Mille Crag Bend Route

A rough, unmarked route leaving the river on the right at mile 174.9 and climbing east up a fault to the top of Mille Crag Bend — the field of standing towers the river wraps around at the bottom of Cataract. RiverMaps gives it three quarters of a mile and over 1,200 feet of climbing, and says plainly that it requires excellent route-finding skills. That is roughly 1,600 feet of gain per mile with no trail to follow, which puts it well outside the category of a side hike you decide on from the boat. There is no marked start, no tread to hold, and no guidebook description of the line beyond 'up the fault'. Treat the route-finding warning as the operative fact: the climb is the easy part to plan for, the navigation is not. Nobody should be attempting this on the strength of a river-mile reference alone.

Quick stats

Elevation gain

1200 ft

Difficulty

Extreme

Safety & hazards

The guidebook's own gating condition: the route requires excellent route-finding skills. There is no marked tread and no published description of the line beyond the fault it follows.