The day after our wet hike up Sugarloaf and Spaulding we awoke to a sunny morning. We packed up camp and headed down Caribou Valley Road to bag Mt. Redington before heading home. Since the last time Danielle and I were here the road was still in bad shape and the parking area where we left the car was washed out. The bridge at the beginning of the trail was also in worse shape. We made good time walking up the road and soon arrived at the bridge heading to Caribou Pond. Continuing along the road we kept making good progress toward Redington. After the second turn the trail started heading uphill. Luckily, Danielle and I still remembered the way through all the twists and turns.

The hike down was just as quick as getting up the mountain. After cleaning up we headed for Gritty McDuff's in Freeport for a nice Sunday afternoon lunch. Mt. Redington has to be the only mountain in New England where you can hike 8 miles in under 4 hours.

Mt. Redington is one of the more remote 4,000 foot mountains in Maine, but is very easy to get to. The main route follows the Caribou Valley Rd. almost to the very top.  However, there is an old bridge you would need to cross if you wanted to drive to the end of the road. To be on the safe side, we decided to park before the bridge and walk the extra 2 miles. The road walk to the summit was nice and easy. There were many wild flowers and berries along both sides and moose prints everywhere. At one point we passed a stand of pine trees that had the most bizarre optical effect we've ever seen. It was like looking at a window screen.

Eventually the road became more rough and steep as it climbed up to the ridge.  We had to watch where we were going since there were many trails connecting to the main route. However, someone was nice enough to build cairns and arrows to show us the correct way. The trail became more narrow and eventually turned into a path for the last half mile to the summit. Once we arrived on top we found a large clearing with a very tall tower taking wind measurements. It was self sufficient and one of the strangest objects we've ever seen on a summit.

The summit of Mt. Redington is marked by a canister attached to a tree. We found a small notebook inside that was full of notes from pervious hikers and we added our own little message to the list. We didn't have many views due to all the trees, but there was one area where we could see the Crockers and Bigelow mountains. After a short break we began the 4 mile hike back to the car. Along the way we ran into some native wildlife and a rare plant called a joe pie weed. So we stopped for a photo. We also took a short excursion to Caribou Valley pond hoping to see a moose, but there were none to be found. In less than 2 hours from the summit we were back at the car. The entire 8 mile hike was completed in about 4 hours which has to be some kind of record for us.