Introducing the Northern New England Adventure Trail

I have been putting together a route which links the Puppy Dog Route (and thus the TET) to GravelTravel.ca's TNE route. This is a preliminary file, in three sections. All of this route has been ridden within the past few years by ADV Riders. I call the resulting 525 mile route the Northern New England Adventure Trail, Or NNEAT.



It is mostly gravel, with a few technical sections, and so is fairly big-bike friendly (By this I mean big dual-sports. This is no terrain for sport bikes or cruisers.) I will post more technical routes if interest is there.

One feature a rider should pay attention to is that much of the central section goes over a mix of state, federal, and privately owned lands, and segments can be gated from time to time. The route is usually accessible between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and often later into the fall.

It is particularly important to be aware that you may be sharing the road with vehicles ranging from logging trucks to hikers. Some of these users do, in fact own the road. Pay attention and be polite. I've never been hassled, but know those that have been. Enforcement in the remote sections is generally by Fish and Game personnel. These guys have my greatest respect, but can be tough as nails, and are certainly not to be trifled with.

Although you may seem to be in the middle of nowhere, many of these routes are heavily used during the summer. It's better to obtain proper fire permits and pay camping fees, as the fines for not having them can be steep.

The first section of the route is a short connector from the top of the PDR to near my house. It is 50 miles, mostly over town-maintained gravel roads through some very nice Vermont scenery.

Per Dave's suggestion, I've eliminated a section through private property, and greatly simplified the number of points in the route. The new file is posted below, post 11. It is a preferable route.

The second leg travels across some very remote country. Although there are fuel and supplies available at various points, they usually require a side-journey.

Places to fuel and eat are:

West Burke or Barton, VT
Island Pond, VT
Averill, VT
Pittsburgh, NH
Errol, NH
Eustis, ME
Stratton, ME
West Forks, ME

Much of this area is outside reliable cell service. If you have a break-down, it can be a while before anyone will wander by. Be well prepared.




The updated file, changed to avoid private lands, is in post #10.

Thanks!

The final leg traverses wild country around the Dead and Kennebec Rivers before dipping into the more settled areas of north-central Maine, then cuts northward to the Penobscot River and beyond to the New Brunswick border. Houlton is the largest town a rider will encounter on the trip, and has a full range of goods and services. One can resupply here if one is continuing northward on GravelTravel's TNE route. www.graveltravel.ca.



The file:

View attachment Forks to Houlton.gpx

Thanks for posting this.

One note on the files is that the first one has a route with a lot of points, and the second and third have tracks with > 500 points each.

Some GPS units can't navigate tracks, and some will not handle all the route points. So a little planning will be needed before using the information.

But it looks like a great collection of roads and a fun ride.

Sorry for the many points. I tried to thin things down a bit, but GPSbabel kept on returning an error. Perhaps someone more geekish than I could clean things up a little.

Maybe I'll give her a try this summer. I'll post in trip planning to see if I can gather a supporting cast .

Following an email from 9Dave, I decided to implement an alternate route from Canaan, VT to Eustis, ME. Portions of the original route go through the Dartmouth College Grant. The grant was given to the college by the king of England before the United States existed, and is maintained as a private preserve for the students and alumni. It is often gated, and is an area where one is likely to be hassled or at least questioned.

The route attached substitutes some pavement for gravel. The pavement sections are among the most scenic in New England, so I feel this is a fair trade-off. The ride through Dixville Notch is a hoot, and the ride up the Magalloway River is a scenic mix of twisties. Dual-sport suspension can be a plus here, as some of the pavement is rough enough to have one wishing for a return to gravel.



See full file for leg 2 in post #10.

Thanks ...

Updated version of Summit, VT to West Forks ME avoiding College Grant -- full version.

View attachment Summit to Forks Alt.gpx

Updated Puppy Dog Route connector to avoid stretch of private property and vastly reduce the number of points can be found here:

View attachment Puppy to Summit New.gpx

In an attempt to provide cleaner files, I searched for some GPS software on CNET. The following is a handy, compact utility with excellent filtering options:

http://download.cnet.com/GPX-Editor/3000-2383_4-10913774.html

I was working on the files again today, and created the following overlay map. This shows the various adventure routes from the Gulf of Mexico to Northern Canada that can be obtained as free .gpx files.



They are, from south to north:

Trans Eastern Trail South, available here on AdvRider from inmate intothenew.

Trans Eastern Trail available here on AdvRider from inmate intothenew.

Puppy Dog Route, available from the Vermont BMWMOA here: http://www.vtbmwmov.org/rides/#puppydog

NNEAT, available right here.

True North East, available at www.graveltravel.ca.

And, if that's not enough, the TNE connects to the Trans-Labrador at Baie Comeau, which will bring you to Newfoundland, The Rock. Refer either to www.graveltravel.ca or http://www.ridetherock.com/.

The TET connects to the TAT at Jellico, TN.

That's a lot of riding!

Wow, just saw this at work, I can't wait to check out the files! Way to go Canuman, you planning on taking this route this year?

Have done part of the PPD VT tack last year and was looking to hook up to the surf & turf ultimate bid dually ride posted in adv a while back...looks interesting

I've ridden and mapped the western portion from North Troy to "summit" and "summit" eastward ("summit" is the railroad siding on my property that makes a convenient waypoint) to the Forks in Maine in various vehicles over the years. The route is very solid from there. I've not done much east of Greenville, ME, but have done most of the route from The Forks through Moxie Pond to Greenville in a Landcruiser.

I've been all over the North Maine Woods on four wheels, but they are often not open to two, so some edits may be in order.

I'd like to get a few riders to verify this complete route this summer. The eastern tracks come from reliable sources, and the whole thing can be done in two to three days. It opens up a whole lotta territory.

I've spent many years in Maine and the North Woods, and I do notice such things. The part of the route beyond West Forks came from a verified, ridden route posted here on ADV in the tracks section. I've been cautious about indicating this is a preliminary route, and I've been careful to include roads that have actually been ridden and reported on by inmates. Note the complete lack of anything north of The Golden Road, for example.

Strange, I had a camp on Aziscoos, and used to bike there without problems.

I'll try my best to verify part of the trip!

Thanks, Devo!