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Hiking the Speckled Mountain and Haystack Notch Loop

Old firetower foundations on Speckled Mountain in Evans Notch
Old fire tower foundations on Speckled Mountain in Evans Notch

This hike started out as a one night backpacking trip climbing up Speckled Mountain and into the heart of the eastern White Mountains in Maine, down the Red Rock Trail, and looping back through Miles Notch and Haystack Notch, a distance of over 18 miles. I ended up hiking it a lot faster than I expected, even though I was carrying a normal overnight backpacking load. I guess I’m in better shape than I realized.

If these trail names and areas sound unfamiliar to you, it’s because they are way off the beaten path. I must admit that I was intimidated by their remoteness and more than a little worried about meeting up with some of the region’s larger wildlife – moose and bear.

You see, I do a lot of solo hiking and backpacking in the White Mountains because I have a lot more free time than my friends who have j-o-b jobs and because they know that I like hiking the more obscure trails where few people go. With 1440 miles of trails, there are a lot of places in the White Mountains where you can fully immerse yourself in the wilderness and not meet another person for days. This hike was part of a three-day, 45 mile hiking binge I completed recently in the Caribou Speckled Wilderness, where I only saw one other person on the trail the entire time. That’s pretty incredible considering how popular the White Mountains are in summer.

Speckled Mountain Haystack Notch Loop (click for interactive map on Caltopo.com)
Speckled Mountain Haystack Notch Loop (click for interactive map on Caltopo.com)

This route consisted of the following trails:

  • Bickford Brook Trail to Speckled Mountain – 4.3 miles, 2300′ of elevation gain
  • Bickford Slides Loop – 0.6 miles, 200′ of elevation gain
  • Red Rock Trail from Speckled Mountain to the Miles Notch Trail – 5.6 miles. 950′ of elevation gain.
  • Miles Notch Trail to the Haystack Notch Trail – 2.4 miles, no elevation gain
  • Haystack Notch Trail from Miles Notch to Rt 113 – 5.4 miles, 1000′ of elevation gain

Total: 18.3 miles with 4450′ of elevation gain.

Bickford Brook Trailhead at Brickett Place in Evans Notch
Bickford Brook Trailhead at Brickett Place in Evans Notch

Bickford Brook Trail to Speckled Mountain

While I’ve hiked parts of the Bickford Brook Trail in the past, I’d never hiked the entire trail up to Speckled Mountain. But I can now definitively say that the Bickford Brook Trail is the easiest way up to this old fire tower peak, running along an old jeep trail from the Brickett Place Trailhead to the summit. Covered by forest canopy, it’s a pleasant walk out of the sun with a very moderate grade.

A beautiful swimming hole off the Bickford Slides Trail
A beautiful swimming hole off the Bickford Slides Trail

I got an early start and hit the trail by 6:45 am. Shortly after starting, I branched off to hike the Bickford Slides Trail which loops around a narrow ravine, full of waterfalls, slides, and pools, at the base of Blueberry Mountain. While the trail alongside the ravine is steep and rocky in places, there are any places along the route where you can access the water on a hot day, although some of the ledges can be quite dangerous if wet and slick.

I hiked the loop and got back on the Bickford Trail a bit south from where I’d left it so I had to rehike part of it. The Bickford Slides Trail is definitely worth the detour however, and a first class destination all by itself.

Lenticular Clouds over Evans Notch
Lenticular Clouds over Evans Notch

Following the Bickford Trail again, I headed up to the Speckled Mountain summit, arriving near 10:00 am. The wind was blowing hard at the summit and I had to put on an insulated jacket to stay warm, even though it was mid-summer. The sky was very clear, so the I had great views of Evans Notch, the Wildcat and Carter Range, and Mt Washington in the distance. I also saw pancake shaped lenticular clouds over the Presidential Range, which are often the harbinger of heavy rain. These weren’t, but they’re still a sight to see.

Speckled Mountain to Miles Notch on the Red Rock Trail

I was running low on water, so I stopped at the spring on the Red Rock Trail below Speckled’s summit, where I filtered two liters of water. Restocked, I continued down the trail which runs over a several small mountains before descending to Miles Notch. Largely forested, the trail climbs up each peak, across open summit areas, before plunging again into dense forest. I half expected to run into moose or bear feeding in the head-high ferns and hobble bush along this seldom hiked trail, which the White Mountain Guide says is kept open by the animals that use it as a herd path.

The Red Rock Trail passes over open ledges as it snakes it way across the ridge
The Red Rock Trail passes over open ledges as it snakes it way across the ridge

A trail tread was still evident in the forest, while small cairns (called trail ducks) helped guide me across the sections of open ledge. I soon came to the trail junction with the Great Brook Trail, close to the halfway point down the ridge, where I met the one person I saw in three days of hiking in this area. She’d climbed the Great Brook Trail on the way to Speckled Mountain and remarked about the drier weather that day, after a week’s worth of high temperature and high humidity days.

The trail signs in Wilderness Areas don't have mileages listed
The trail signs in Wilderness Areas don’t have mileages listed, Some of them are so old, the trees have grown around them.

I was low on water again as I approached Miles Notch and was looking forward to refilling at the stream which runs through it. Notches in White Mountain’s parlance are mountain passes or valleys, so this meant dropping down from the Red Rock trail back into thick forest again.

Miles Brook in Miles Notch
Miles Brook in Miles Notch

Miles Notch Trail to the Haystack Notch Trail

It was a relief when I reached Miles Brook which had a healthy flow despite the drought we’ve been experiencing this year in neighboring New Hampshire. I think, jokingly of course, that Maine has been stealing all of New Hampshire’s water, because all of the Maine streams and rivers I’ve encountered lately are running much higher. I’m thinking about getting myself a Maine fishing license, to be honest, since I’ve been spending so much time on the border between the two states. It’s hard to keep track of which state you’re in sometimes.

So far, so good I thought. It was 2:30 pm when I reached Miles Notch, the halfway point of my route. Rather than camping overnight, I figured I’d try to make it back to Rt 113 (9 miles distant) before 6:00 pm and hitch back to my car which was 4.3 miles down the road at Brickett Place. Sunset was at 8:30 pm, but the road through Evans Notch is very low traffic and I didn’t want to be on it after 7:00 pm. That section of Rt 113 is a narrow two-lane country road with no room to stand alongside for hitchhiking. The road twists and turns and dense vegetation obscures drivers’ lines of sight. Hitching in good daylight would be challenging at best.

If I didn’t make it in time to safely hitch or I couldn’t get a ride, my plan was to hike back into the forest and set up a backcountry campsite along the Haystack Notch Trail. The next morning I figured I walk 1.4 miles south on Rt 113 to the East Royce Trail parking lot, climb 100o’ up to the Royce Connector Trail and hike down the Royce Trail back to my car, another 4 miles total. Luck was on my side though.

The Miles Notch is an easy flat trail north of the Red Rock Trail junction
The Miles Notch is an easy flat trail north of the Red Rock Trail junction

The trail through Miles Notch was easy walking and flat, so I made great time until I came to the area near the Haystack Notch Trail where a recent logging cut required a detour down a grass-filled logging road. A series of wooden arrows helps guide hikers through this section, but they can be a bit difficult to spot.

Haystack Notch Trail Junction - the trail is very difficult to follow when traveling from east to west
Haystack Notch Trail Junction – the trail is very difficult to follow when traveling from east to west

Haystack Notch Trail to Rt 113

I have a lot of experience following badly marked trails and it came in handy after I spotted the Haystack Notch Trail Junction on the other side of the clear-cut. Call it gut instinct, hyper-awareness, or an intuitive understanding of how White Mountain trails are built and routed, I was able to find and follow the unmarked sections of the Haystack Trail where they’d been obscured by the lumber operation.

The Pleasant Trail parallels the Haystack Notch Trail
The Pleasant Trail parallels the Haystack Notch Trail

I was still relieved when the trail rejoined the Pleasant River, which runs parallel to it back to Rt 113 in Evans Notch. While this section of trail was also difficult to follow due to encroaching hobblebush and mud, I could detect faint traces of the old trail. Worst comes to worse, I knew I could bushwhack my way back to the road, but hiking along a trail, even a poorly maintained trail is faster and easier. There are actually a few yellow blazes painted on the trees along the trail, but only in places where the trail is obvious, not in the places where it’s not. Typical White Mountains blazing!

Despite the navigational challenge, I still made good time down the Haystack Notch Trail, arriving at Rt 113 by 5:30 pm. I hiked up the road about 100 yards south of where the trail comes out, so passing drivers could get a good view of me, I stuck out my thumb to hitchhike, and waited for cars to arrive. Five minutes later, I saw two vehicles round the corner. The first blew past me, but the second stopped! Amazing.

I got in the car and told the driver that I just needed to travel 4 miles down the road. He turned to me and said, “Are you Philip?” It was Gary Munson, the head of community outreach at the AMC’s Cold River Camp in Evans Notch, where I work as a hike leader each summer. We’ve only met in person once, so I was surprised he recognized me. Still, it’s a small small world.

I was back at my car 5 minutes later and headed north to Gorham for a cold beer and a maple-bacon pizza. What a hike! Then back to my campsite to sleep before my next hike in the North Country.

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13 comments

  1. Bickford Trail to the summit of Speckled mountain is a good snowshoe trail. I see more people on it in a weekend in the Winter than you did this Summer. The Evans Notch area is a good place to hike. My GF and I keep meaning to go back there, but haven’t made it out of Maine yet this year. I want to spend some more time hiking in The Wild River Wilderness area. Maybe this fall.

    I’m still trying to figure where you went off the summit of Speckled mountain. I can remember The Spruce trail connector, but dont recall any other trails. Im going to,have to dig out a map.

    • There are trails dropping of the Speckled summit to the north and east. Check your map.

      In winter, how do people access haystack notch. The gate is closed on Rt 113. Do they come in from the east? What are the roads like on that side?

      • Walk, or ski the snowmobile trail a.k.a. Rt113. It would be a long walk from either gate.

        Huh! As many times I’ve been on top of Speckled mountain, I’ve never seen that trail coming off the East side. Just one more reason to go to Evans Notch (-:

  2. Re: It’s a small small world. I always say that it pays to behave yourself in public — there’s usually someone around who knows you.

  3. Any good camping from the Speckled Mt to the Miles River Notch? We were thinking of doing an overnight in there and getting some of those other trails that go up to the ridge.
    thanks!

  4. Looking to get out tomorrow and was thinking a loop that goes up Spruce Hill to Red rock looping around to Haystack back to the car at 113 (shorter road walk than you encountered). Distance and elevation seem reasonable to me for a day hike but reading through “The Guide” it suggests some of the water crossings on Haystack could be tricky in high water. I don’t rely on rock hops and prefer just to wade through but any general guidance with all the recent rain we’ve had just now “tricky” these might be?

    • You shouldn’t have a problem. Water levels in the smaller drainages have dropped.

      • Thank you Philip. Didn’t want to risk getting 85% of the way around and hitting something dangerous.

      • Holy smokes is that area remote and “less travelled”. Nature is retaking the trail in several spots. A lot of fun though and the water crossings were fine – though only if you don’t mind wading through them.

        • That area is a notorious Redlining right of passage. It’s even worse in autumn when the Haystack notch trail is difficult to follow because leaves cover the tread. Glad you had fun!

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