I booked off a week from work to take a casual climbing road trip through Maine, into the Eastern Townships, and back. Shagg Crag, Maine was the first destination, where I met up with fellow NB’ers Dom, Marty, PJ, and Kristen. Since I was coming from the northeast, rather than taking a long loop around to join the directions provided in the guidebook (suggesting an approach from the North Conway area to the SW) I decided to take a tertiary road south from Dixfield. In actuality it was a mishmash of unmarked seasonal roads that were under construction in many places. Countless long driveways, private roads, ATV trails, and logging roads branched off of the public road and most appeared more travelled. The locals were very helpful and I made my way to the trailhead without too much backtracking. When one lady’s directions included the caveat “The dirt road is in good shape, but you might not be able to get past the paved portion with that car. You really need a truck.” I was a little worried. But my nimble little car wasn’t weighted down and I managed to pick my way through without damage.
Next time, I’m sure I won’t have difficulty navigating this, assuming I arrive before dark. I don’t recommend this route to new visitors. Instead, drive another twenty or thirty minutes and go through Rumford Point. It’ll probably save you time in the long run.
A long and steep hike leads to a spectacular clean white cliff riddled with stainless steel perma-draws. The routes flow nicely since they follow obvious lines of bulges, rails, cracks, dihedrals, or aretes. Nothing seems forced or contrived. The moves flow. The rock is solid with a sticky texture that isn’t too abrasive. Big jugs provide rests and stances from which to work out the next sequence, so on-sighting is a reasonable expectation -though the pump from such steep climbing works in opposition.
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| Shagg Crag, ME |
On our second day, after we’d climbed a few easier routes and we were tying in to start working something harder, the skies opened up. Such a big overhang should of protected us, but this unrelenting downpour turned the trail into a stream.
Even after moving our gear to higher ground, Marty had to dig a trench to keep the base from flooding.
The waterfall flowing over the cliff began to trickle down the overhang a few centimetres at a time. One by one our projects got soaked. Our climbing day was basically done, so we went back to the campsite, and goofed around in the pond.
The next day, since the others were leaving for home, we decided to visit a nearby crag with a shorter approach. This place obviously does not get much traffic, but it looked pretty cool nonetheless. We took turns fighting the relentless pump on a route that follows funky blocky holds (mostly fat pinches and undercling) up a 35m wall a few degrees on either side of vertical.
They went to NB, and I headed north for a couple quick hikes at beautiful Grafton Notch State Park, then onward to Sherbrooke, Québec.
I spent a rest day visiting with family, and the next I went to climb at Orford (sorry, no pics). I was warned that the boulders were a little overgrown and not that impressive. Both were true. I managed to have fun, even though I skipped some of the nicer looking problems as I was lacking a spotter.
Later in the afternoon, Mikaël joined me as my guide and belayer for the sport climbing. Odd features, hidden holds, and a lack of texture make for beta-intensive climbing ideal for those who love to work routes, then put together a well rehearsed and choreographed ascent. There is less appeal for instinctual climbers such as myself, so it was really nice to have the services of Beta Mike (as Dom dubbed him) to talk me up some of the routes.
With rain forecasted for the next few days, I decided to drive home on Friday morning. And what a lot of rain it was! About an hour after crossing the border, it alternated between heavy and monsoon the rest of the way (and took 9 hours). It was warm though, so I did stop for a fun 90minute hike that was more like a shower.
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| The partially obstructed view from the Eyebrow trail which branches off of the Appalachian Trail, as it passes through Grafton Notch State Park, Maine. |
All in all it was a great trip. I look forward to revisiting Shagg Crag in particular. Hopefully this fall.
