| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Speckled Mountain, ME |
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 | Trails: |
Spruce Hill Trail, Bickford Book Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, May 30, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Shared lot with east royce trail. Room for 10-12 cars and nearly full when we arrived. Mix of plates from Maine, NH, and Vermont. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
small crossing easy rock hop |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Counted numerous blowdowns today. Spruce hill - 3 stepovers prior to wilderness boundary sign; 4 additional stepovers beyond the wilderness sign some ground level some at knee level. These are all small trees. Bickford Brook between spruce hill and upper blueberry ridge junctions- 4 stepovers all knee high - these are larger diameter trees. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Easy canine hike - a few streams along the way for sips but become sparse after spruce hill; met 6 today out enjoying the day. |
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 | Bugs: |
Out in force - mosquitoes and black flies; a breeze at the summit helped to keep their number a bit manageable but bug spray is a must. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
opted to take Spruce Hill up to Speckled since it isn't generally the favored route of hikers to speckled but actually ran across 15 people out today meeting all on the spruce hill trail. Trails were dry with a few spots of mud. Nice and easy approach to speckled - 6.2 miles out and back. While the spruce hill trail had quite a few travelers had the summit to ourselves for over a half hour except for the traditional friendly Gray Jays. Clear skies gave us great views of the Royces, Carters and the presidentials peaking over the Carters; the bald faces and the peaks of the Mahoosucs plus numerous other peaks. As we headed down met people coming up Spruce Hill that asked about the views. Had to break the bad news to them that there were no real views other than through the trees on Spruce hill and they would have to go to the speckled summit for open views. Met a nice law enforcement office for the forest service on our return patrolling the trail head lots who asked about our hiking! |
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 | Name: |
Brian from Maine |
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 | E-Mail: |
brobert1@maine.rr.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-05-30 |
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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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