Snowman Says: On the AT - Caribou Valley Road to Stratton

August 31, 2008 | Miles: 8.2 (plus 6.1 non-AT miles)
Start: Caribou Valley Road
End: Rt. 27, Stratton

Well, perhaps that's not the correct starting point. We started and finished in the same spot. We decided to save the driving time and save the gas and just take one car. So, we added a fair amount of mileage, but the additional miles were either on Rt. 27 or on Caribou Valley Road, so they were easy. We ran some of it. We walked some of it. It took us just about 1:15 to reach the AT.

In short, this was a great hike. Even the road parts. The AT goes over both South and North Crocker, but the views are limited. The best views were on the climb up to South Crocker. But, despite the lack of views, the trail itself is very pretty. We really enjoyed it. Part of that was due to the fact that the treadway was fairly mellow. And drier. Conditions were much drier than they had been on our most recent hikes. It was nice to complete the day with dry feet. It's a long descent from North Crocker to Rt. 27, but we moved along pretty quickly. The 14.3-mile loop only took us just over 5 hours. Like I said, a great hike.