Traveler Loop Trail provides stiff challenge New 10.6-mile path remote, scenic

I have found a new favorite mountain, and a newly built trail to get to the top and back. The trail has it all: It’s 10.6 miles long, there’s outstanding scenery at every turn, varied terrain along its length, and great geological features underfoot.

It’s remote and hardly used, which means the throngs of people found on most trails haven’t discovered it yet. The name of this wondrously fresh place to hike is Traveler Mountain. The name of the trail is the Traveler Loop Trail. It was built last year by connecting two older, existing trails together.

It’s located in the north end of Baxter State Park at South Branch Pond Campground. I recently made a trek on this route and it is a gem of a trail.

The day Scott Fisher, my neighbor, and I walked it was perfect. It was a few days after summer solstice and we got started before 6 a.m. Brilliant blue skies were above as we followed the Pogy Notch trail out of the campground to the intersection of the Center Ridge Trail, one of the older trails.

For the first mile and a half we walked near the shore of South Branch Pond through birch forest. After passing the delta of Howe Brook and the intersection with the Howe Brook Trail, we came to the junction of Center Ridge Trail.

If we thought it would be an easy hike, that hope faded once we started the ascent of Center Ridge. We climbed steeply for the next two miles. It turned out to be the steepest and hardest section of the entire loop. It is tremendously steep.

According to the handout which we picked up at the Ranger station at the pond, it rises 2,269 feet in two miles. It’s only 84 feet less than the vertical gain from Chimney Pond to Baxter Peak on Katahdin. After hiking up over ledges we started seeing views of the pond below and down Pogy Notch to Katahdin.

Finally the top came into view and soon we were there, at the “Peak of the Ridges” on Center Ridge, elevation 3,254 feet. The top is composed of Traveler Rhyolite, a fine-grained and dense granite that’s smoother than Katahdin granite. After resting awhile we started down the new section of trail. Leaving the summit we descended along a vertical spine of granite called “Little Knife Edge.” It’s steep, narrow and involves using handholds to descend.

The view before us was of Traveler Mountain, the next summit along the trail, it’s also the highest at 3,541 feet. Before reaching that peak, though, we had to go down, cross a unique alpine meadow, then ascend across a loose talus field. The going was fairly easy and we got there in an hour.

Once on the summit we saw different panoramas. We looked across the range to North Traveler, our last peak for the day. Then, we could see Matagamon Lake again to the north, and all of the landscape between there and Traveler Mountain. Several ponds and lower peaks were also in the view. We stopped and just took it all in for awhile. It seemed that everywhere we turned we saw something that we hadn’t noticed before.

There’s a sign on the summit of Traveler proclaiming it as the highest volcanic mountain in Maine. In fact it’s the highest in New England and possibly the entire East Coast, according to the fact sheet from the park. Once on Traveler, it’s easy to see how geologists arrived at the conclusion. One side of the range looks like it was blown out in a volcanic eruption.

Leaving the rock strewn summit, we started down to Traveler Ridge which connects to North Traveler, but not until we passed through a unique dwarf birch glade. The air was cool in the small glade and then we were on the ledge leading to North Traveler’s summit. The terrain under our feet for most of the hike so far had been mixed. But, once on Traveler Ridge we walked across bare ledge for a half-mile until we reached the top of North Traveler, elevation 3,152 feet, our third, and last, peak for the day.

We stopped there awhile and took in more views, this time looking north to Matagamon Lake. We could see the low hills that surround Fowler Ponds. At the base of the mountain lay South Branch Pond, where we started the day. Soon after a direct descent of less than three miles, we were there again.

On our way down we talked about how hiking this trail just kept getting better and more varied. A different view appeared from every new summit. The variety of terrain kept us on our toes, some easy, some very difficult and slow. Finally we decided that new trails are a blast to hike, not only for the chance to see all the views, but also by being among the first to walk there.

Brad Viles is an avid hiker who has logged some 8,000 lifetime miles, including the Appalachian Trail. A trail maintainer for the Maine Appalachian Trail Club, he has climbed Mount Katahdin more than 75 times. He can be reached at sball1@ prexar. com