“Newton’s Revenge.” That’s the name of the trail you take to reach the Stratton Brook Hut. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, it’s not nearly as bad as it sounds. . . .

Stratton Brook is the newest of the four huts in the Maine Huts and Trails system, which stretches over some 47 miles from a trailhead in Carrabassett Valley to a trailhead near The Forks. The four huts–Stratton Brook, Poplar, Flagstaff Lake, and Grand Falls–are actually 32.6 trail miles apart, not counting the trails in and out.

The “Newton’s Revenge” moniker is an apt one for at least parts of the trail to the Stratton Brook Hut. The hut is spectacularly sited on the top of a steep hill with grand views of Sugarloaf Mountain to the south and the Bigelow Mountain Preserve to the north. The only way to get there is via your own legs and lungs, carrying your own gear. In the winter, you use snowshoes, touring or backcountry skis, or sliding snowshoes; in the summer, you hike or mountain bike. No motor vehicles allowed! Fortunately, however, Newton’s Revenge is short–from the closest trailhead, it’s just 3 miles to the hut, and more than half of it is flat, so anyone in moderately good shape should have no problem if they take it slow.

When we first began planning our Maine Huts getaway (the excellent map they have on their website makes it easy to visualize), we quickly zeroed in on the two huts closest to each other for a simple loop. After talking to the helpful folks at the Maine Huts headquarters, we initially thought to park at the Airport Trailhead, ski 7.2 miles to Stratton Brook, overnight there; then, ski 10 miles to Poplar Hut, overnight there; and finally 3.1 miles back to our car to complete the loop.

After more consideration, Marilyn raised concerns about skiing that far on unknown trails, climbing some apparently significant hills—all while carrying packs with overnight gear. She pointed out that, in my enthusiasm for adventure, I often underestimate the difficulties for her (and sometimes for me). I listened (which is, perhaps, why we are still married), and adjusted our itinerary. We would park at the Stratton Brook Trailhead, ski 3 miles to the Stratton Brook Hut, ski back to our car the next day, move the car to the Gauge Road Trailhead and ski 2.4 miles (again, mostly uphill) into Poplar Hut, then the same 2.4 miles out the final day. She thought that plan sounded do-able.

It is, of course, perfectly possible to ski to all four huts in a single five-day, four-night trek, but that sounded a bit ambitious for us, particularly without knowing what the trails are like. We heard that the 11-mile trail from Poplar to Flagstaff is . . . interesting. This is one of the beauties of the Maine Huts layout; you can make it easier or more challenging as you prefer.

Basecamp

We’d skied Sugarloaf the day before on exquisite corduroy snow, then overnighted in the Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel, the perfect place to bracket a visit to the Stratton Brook and Poplar Huts. We ate a huge breakfast (isn’t that why we do all of this activity???) and, when we checked out, were able to securely store our city stuff and alpine ski gear at the hotel while we explored the backcountry. Even if you aren’t an alpine skier, this is a wonderful area to visit with lots of restaurants (try the Shipyard, Hugs, or the new 45 North) and lodging options in a variety of price ranges. And, the Sugarloaf Outdoor Center has 90 kilometers of groomed trails to warm up on before you head into the backwoods.

The Maine Huts And Trails Adventure Begins

Lowering clouds and light snow greeted us as we parked at the trailhead, and hit the trail to the hut. The first mile and a half of Newton’s Revenge could be called “Newton’s Snooze”—it’s that flat and easy. Not until 1.6 miles out does Newton wake up—“up” being the operative word. From there on, it’s an almost-relentless climb.

The whole trail, all the way to the hut had been groomed for snowshoes, skate, or BC skis and tracked for classic skis. The day before had been warm and the groomed surface was crusted hard, but the light snow falling was slightly sticky and that actually made the climbing much easier—the fishscale bases on our backcountry skis gripped perfectly and we only had to herringbone up the very steepest of the many pitches.

At the top of one particularly steep climb, with another just ahead, a whimsical snowman greeted us with the message “YOU CAN DO IT!” We could, and we did, taking it slow and arriving at the hut just before noon. By then, it was snowing pretty enthusiastically.

First thing you notice on arrival: it’s called Stratton Brook Hut, but “hut” is something of a misnomer. It’s more like a spacious and elegant wilderness lodge. Nothing “hutlike” about it. The hut crew, Saphrona and Dan, greeted us warmly, offered us some delicious leftover chili, and showed us the drying room for our wet gear. The grand tour then continued to the bathrooms with indoor composting toilets and running water (including showers!), and our spotless room with three bunks, two side-by-side. We laid out our sleeping bags (the bunkrooms are heated to 60 degrees), put the pillowcases we’d brought on the pillows provided, grabbed our books (a backcountry hut in a snowstorm is the perfect place for re-reading Robinson Crusoe) and headed to the main lodge to relax in comfort in front of a warm woodstove. Not a bad way to spend a stormy afternoon.

The murk parted occasionally to give us brief glimpses of the Bigelows and Sugarloaf. I was really wishing I could see these views on a blue-sky morning following a snowstorm. They must be utterly stunning.

The two other guests. Lisa and Diane, both from Maine, showed up early in the afternoon, Diane on skis, Lisa on snowshoes carrying skis. It was snowing harder by then, so everyone decided to hang around in the lodge. As is typical in backcountry huts, we all spent some time talking, some time reading, some time playing board games. This is a great way to get to know new people.

Dinner that night, served family-style, was rich lentil soup followed by locally-raised roast pork loin, roasted root vegetables, peas, homemade bread and gluten-free spice cake with butter-cream frosting. They ask ahead of time about dietary preferences and restrictions and seemed to accommodate effortlessly. Bedtime came early and sleep came easy. I got up once in the night, mainly to check the weather—it was still snowing, the wind stirring the trees. The moon had been full two nights before and it softly lit the clouds above, but I couldn’t even see a light in the valley below. Life in a snowglobe . . .

The next morning, we ate another huge breakfast (an excellent frittata with home fries and toasted homemade bread), packed up and reluctantly headed out into what was by then 10 inches of wet-cement snow. If we’d been smart, we’d have stayed put and relaxed. But we weren’t. Or, at least, I wasn’t . . .

It was sleeting hard up high, and raining hard below, and despite good raingear, we were damp from sweat and rain by the time we reached the base of the hill. Skiing downhill in the heavy, deep, heavy, untracked, heavy wet, heavy snow, was actually more work than climbing up had been the day before; we had forgotten to put glide wax on our skis, so the snow was sticking to them badly (remember that when you’re preparing for your trip!). The flats were a real challenge on skis and snowshoeing 3 miles in all that wet cement would have been a  l—o—n—g . . . s—l—o—w slog. Did I mention that the snow was heavy and wet, too?

Our plan for the day had been to head to the Sugarloaf Outdoor Center to dry out, eat lunch and (now) put some fresh glide wax on our skis, then to ski into Poplar Hut that afternoon. Part one accomplished, we made it to the Outdoor Center. But as we sat inside eating the excellent bag lunch Dan and Saphrona had prepared for us (great chicken salad on homemade bread!), we watched the rain coming down, the fog drifting through the trees and mutually decided to save Poplar for another visit. Sometimes, the weather just wins . . .

As it was, we saw just enough of the Maine Huts and Trails to whet our appetite for more. We’ve already booked a visit (by kayak!) to Flagstaff Lake Hut and Grand Falls Hut this coming summer.

Maine Huts and Trails in Winter: Skis Or Snowshoes?

We’d planned to ski into both Stratton and Poplar, and everything we’d heard or read as we planned our trip indicated this was the way to go. But just before our trek, Marilyn rode up a chairlift with a woman who had visited Stratton Brook a few days earlier. She described herself as an “expert” cross-country skier and stated that the trail into Stratton was so steep it was impossible to ski up, dangerous to ski down, and snowshoes were the only way to go. Understandably, this first-hand account worried us, but our snowshoes were four hours away at home. So we stopped at the Sugarloaf Outdoor Center and rented excellent MSR snowshoes which I strapped to my pack so we’d have them if needed.

Of course. it turned out that, despite the steepness of the trail in spots, we had no trouble at all climbing on our skis. And the descent was anything but dangerous. The snowshoes never got used.

All we could conclude was that the conditions we found were very different from the ones Marilyn’s chairlift companion had encountered (or, perhaps, her definition of “expert” was different . . . that’s always the problem with taking advice from people without actually knowing their ability). Any snow adventure depends on conditions. Had the trail been hard and icy instead of sticky, snowshoes would have been a far better choice than skis. Snowshoes are always the default option for safety, but skis are usually more fun. Actually, this would have been a perfect place to use sliding snowshoes. . . Hmmm. . . . Maybe next time . . .

How Do The Maine Huts and Trails Compare?

Before our recent hut trek I wondered, (and several people have asked me since) how The Maine Huts and Trails experience compares to the long-established system of AMC Huts in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the AMC Maine Wilderness Lodges and their partner West Branch Pond Camps. Having seen only one of the four Maine Huts and Trails huts (and that with only four guests), and only a tiny portion of their trail system (which will expand considerably this summer), I’m not sure I can fully answer that question.

First impression: in many respects, the Maine Huts and Trails are a bit more upscale and comfortable than the eight AMC White Mountain Huts. The Maine Huts bunkrooms are smaller, cozier, heated in winter, and have hot showers. I’ve stayed at all the AMC Huts in the summer and fall when they offer full-service with meals and bunks (but no hot showers . . .), and the food and service seem comparable. The trail in to Stratton Brook Hut seemed roughly comparable to the trails into Lonesome Lake and Zealand Falls, the easiest of the AMC Huts to reach.

In the winter, The Maine Huts and Trails facilities have a clear edge. For one thing, all of the AMC huts except Zealand, Carter Notch and Lonesome Lake are closed in the winter. Those three are self-service (bring and cook your own food) and don’t have any heat in the bunkrooms so you have to bring a winter sleeping bag; extra weight, and a problem if you don’t happen to own one. You also can’t easily ski between the AMC Huts that are open in the winter. Some of the Maine Huts, by the way are self-service during April, May and part of June.

But the AMC also offers lodge-to-lodge backcountry skiing in Maine up near Moosehead Lake. Each year for the past several we’ve skied around or between these wilderness lodges and West Branch Pond Camps. You can read about or 2012 outing here, 2011 here,  and 2009 here. This is always one of the highlights of our winter, and we look forward to it. Many of the people who work at these lodges have become like friends, and we’ve made other new friends among the other guests, which is easy when you are far away from civilization with people who share similar interests.

The two AMC Maine Lodges currently open (Medawisla is closed until at least 2016 for complete refurbishing), Little Lyford Pond and Gorman Chairback, have bunkrooms, but they also have very cozy, individual cabins. Some of the newest cabins at Chairback even have indoor plumbing. West Branch Pond Camps has cozy, woodstove-heated cabins and showers (new this year!) but is more rustic than the AMC facilities.

I didn’t see enough of the skiing on the Maine Huts and Trails system to accurately judge how it compares to the AMC Maine Lodges and West Branch Pond Camps. The groomed-trail options around Stratton Brook were definitely more limited than at the AMC lodges, but their offerings are going to expand next year. I haven’t explored the skiing around Poplar, Flagstaff, and Grand Falls at all, though the opportunities at Flagstaff, at least, look like they should be almost unlimited. Frankly, I can’t wait to explore the Maine Huts and Trails system more…and can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t want to, as well!