Hiking the Mahoosuc Range - Goose Eye Mountain and Mount Carlo in Western Maine

Goose Eye Mountain and Mount Carlo are part of the Mahoosuc Range in Western Maine, just to the north and east of the main part of the White Mountain National Forest. The Range is traversed by the Appalachian Trail there are a number of trails that lead up to the Appalachian Trail from Success Pond Road in the north, which makes a couple of different loops possible on this mountain range.

Our hike began at the trailhead for the Goose Eye and Carlo Col Trails, which is about 8 miles up Success Pond Road. The road is a seasonal dirt road and best driven by truck, though our VW Jetta braved it and didn’t really have a problem, but we did have to drive a lot more carefully and slowly then we would have if we had truck. It seems the first mile and a half or so is the worst, which is where there’s both vehicular traffic and ATV traffic. After that, the road is better maintained and is for vehicular travel only.

From the trailhead, we took the Goose Eye Trail to the summit of Goose Eye Mountain, followed the Appalachian Trail south from the summit to the summit of Mount Carlo, and then down into Carlo Gap. From there we turned off the Appalachian Trail onto the Carlo Col Trail and descended back down to the trailhead where we started.

All together, this was an 8.2 mile hike with 2,631 feet of elevation gain utilizing the Goose Eye Trail, Mahoosuc/Appalachian Trail, and the Carlo Col Trail.

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