Over the hills and through the woods: the Maine way into the White Mountains

Although most of White Mountain National Forest is in New Hampshire, its easternmost arm, comprising more than sixty-five square miles, lies in western Maine. More than a third of the Maine portion is designated the Caribou-Speckled Mountain Wilderness, named for its two highest peaks. Rising to 2,840 feet, Caribou Mountain bears the name of a species whose range extended into the state until the early twentieth century. Slightly taller, at 2,906 feet, Speckled Mountain is so called because in autumn the evergreen foliage of the conifer forest is dotted with the golden brown of American beech, the red and yellow of red maple, and the orange of sugar maple.

The wilderness can be reached from Maine State Route 113. From Fryeburg, a town about fifty miles northwest of Portland, the narrow, scenic highway runs north, paralleling the picturesque Cold River. Veering for a little part of the way into New Hampshire, it passes the forest's Cold River Campground before re-entering Maine. About three-tenths of a mile farther on it reaches the trailhead for Royce Trail, which heads northward to Mad River Fails (a pretty spot about a mile and a half away) and beyond. From the same trail crossing, Bickford Brook Trail heads eastward into the Caribou-Speckled Mountain Wilderness and connects with the Red Rock Trail, which climbs over Speckled Mountain. Before heading out on those and other trails, hikers should be sure to get suitable maps and equipment [see visitor information on opposite page].

Route 113 itself tops out at Evans Notch, where a small parking spot to the side of the road offers a panoramic view west across the upper reaches of the Cold River to East Royce and West Royce mountains. The road then descends to a junction with U.S. Highway 2. Several other trailheads into the wilderness can be found along the way, including Caribou Trail, which climbs to the flat granite top of Caribou Mountain.

The granite summit and high ledges of Caribou Mountain have little soil, as a result of a past fire. From a distance they appear bare of vegetation. In fact, despite the dry conditions created by exposure and wind, certain low-growing plants survive on the gravel-strewn and rocky surfaces. Among them is White Mountain silverling, an herb in the pink, or carnation, family, which grows in small tufts. I consider it a rare variety of Paronychia argyrocoma. The plant has many narrow, almost needlelike leaves, whose edges are curled under. Its tiny flowers lack petals, but they grow in clusters surrounded by silvery bracts--hence the name "silverling." Mountain sandwort, another member of the pink family, often grows along with the silverling, hugging the bare granite in dense, tangled mats. Each plant has scores of threadlike stems that bear soft, limp, extremely narrow leaves. I regard it as a distinguishable, rare variety of Minuartia groenlandica.

Maine State Route 5 lies east of the wilderness area and away from the mountains, but it does give access to several scenic brooks and ponds in the national forest. You can turn onto Forest Road 7 to drive a four-mile-long, self-guided tour, the Patte Brook Auto Tour. After paralleling the brook for more than a mile, the road reaches a turnoff leading to a granite dam built nearly 200 years ago to regulate water-power for a downstream saw mill. The U.S. Forest Service has repaired the long-neglected dam to create forty-five acres of marshland and ponds. Known as the Patte Brook Waterfowl Impoundment, the acreage is managed as a wetland for wildlife by the U.S. Forest Service. Some areas along the brook have also been cleared of trees, mostly speckled alders. The clearings were intended to benefit ruffed grouse, which feed on insects in the sunlit grasses, but they also serve as spring courting grounds for woodcock, and they attract deer and black bears. Apple trees left over from the time the land was farmed grow here and there.

Beyond the turn-off for the dam, the tour route veers left off Forest Road 7 and onto Forest Road 18. On the west side of the road, just before it crosses New England Brook, is a small, glacial bog. The name "glacial" reflects its origins more than 10,000 years ago, when a block of glacial ice melted in a shallow depression. In the intervening millennia, the resulting pond filled in with deep beds of sphagnum. Because there is no natural outlet, the water has become acidic and thus attractive to acid-loving plants, particularly members of the heath family.

The road ends at Crocker Pond, a lovely pond stocked with brook trout.

HABITATS

Coniferous forest In the cool, moist upper elevations, the dominant trees are balsam fir, eastern hemlock, white pine, and white spruce, which tower over a low shrub layer of American yew, common mountain holly, spiny swamp-currant, squashberry, and swamp red currant. Although often carpeted with mosses, the forest floor also supports a rich array of wildflowers. Spring bloomers include bead-lily, bunchberry, Canada mayflower, goldthread, painted trillium, pink lady's-slipper, and star-flower. Wildflowers that bloom from late July until frost include large-leaved goldenrod, lesser rattlesnake-plantain, mountain woodsorrel, pointed-leaved aster, twinflower, and white rattlesnake root. Among the native ferns are mountain wood fern and toothed wood fern.