Will be luxury condo/ vacation homes! none of this based on facts of course besides what I saw. :angry: :evil: :argue: :idea:
Yesterday I finally hiked Mt. Redington in ME. I had finished the New England 4K before it was officially on the list but eventually I'll get the Northeast 115 done so I knew it was there.
What I found there was somewhar surprising. I took the harder to find, easier to walk route which starts on Caribou Valley Road, aka Caribou Pond Road or CVR. This is just up Route 27 from Sugarloaf. It's a logging road & when they are actively logging the area the road is in better shape.
There are some signs of logging along CVR, more than when I was last on the road in 1999 but not too bad considering this is all private land that occasionally is mentioned as being available as part of a Forest or Park (more on the National Level).
At the end of CVR you take a right to get to Redington. Shortly after leaving CVR, the mature forest that lines the AT Trail Corrider (the AT trail follows ridge behind Sugarloaf to a point 6/10ths of mile from the top & descends to cross River & CVR then climbs the Crockers before crossing Route 27 & entering the Bigelow Preserve ) the nature forest disappears.
What takes the forest place is largely a timber farm, acres of fir trees, depening on when they were last cut they are 6 - 20 feet high, it looks like a huge Christmas Tree farm where someone got too greedy & planted all the trees too close together. These acres are criss-crossed with logging roads meandering up & around the lower slopes of Redington, Spaulding & what the rest of the bowl that makes up the end of Caribou Valley. The upper sections of the peaks still have mature trees but in many cases these trres will never be 40-60 feet high due to their elevation.
Living in a section of CT that is going thru sub-division sprawl (I live in one of these sub-divisions) it was easy to imagine these roads being paved & houses built, the spacing between the roads fit where you could build one cul-de-sac off the main road go a ways to the next cut & road & add another cul-de-sac. Other thing is the land owner has this reputaion too out west.
Good or bad thing?
Will add more people & attention to Sugarloaf from Boston, CT & NY/NJ crowd who may think it's too far away or MA, VT & NH people looking to get away from NY/NJ CT crowd in their neighboorhood.
A very beautiful area, I took advantage of the wide trail (logging road) & stunted forest growth, (read recently replanted/regrowing) to walk & look at Abraham, Spaulding & Sugarloaf, should only hikers (& loggers & bikers - ATV's & Mt) be allowed to see it.
How ugly will be it will houses in it? (Similar to Route 16 heading up to Pinkham where each year it seems there are a couple more homes up higher or a new development)
It's almost all private property & this many acres may be too much for the Nature Conversancy to buy. Can State take it? If houses go up, can windmills within sight of AT be far off. it's been & continues to be argued about, does the AT require not only a ribbon corridor but a view corridor?
Tecnically only Saddleback - a beatiful but besieged peak itself - provides nearby AT views of Redington & the ridge. areas on Abraham & Sugarloaf above treeline are reached by spur trails from the AT the AT does not come out above trees on a bare summit between Saddleback Jr. & South Horn in the Bigelow Preserve
Anybody have feedback, good or bad. While the short trees allow for views & the roads while rocky allow to look up more than hiking on a real trail, the eroded road was kind of ugly. I also kidded myself in saying I won't come back & do Redington again until my kids want to hike it & I rent one of the houses for a long weekend & just take the trail from the end of the cul-de-dac
:wink: :blink:
Yesterday I finally hiked Mt. Redington in ME. I had finished the New England 4K before it was officially on the list but eventually I'll get the Northeast 115 done so I knew it was there.
What I found there was somewhar surprising. I took the harder to find, easier to walk route which starts on Caribou Valley Road, aka Caribou Pond Road or CVR. This is just up Route 27 from Sugarloaf. It's a logging road & when they are actively logging the area the road is in better shape.
There are some signs of logging along CVR, more than when I was last on the road in 1999 but not too bad considering this is all private land that occasionally is mentioned as being available as part of a Forest or Park (more on the National Level).
At the end of CVR you take a right to get to Redington. Shortly after leaving CVR, the mature forest that lines the AT Trail Corrider (the AT trail follows ridge behind Sugarloaf to a point 6/10ths of mile from the top & descends to cross River & CVR then climbs the Crockers before crossing Route 27 & entering the Bigelow Preserve ) the nature forest disappears.
What takes the forest place is largely a timber farm, acres of fir trees, depening on when they were last cut they are 6 - 20 feet high, it looks like a huge Christmas Tree farm where someone got too greedy & planted all the trees too close together. These acres are criss-crossed with logging roads meandering up & around the lower slopes of Redington, Spaulding & what the rest of the bowl that makes up the end of Caribou Valley. The upper sections of the peaks still have mature trees but in many cases these trres will never be 40-60 feet high due to their elevation.
Living in a section of CT that is going thru sub-division sprawl (I live in one of these sub-divisions) it was easy to imagine these roads being paved & houses built, the spacing between the roads fit where you could build one cul-de-sac off the main road go a ways to the next cut & road & add another cul-de-sac. Other thing is the land owner has this reputaion too out west.
Good or bad thing?
Will add more people & attention to Sugarloaf from Boston, CT & NY/NJ crowd who may think it's too far away or MA, VT & NH people looking to get away from NY/NJ CT crowd in their neighboorhood.
A very beautiful area, I took advantage of the wide trail (logging road) & stunted forest growth, (read recently replanted/regrowing) to walk & look at Abraham, Spaulding & Sugarloaf, should only hikers (& loggers & bikers - ATV's & Mt) be allowed to see it.
How ugly will be it will houses in it? (Similar to Route 16 heading up to Pinkham where each year it seems there are a couple more homes up higher or a new development)
It's almost all private property & this many acres may be too much for the Nature Conversancy to buy. Can State take it? If houses go up, can windmills within sight of AT be far off. it's been & continues to be argued about, does the AT require not only a ribbon corridor but a view corridor?
Tecnically only Saddleback - a beatiful but besieged peak itself - provides nearby AT views of Redington & the ridge. areas on Abraham & Sugarloaf above treeline are reached by spur trails from the AT the AT does not come out above trees on a bare summit between Saddleback Jr. & South Horn in the Bigelow Preserve
Anybody have feedback, good or bad. While the short trees allow for views & the roads while rocky allow to look up more than hiking on a real trail, the eroded road was kind of ugly. I also kidded myself in saying I won't come back & do Redington again until my kids want to hike it & I rent one of the houses for a long weekend & just take the trail from the end of the cul-de-dac
:wink: :blink:
