Gulf Hagas

If you’re writing an article about the Gulf, make sure you tell them there’s no bridge,” pleads Fran Dill, a receptionist at the Katahdin Iron Works checkpoint in township T7R10. “People show up here all the time asking where the falls are, thinking they can see right into them from the parking lot. But you have to cross that river, and even if it’s 100° out, it’s still cold,” Dill says.

Twelve miles northwest of Brownville Junction, on Route 11 and Katahdin Iron Works Road, visitors hit one of two entryways into the Gulf. The other is in Greenville, but Chuck Lloyd, a Registered Maine Guide who has worked as a receptionist at this checkpoint since 1991, says it’s a rougher ride going in through Greenville as it’s largely over logging roads.

It’s at these checkpoints that visitors remit the $6 per person day fee for Maine residents ($10 for out-of-staters) to enter the Katahdin Iron Works Jo-Mary Multiple Use Management Forest—a 175,000-acre tract of privately-owned working forest between Millinocket, Greenville, and Brownville. This forest is home to over 30 miles of the Appalachian Trail, the historic Hermitage (a 35-acre stand of some of the state’s oldest pine trees), more than 50 lakes and ponds, and its most awe-inspiring attraction, Gulf Hagas.

While knowledgeable receptionists like Dill and Lloyd can certainly teach you about the trail ahead and even sell you a $1 map, they can’t provide bug spray, water, or food, which Lloyd stresses are staples.

So is a small towel—if you have space in your pack—as just a 10-minute walk past the parking lot (located another six-mile stretch of dirt road beyond the checkpoint), you’ll be forced to ford the West Branch of the Pleasant River because, true to Dill’s word, there is no bridge. And yes, the water may be brisk. But after the hour-long-plus drive north and slightly west from Bangor, the 150-foot section of numbingly cold water is a welcome wake-up for the feet that are about to carry hikers and their packs into the wilderness.

According to Dill, during the spring runoff, the Pleasant River can become too dangerous to cross, but in late summer the water creeps up to the base of the calves of the visitors who carefully pick their way across. Note that, no matter the time of year or conditions, sandals and sneakers won’t provide safe navigating anywhere in the Gulf Hagas area. Think “sturdy footwear.”

Commonly called the Grand Canyon of Maine, this spectacularly raw landscape includes an 8.2-mile hiking loop called the Rim Trail, a challenging and often slippery part of the Appalachian Trail that, for nearly three miles, follows along the rim of a canyon that is 150 feet deep in some spots, carved out by crashing waters over the last 10,000 years. It’s in that canyon that the river drops more than 400 feet over a sequence of falls—Screw Auger Falls, the Jaws, Hammond Street Pitch, Buttermilk Falls, Billings Falls, and Stair Falls, all of which attract visitors from across the state and beyond.

To cover the entire loop takes about six hours for a healthy hiker, says Lloyd, and that’s, of course, if the falls don’t distract you too much from the walk at foot. For most, they do.

“The first time people come in here, they don’t get in past the first falls, maybe the second. They seldom make the whole loop,” Lloyd says. “But they come back.”

The first waterfall visitors come to along the trail is a three-step series called Screw Auger Falls. It’s largely considered the jewel in the Gulf Hagas crown. While sun streams through the pine trees that line the dry Rim Trail, it’s dark, damp, and deafening down by the water’s edge.

It’s proximity that privileges this stop along the Rim Trail. Screw Auger Falls is a little more than a mile from the parking lot, making it a manageable destination for families looking for a picnic place with a view, a swimming hole, and instant gratification.

If visitors don’t linger too long at Screw Auger Falls and head on down the Rim Trail (carefully), past the Jaws and frothy Buttermilk Falls, and Billings Falls, they’re rewarded with an overlook that offers panoramic views of the opening of the canyon. If this is your first trip, you’d be wise to heed Chuck Lloyd’s warning about a first-timer’s inability to navigate the entire loop. So if you pace yourself, you’re in for a treat, first time out.

Gulf Hagas is busiest during the months of July and August (though the bugs like it best from late May through July), but the autumn months afford the most dramatic scenes, thanks to the flush of the foliage and the higher water table. Day-trippers are most common, but if you go, consider an overnight to allow more time to explore. Primitive camping is offered for an additional fee, and each authorized site—there are 60—includes a picnic table, a “privy,” and a steel fire-ring. Reservations are not required, but recommended for weekends and holidays. You can make reservations by calling 965-8135.

For more information about Gulf Hagas or the Katahdin Iron Works Jo-Mary Multiple Use Man-
agement Forest, visit www.northmainewoods.org.