Mount Redington

Overview

Mount Redington is Maine's thirteenth tallest peaks at 4,010. In 1998, the USGS survey elevated Redington to 4,000 foot status, much to the chagrin of many hikers who had to return to bag the new peak. It also has the distinction of being one of two 4,000 foot peaks in New England without an official trail to the top. The other being Owl's Head. Instead of a trail, one must navigate a network of logging roads to reach the summit. One of the more interesting aspects of this mountain is that you can see it in the distance since you start at the bottom of a bowl. It is a six mile journey round trip, starting at around 2,800 feet.

While hiking, you are in good company, surrounded by Sugarloaf, Spaulding, Abraham, and South Crocker Mountains. To the southeast out the low side of the bowl are the Horn and Saddleback Jr. All told, there are five other 4,000 foot peaks inside a 5 mile radius. Redington receives little traffic due to its lack of a trail and it's more popular neighbors. The AT skips over Redington, hitting Saddleback and the Horn then heading east to hit Sugarloaf before swinging back to the west to go over South Crocker.

This hike is not recommended without GPS or an experienced friend who knows the way up. There are five different forks in the trail that must be navigated on the way to the summit. Redington is a great peak for someone looking for solitude in the hills and a summit without a huge undertaking. If your car does not handle well on poorly maintained roads, you should consider parking before the metal bridge, but this will add 5 miles of hiking roundtrip.

Getting There

From the South or East:
Take Maine 16/Maine 27 North to Bigelow. Note: this road becomes Carrabassett Drive in the town of Carrabassett. About three quarters of a mile north of Bigelow turn left onto Caribou Valley Road. This road is not well maintained and may be rough on your car. About 5.5 miles in, you will come to a fork; stay left, the right side is a dead end. The trail head is almost 7 miles (1.5 miles past the fork) down Caribou Valley Road. You are there when you hit another fork. The left side is a crappy little bridge, the right is the trail head.

From the North or West:
North-take Maine 27 south to Stratton. Continue below
West-take Maine 16 east to Stratton. Continue below
Take Maine 16/Maine 27/Carrabassett Drive south towards Bigelow. 7 miles from Stratton (1 mile north of Bigelow), turn right onto Caribou Valley Road and follow the same instructions as above.

Caribou Valley Road is not marked well at its intersection with ME 16/ME 27. The sign is hard to see until after you've turned.

Red Tape, Camping

Red Tape:
None really. There was a proposal for a wind farm on the summit, but it never happened. Since there's no trail, there are no rangers or fees or people to help you out if you get hurt.

Camping:
There is no camping, but if you want to, you probably could. This is not a state park, there are not special regulations on it.

External Links

I'm not sure whats going on but none of the links are working right now. Anyway, I'll just put them up as text and let you copy and paste on your own. Sorry guys.

Peakbagger:
Peakbagger Redington Page

AMC:
AMC Redington page


Amateur-Hikers:
Non SP Trip Report

Images

View Mount Redington Image Gallery - 7 Images