Date(s) Skied:
January 31, 2004
Resort or Ski Area:
The Sawyer River Trail, an old logging road / hiking trail that in the winter is a cross-country ski and snowmobile route. Runs from the Kanc up to Sawyer River Road (closed in the winter, connects to 302 near Bartlett) passing Sawyer Pond along the way.
Conditions:
Excellent. Wonderful snow made into a terrific cruising pack by the few snowmobiles. Sunny, blue ski, minimal wind (none while in the trees). A few sharp dips in the trail required sidestepping, and one segment that was hard ice formed in the shape of what looked like a tractor's treads.
Trip Report:
It was a fantastic day to be out. We had a late start due to events of the preceding night, and got to the Sawyer River Trail parking on the Kanc just past noon. It took a few minutes to get geared up, and to assemble my sled, which was the reason we were here - to qualify it for a trip to Katahdin in two weeks.
We hit the trail, which immediately narrows, twists, and sharply descends. I was quickly on the ground. And again. There wasn't enough width in the packed trail to do a snowplow and the sled was driving me beyond my sense of balance. That was discouraging but okay. We moved on.
The crossing of the Swift River was easy - at this location it was entirely frozen over. Then it was onto the old logging road and an easy, mostly-flat trek. It was well-packed and somewhat tracked from use. After a short distance, a snowmobile trail joins up, and so the conditions were even better due to the side-effect "grooming" that the drives do. It's not overly wide, but was enough to allow a couple snowmobiles to pass without incident, and the sled was tracking wonderfully.
The trail follows the river, then turns into an open area of ponds and marshes with beautiful views. The sun was bright, the sky a terrific shade of blue. There's one bridge there whose snow had mostly melted off, and crossing was tricky.
As we got further up, the trail widened and appeared to have been run over with a tractor. A spot that had been wet at one time had frozen solid shaped like the deep grooves of its drive, and was the only sub-par stretch that we had to cross. Also, a few spots where rivulets cross the trail had turned into deep little dips which required sidestepping or jumping (imagine a 2'-3' deep dip, about 4'-5' long, shorter than your ski's length ... ugh)
The next landmark was the Hancock Notch Trail coming in (it had seen some use), the Sawyer River Trail continuing forward (unbroken), and an unnamed road turning right (packed out). We followed the road and came to a small, frozen pond (not shown on topo maps), lit in the sun and with a perfect view up to Carrigain. We had been on the trail just under 2 hours, with stops, and so had lunch then turned around, getting back just as the sun was touching the summits of the Sandwich Range (average of 2mph over 7 miles, excluding stops). The sled was perfect, controlled well, and I look forward to using it in Baxter.
A quick stop at the Woodstock Inn to pick up growlers for the game, then lobster corn chowder at the Common Man in Ashland topped off an excellent day.
January 31, 2004
Resort or Ski Area:
The Sawyer River Trail, an old logging road / hiking trail that in the winter is a cross-country ski and snowmobile route. Runs from the Kanc up to Sawyer River Road (closed in the winter, connects to 302 near Bartlett) passing Sawyer Pond along the way.
Conditions:
Excellent. Wonderful snow made into a terrific cruising pack by the few snowmobiles. Sunny, blue ski, minimal wind (none while in the trees). A few sharp dips in the trail required sidestepping, and one segment that was hard ice formed in the shape of what looked like a tractor's treads.
Trip Report:
It was a fantastic day to be out. We had a late start due to events of the preceding night, and got to the Sawyer River Trail parking on the Kanc just past noon. It took a few minutes to get geared up, and to assemble my sled, which was the reason we were here - to qualify it for a trip to Katahdin in two weeks.
We hit the trail, which immediately narrows, twists, and sharply descends. I was quickly on the ground. And again. There wasn't enough width in the packed trail to do a snowplow and the sled was driving me beyond my sense of balance. That was discouraging but okay. We moved on.
The crossing of the Swift River was easy - at this location it was entirely frozen over. Then it was onto the old logging road and an easy, mostly-flat trek. It was well-packed and somewhat tracked from use. After a short distance, a snowmobile trail joins up, and so the conditions were even better due to the side-effect "grooming" that the drives do. It's not overly wide, but was enough to allow a couple snowmobiles to pass without incident, and the sled was tracking wonderfully.
The trail follows the river, then turns into an open area of ponds and marshes with beautiful views. The sun was bright, the sky a terrific shade of blue. There's one bridge there whose snow had mostly melted off, and crossing was tricky.
As we got further up, the trail widened and appeared to have been run over with a tractor. A spot that had been wet at one time had frozen solid shaped like the deep grooves of its drive, and was the only sub-par stretch that we had to cross. Also, a few spots where rivulets cross the trail had turned into deep little dips which required sidestepping or jumping (imagine a 2'-3' deep dip, about 4'-5' long, shorter than your ski's length ... ugh)
The next landmark was the Hancock Notch Trail coming in (it had seen some use), the Sawyer River Trail continuing forward (unbroken), and an unnamed road turning right (packed out). We followed the road and came to a small, frozen pond (not shown on topo maps), lit in the sun and with a perfect view up to Carrigain. We had been on the trail just under 2 hours, with stops, and so had lunch then turned around, getting back just as the sun was touching the summits of the Sandwich Range (average of 2mph over 7 miles, excluding stops). The sled was perfect, controlled well, and I look forward to using it in Baxter.
A quick stop at the Woodstock Inn to pick up growlers for the game, then lobster corn chowder at the Common Man in Ashland topped off an excellent day.
