D |
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 | E-Mail: |
iantdurham at gmail dot com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2024-09-08 |
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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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