Good time for hikers to hit trails

This is it, the perfect season to be outdoors. There are plenty of reasons to like it. Hikers look to spring to give gear a good shakedown before full-on summer starts.

Now is when they take advantage of getting on the trails early to beat the crowds. They know that summer’s millions of visitors won’t start pouring in until at least after school graduations. For now, until it warms up more, it’s bug-free, too. The days are getting long and the trails await.

Spring is also the best time to engage in a few training hikes to build up those muscles that haven’t hopped a rock or hurdled a blown-down tree in the past few months. If your goal is to move along the trail with a better stumbling gait this year than last, then this is the time of year to start improving toward it. By getting a jump on the season now, those fast-twitch muscles you need to keep you balanced and sure-footed later on a trail like Katahdin’s Knife’s Edge will work just fine by summer.

If you’re new to hiking in this early season, however, there are some things you should know that are special to spring. First, it’s the second most changeable season, weather-wise, after fall. Mornings could be clear and sunny, then turn cloudy, windy and cold by afternoon. Just about anything could fall from the sky, so dress accordingly, including base layers. Put a wool or synthetic winter hat in your pack, with gloves just in case the wind picks up out of the north. You might as well put in a windbreaker, too, for summit stops. Air temperatures can still be cool in the mornings, so if your day hiking plans include an early start, expect to shed layers later in the hike.

Not all of Maine trails become free of ice and snow at the same time. The coast clears first, then the snow line retreats inland until sometime in mid-May when most of the snow is completely gone from the higher elevations in the western Maine Appalachians. This year with a low snowfall total it may be a little sooner than that, maybe a week or so.

For anyone in the vicinity, that makes Acadia National Park perfect for early spring hiking. The snow leaves the park earliest of anywhere else in the season, but ice usually lingers in spots, on ledges and in shady areas, probably into the first week of May or later. Some of those icy places are large enough to render the trail unusable for short stretches. Usually there’s a way to hike around or bring creepers for foot traction. Otherwise, expect to be turned back until the ice is gone.

How spring is progressing in Acadia is an indication of how far along it’s advancing elsewhere in the state. If there’s still any ice on the trails there, it’s a good bet there’s snow further inland. That brings up another condition of spring, once the ice is gone – mud. The trails will be slippery with mud until the frost leaves the ground and spring rains have finished soaking it. Also, swollen streams and runoff from ledges can make hiking wet through those areas.

The park is always a great locale for building up your hiking skills. With 125 miles of trails, many interconnected, the concentration of trail mileage per acreage there is greater than elsewhere in the state. The variety of conditions underfoot, from loose rock scrambles to pathways paved in stone, allow trail users to test their techniques as easily or as strenuously as they want. You can start off one weekend with a flat woodland or lakeshore hike, then the next week climb the 3.5-mile South Ridge Trail on Cadillac Mountain.

Just because it’s a National Park, however, some hikers underestimate the strenuous nature of the hikes to the tops of its mountains. Even though they barely qualify as mountains, with the highest being Cadillac at a lowly 1,534 feet, they climb bigger than that. The start of most of the trails is at around 100 to 200 feet. You can gain 1,000 or more feet in a little more than a mile on most hikes. When people out on the first hike of the year overestimate their abilities and underestimate the difficulty, they get in trouble, and may need rescue. You don’t want that.

The key to avoid having to be rescued in spring or anytime of year is to plan ahead and prepare. It’s the first rule of Leave No Trace, a guide to trail techniques. To adequately prepare, take a trail map and guide and know how to use them. Wear appropriate clothing and carry water and lunch, at a minimum, for your longer hikes. You should also carry a flashlight, extra clothing, and a first aid kit.

With the arrival of ever warmer days spring is an excellent time to see wildlife, because it, like you, starts moving around. As water opens up and the stirring of the season increases, birds arrive from migration. The increasing length of daylight over the next several weeks calls to everyone who feels cooped up by the walls of winter. Longer days mean longer hikes to a hiker. With some trails seeing light early season use, you might have your trail all to yourself. Now is the time to head out, before the hordes of biting bugs and millions of visitors arrive.