North Crocker and South Crocker Mountains

Trail up North/South Crocker in blue; Mt. Redington loop trail in red; Sugarloaf Mountain trail in purple; Mt. Abraham and Spaulding Mountain trail in yellow

North and South Crocker often get a bit maligned for being anticlimactic 4,000-footers. Peak baggers feel as if they have to do them to complete their quest to hike every mountain in Maine and New Hampshire over 4,000 feet, but grumble about it because the views aren’t extraordinary like other tall peaks around here.

I’m glad they do grumble, though, because my expectations were so low that I found the long, gradual hike through mossy forest up and over North and South Crocker really pleasant! And beautiful in its own right. Lots of overhead warbler songs. The mountains are located within a large protected area — 15,000 acres, at least, and growing.

Starting at the parking lot off Route 27, where the Appalachian Trail crosses the road, it’s 5.2 miles to the North Crocker’s 4,228-foot summit (elevation gain, 2,838 ft.). The trail, heading south, begins climbing right away, but levels off in the middle for at least two miles, making this part of the hike sort of a slog but relatively easy. It starts climbing again around 3,000 feet. Once you get closer to 4,000 feet, the conifers get stumpy and short, and while you’re not on an open ridge with stunning vistas, you definitely feel that otherworldly sensation of being high up in an Alpine-like ecosystem. Hikers have scratched out a little path at the 4,228-foot summit to the west, where you can see some views.

The trail dips steeply down and then turns up slightly less steeply to the 4,048-foot summit of South Crocker — 1 mile farther on. The summit, which has a view, is 50 yards off the main Appalachian Trail — there is a prominent sign at this intersection. The small ledge at the opening offers nice views of Sugarloaf, Spaulding, and Mt. Abraham. If you happen to simultaneously arrive with a peak bagger, they might have some tales to tell about hiking all three peaks in one day. The elevation gain from the Route 27 trailhead is 3,200 feet.

Some people at this point head over to Mt. Redington because it’s close by and over 4,000 feet. There’s more than one way to summit Redington, but the fastest route is from the summit of South Crocker. It’s 1.2 mile one way from this point.

Going down the AT from South Crocker to Caribou Valley Road (or Caribou Pond Road) is quite steep and rocky in parts. The distance is 2.1 miles. If you want to check out the Crocker Cirque and the adjacent camping site about halfway down, they can be reached 0.2 miles off the main path. The cirque is a little bowl with a tiny pond nestled among the Crockers, carved out eons ago by glaciers. I saw moose tracks in the mud.

From the cirque, it’s a relatively easy 1 mile down to the Caribou Valley Road. (Many people drive the 3.8 miles down the road to the gate, a half-mile from the Appalachian Trail. The condition of the road can be unpredictable; it’s best to have a high-clearance vehicle.)

Directions: To start at the North Crocker trailhead: From the junction of Route 27 and the access road to Sugarloaf resort, continue 2.6 miles north on Route 27 toward Eustis. There’s a large parking area on the left (or south) side of the road—signs for the Appalachian Trail crossing will warn you when you’re coming up on it. The trailhead for North Crocker is closer to the northern end of the parking lot.