Blueberry Mountain (ME) - Sabattus Mountain (ME): 12/13/2014

We decided what to hike in all of about 10 minutes on Friday while we were both at work.   That is outside the norm for us as we usually just go with the flow and decide to do something on the same day of our hikes.  

The only issue would be how the snow conditions would be for this hike.  The temperatures were going to be on the cool but not cold side with high winds and mostly cloudy so we thought our chance for long distance views would be poor.

Blueberry Mountain

Mileage: 4.15

Elevation gain: 1520'

Trails used: roadwalk, Bickford Brook Trail, Blueberry Ridge Trail, Outlook Loop Trail, bushwhack.

We both have been in Evans Notch before, but never to do any hiking in this area before.  We have seen zero trip reports lately coming from here but we decided to try and tackle Blueberry Mountain and further, if the snow levels permitted.  We decided early on we would not be taking snowshoes and relying on a track of some sort.

This is the Blueberry Mountain in Evans Notch, Maine.  It is a part of the Caribou-Speckeld Mountain Wilderness and White Mountain National Forest.  Blueberry Mountain is a spur of Speckled Mountain and has blueberries, on its ledges and on the summit, in summer.

The gate blocking the road on ME 113.  In winter, ME 113 is also used by snowmobiles.  Either that or they want to keep people from New Hampshire out.

The Brickett Place is an old historic brick farmhouse on the National Register of Historic Places and where we took the Bickford Brook Trail up to Blueberry Mountain.

The start of the Bickford Brook Trail which is on the Brickett Place property.

We are crossing into the Caribou-Speckled Mountain Wilderness.  From here on out we would see no blazes, but we would see some signs here and there.  The Bickford Brook Trail is an old forest road that was used for the fire tower that used to be on Speckled Mountain.

Conjunction junction, what's your function?  The Bickford Brook Trail goes straight (to the left of Brian) and had no recent foot traffic.  So we decided to take the Blueberry Ridge Trail up to the summit of Blueberry Mountain.

The Bickford slides were pretty neat.  Probably worth a visit all on their own!  There is a loop hike one can make over the upper and lower slides.

The steepest part of the Blueberry Ridge Trail was a mixture of snow, ice and running water.

This lower ledge just below the summit of Blueberry Mountain offered a small panorama that was nice.  It also was where the tracks took all kinds of crazy twists and turns leading to mass confusion (furthered by the fact we are in a Wilderness zone and so there are no blazes, few signs, and any cairns were buried pretty deep).

The views into western New Hampshire were dominated by North and South Baldface and the Meader-Eagle Crag Ridge.

Brian near the summit of Blueberry Mountain (elevation 1781'), which was fun trying to find as there were no trail markers or cairns visible so we ended up bushwhacking through fairly deep snow. Brian is looking towards the Speckled Mountain area which is in the clouds.

We couldn't figure out what mountain this was until we got back into the car and were on our way to our second hike of the day.  It is Shawnee Peak and Pleasant Mountain.

There is an Outlook Loop trail that is supposed to have a viewpoint.  Since the trail was impossible to follow in the snow we can only assume this is the view in question.

We decided to head back down at this point, as trying to break trail for 2+ miles of snow to the summit of Speckled Mountain was not going to be possible today, especially with no snowshoes.   We made a quick descent back to the car and decided to do another hike.

Sabattus Mountain

Mileage: 1.55
Elevation gain: 590'
Trails used: Sabattus Mountain Trail.


Once we were done with Blueberry Mountain, it was still early so we decided to attempt another hike either in Maine or New Hamsphire.  We noticed Sabattus Mountain on the Maine Gazetteer and although it was a bit of a drive from where we were, it would be a super short so off we went to find it. 

Sabattus Mountain is located in Lovell, Maine.  This is a semi popular place to snowshoe hike and information can be found here.

We had to park on the side of the Sabattus Trail road for the Sabattus Mountain Trail head since it was not plowed out, then we walked the short distance to the summer parking lot.

For only being a small mountain, Sabattus Mountain has a decent amount of elevation gain.  The trail up had a small track in the snow and was easy to follow.

 There was once an old fire tower on the summit as we found the foundation pilings.

The views from some lower summit ledges was quite nice for the effort expended.  Once again, looking over to nearby Shawnee Peak and Pleasant Mountain.

There was this cool bench on the ledge area too, so it gave us a chance to rest our legs as well as catch some views into Maine.

We waited and waited for the bus, but it just never came.

Views into New Hampshire included Kearsarge North and the string of peaks to the north.

The actual summit area for Sabattus Mountain (elevation 1253') is wooded and view-less, but the trail pretty much goes over the high point so why not make a loop.

Heading down the trail back to the car on the other side of the loop, which seemed less steep.

Two hikes and at least half of what we expected, conditions-wise.  While we didn't attempt our first hike in the exact fashion we did, we did get some further ideas on how to do this as a loop hike in warmer weather.  The second hike was as expected; short and easy with decent views.

Both hikes are family friendly and Blueberry Mountain has decent views into New Hampshire and on a sunny day, this is probably a prime hiking area.  We will definitely be back in the summer for a re-do.