You Are Here: Birch Ridge Community Forest

After yesterday's adventure, I wanted something a little more low key and closer to home. Birch Ridge Community Forest is briefly mentioned in the AMC South Trail Guide and initially I had decided not to hike there as it seemed to still be under development by SELT. I have really enjoyed SELT properties in the past, so I figured I'd wait till it was complete. In continuing to look at trip reports and any information I could find, it seemed that SELT had done all they were going to do, so I decided it was maybe time to go check it out. I've heard the area is rough with a lot of logging slash and debris. I parked at the Rattlesnake Mountain parking area, which I was amazed to see was huge. So many cars could fit here, alas today it was just me and would stay that way the entire morning. Many of the trails follow snowmobile corridors or logging roads. From the parking area, the trail (road) follows the side of the slope through the logged area. This is the worst of the slash/debris in the area that I was in. I reached the intersection with the branch to Rattlesnake Mountain and was pleasantly surprised to see it became more "trail" rather than road. All the prior clearing and logging has left the whole area feel very open and bright, which helps the dreary feel of the surrounds with all the mess. The branch up to Rattlesnake Mountain climbs and switchbacks moderately over the summit (the true summit is a few feet off trail on an unmarked rock). The maps all indicate that this trail ends just after the summit, but I found the blazes kept going, heading down and ended up intersecting Corridor 22 snowmobile trail (which is marked in yellow and on the SELT map). Thankfully I had a copy of the map downloaded, so I knew this would meet up with Lake Trail a little ways along, which I had also planned on hiking today. The snowmobile corridor was wide and thankfully not overgrown, in fact it was mostly gravel. At Lake Trail, I took a left and followed back to the intersection with Mt Eleanor Trail and the connector back to the Rattlesnake Mountain intersection. I took a right here towards Mt Eleanor. Back on an actual trail, I really enjoyed the climb up to the summit, although it was along this section the little black flies decided to come out and play, completely ruining the mood, although motivating me to keep moving! I took a little side path that could be seen up to a rock that had peakaboo views over Merrymeeting Lake. The summit of Mt Eleanor has no views, but a peanut butter jar cannister was hanging from a tree. I went to sign in, but found the jar full of water and bugs, so took a picture and will call that my entry instead. Continuing over the summit, the trail switchbacks down to meet up with Corridor 22 again, just few hundred feet from the Lake Trail intersection. Lake Trail is also a snowmobile corridor, so wide and gravelly. I followed all the way to the end at S Shore Road and was surprised to see a small parking area, as it's not marked on the map, so I'm not sure if parking is allowed here for these trails. I backtracked to the 4 way intersection with Mt Eleanor Trail and this time took the connector trail back to Rattlesnake Mountain and down the trail/road back to my car. Not the prettiest of hikes, but also not the worst. There are more trails in Birch Ridge Community Forest, but they are accessed off another road, and I will save for another day.

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