N.E. Wanderer: Flagstaff Hut in January

Flagstaff Hut Entrance

I lost track of how many times I said to Bethany that we should do the Maine Huts and Trails one of these days. After, however many years of having said that, I'm happy to report that we finally made that dream a reality. Bethany, Ashton and I snowshoed into Flagstaff Hut on the east shore of Flagstaff Lake in January for a one-night introduction to the hut to hut experience.

Now the first thing you need to know is that "Hut" completely understates what you find when you embark on this wilderness experience. Eco-Lodge is a much more accurate description of these cedar-shingled lodges located off the grid in Maine's western mountains. The second thing to know, is that it is really easy to have this experience.

Winter access to the Flagstaff Hut is almost too easy. From North New Portland you hop onto Long Falls Dam Road and follow it for about 22 miles to the Flagstaff Hut Trail Head. The road is well maintained and the trail head parking is well marked.. This was actually a pleasant surprise for us. We figured that the access road would be a narrow, dirt road wending through a remote forest, but it turned out to be a paved road with many houses along almost the entire length of the road and it was kept in really good shape.

Flagstaff Hut Trail Head

We opted out of paying the $35 per person for the gear shuttle and packed our own stuff in. After strapping on the snowshoes and packs, we headed down the well-groomed trail. About a 10th of a mile down the trail, we had a choice to make - take the Main Hut Trail or opt for the Shore Trail.

In planning, we had already decided on the Shore Trail, figuring we'd have some panoramic views of the Bigelow Mountain Range on the south shore of Flagstaff Lake - we were right.

View of the Bigelow Range from the Shore Trail

As its name implies, the Shore Trail followed the Flagstaff shoreline. It was a a narrow trail winding through trees, so it wasn't a straight shot. Fortunately, one of the Huts and Trails staff had checked out the trail that morning, so we had tracks to follow. While there were blue trail markers along much of the trail, There were a few sections where the markers were spaced out a bit too far. If we didn't have the broken trail to follow, it might have been a challenge locating the next trail marker. That said, since the trail followed the shoreline and the hut was on the shore, you couldn't possibly miss the lodge if you just skirted the lake.

Outside the Flagstaff Hut

The main lodge had a living room/lounge area with stuffed chairs, books and games; a large dining area with a big woodstove, fronted by a comfy couch and a couple of rocking chairs. The bathroom area included several individual rooms with toilets, private shower rooms and four community sinks. The hut's pine paneling and the flagstone woodstove hearth were locally sourced, as were the chairs and tables in the dining room, built in nearby Farmington.

Living Room/Lounge Area

Dining Room with woodstove. The primary gathering area.

Dining Room and main gathering area

Private coin-op Showers

The sleeping quarters are in two buildings adjacent to the Main Lodge, Our building was only about 10 feet from the Main Lodge, so it was easy to access the bathroom and Main Lodge just by tiptoeing across a few flagstones. Our room was a private room with three bunks, but there are bigger shared rooms that sleep as many as eight people. Each bunk had a mattress and pillow. If I had any complaint, it was that the pillows were pretty thin, so I folded my fleece up underneath, which raised it a little. The room had one small window and one small light. With the in-floor radiant heat, our room temperature was 53 degrees when we went to bed, but warmed up to 63 the time we woke up.

Ashton in the top bunk

Bethany next to the lower bunks

Meals were served family style. On this night, we shared the hut with 10 others, which was a nice number. It was enough people to make it interesting, but an intimate enough group to get to make some new friends. The hut can accommodate up to 44 people, but I think that would make it a bit more difficult to meet everyone.

Dinner was chicken stew, green beans, and a kale salad, topped off with a triple berry cobbler for dessert. All of which was very good. Breakfast the next day was scrambled eggs with peppers, onions and mushrooms, sausage, home fries and orange juice. - all prepared by a friendly staff of four caretakers.

Community breakfast with new friends

Coffee is always free thanks to a generous donation from Carrabassett Coffee in Kingfield, and Cabot donates all the cheese. You can purchase tea, hot cocoa, Maine beers, wine, soda, t-shirts, and toiletries that you may have forgotten to pack. If you don't have cash, the hut staff has an iPad with a "Square" reader that enables them to take credit cards.

Coffee and Tea Station

Maine Huts and Trails makes for a great family adventure. It can also be educational. Each night the staff offers the hut tour which explains how they can provide such a comfortable experience with a very low environmental impact. Their electricity is generated by solar panels. They have a very efficient wood boiler to heat water for showers, meals, and the radiant heat, and they have a composting toilet system that takes human waste and converts it to an organic compost that is clean and ordorless. It's really quite impressive.

We enjoyed ourselves immensely and are already thinking about when we can return again. We are considering another winter trek, maybe to Stratton Brook or Poplar Hut, and we also want to make a trip in the summer, perhaps to Grand Falls Hut.

Closing Shots...