12 pack in Maine + 3 bonus pks

[Oncoman]

Day 1 - 22 July - Baker/White Cap/Big Moose

Baker: Decided to do bushwhack from north side. Moderately difficult with numerous blowdowns. No open woods here. Waist to shoulder high raspberry fiels for 1st ¼ mile. Took 2½ hrs to reach summit 1¼ m. away & 2 hrs to return to car. Found Spencer’s & Papa Bear’s Gatorade jar from Aug. 2005. Register in excellent condition. Only 1 other entry since then, dated 1st July 2006, from Glenn Houle, #449/453; list started in 1988. Only 4 to go with finish in Baxter. Bravo Glenn!

Car directions to reach Baker from north:

- From Lily Bay Rd north of Greenville, turn right on Frenchtown Rd just before reaching Kokadjo. It’s a dirt rd in excellent condition allowing 40-50 mph, but speed limit is 35 mph (campgrounds & cottages).
- At 12.4 km take dirt rd on right.
- Drive up this rd for 8.1 km before parking. On your way you will pass by a few side rds on left.
- Note that at 7.5 km you will meet 1st fork with better rd going uphill to right. But you must take left turn-off onto logging dirt rd.
- Drive up logging rd for another 0.6 km, crossing wooden bridge at 0.3 km, where you meet 2nd fork. Park there. Baker is clearly visible on your left, approx. 1¼ m. away.

White Cap: After returning to intersection with Frenchtown Rd, turn right & drive for another 10 km where you come to gate. Park there. It’s an 8 min. road walk to reach A.T. trailhead & then a 1h45 hike to summit 3.1 m. uphill. Total time of 3h15 to return to car. Very nice views on summit, but sky was too hazy that day to see Katahdin. Also checked out ugly building near summit with solar panels.

Big Moose: Easy 2h04 total time to bag pk & drive off. Summit in clouds with impending rain. Zero visibility. Rain started 15-20 min. before reaching car.

Day 2 – 23 July – Saddleback/Doubletop

Saddleback: Followed Papa Bear’s car directions. Note that one of boulders blocking rd is now removed, but need truck to go further up road, so I parked there. Started on skid rd up saddleback at 1800’ elevation according to my Suunto watch altimeter & with NE bearing. Easy bushwhack through skid rds, moose herd paths & open forest. Should be able to bag pk & return to your car within 3 hrs. No canister on summit (pk less than 3K), but there is an orange string tied to tree. Beware of numerous false pks before reaching end of ridge.

Doubletop: Took me slightly less than 3 hrs total time to bag N. & S. Doubletop (6.6 m. hike to & from). Had to argue with Baxter Park ranger who didn’t want me to start hike up Doubletop from Nesowadnehunk, despite 4h45 of daylight remaining! Very well maintained trail. Zero blowdown. Can easily be moonshined. On my return again discussed with ranger who was now much more cooperative. And yes one can moonshine pks in Baxter though you must before hand obtain a special authorization & check with park rangers to ensure you carry all the proper equipment (namely headlamps with extra batteries & light bulbs). A bit too paternalistic to my liking, but that’s Baxter for you. BTW I found a bronze plaque behind boulder on N. Doubletop in memory of Kepple Hall, whose ashes were dispersed into the wind by his wife on summit of N. Doubletop at sunset on 20th Aug. 1926, with following epitaph “Love only is eternal”. Now that’s the way I would like to exit this world, though I am in no hurry to find my summit. Does anybody know who Kepple Hall was? The park authorities seem to ignore it. It seems the plaque was erected before that land was annexed to park.

Day 3 – 24 July – Hamlin/Katahdin

Went up via Hamlin ridge trail & returned via Helon (Heel-on) Taylor trail. Don’t miss Blueberry Knoll on your way up with its spectacular views of the north & south basins + knife edge which was still partly in the clouds that morning, but luckily the sky cleared up for me later on, thus allowing fantastic views from Katahdin summit & during my rock hopping down knife edge. An unforgettable experience!

Day 4 – 25 July – OJI/Cox/S. & N. Brother/Fort

2 lists completed that day, NE 4K & 111(115), on N. Brother. Rained on & off during most of the hike. Rain & cold wind on summit of S. Brother & Fort. Very wet bushwhack to reach Fort, but herd paths relatively easy to follow. Long 9 hrs hiking day. Met no one all day. Turn-off for OJI Link trail easy to miss when going up slide towards Cox. Had to backtrack.

Day 5 – 26 July – Pk of the Ridges/The Traveler/N. Traveler

A tiring 7 hrs round trip. Left at 05h05 and was back at 12h02. Went up via Rocky Ridge. Very hot & humid making for rough rocky ridge walk. Was I glad having started at daybreak! This also avoided me getting caught by the heavy rain & thunderstorm which occurred later on that afternoon while driving back home.

Pierre

 

[Papa Bear]

Good work Pierre, quite a marathon.

One small thing: it was me and Spencer on Baker. Glad the route to Baker from the North worked out. I'm thinking you went straight for the peak from the place you parked. It was about here, no? Was there possibly skid roads or snowmobile trails going up to the Baker - Llly Bay Col? Christopher Keene seemed to indicate you could get all the way up to the col.

Also good navigating to get to the Whitecap gate from that side. Saved a lot of driving.

Glad to see that that good old 2998' Saddleback is still doing fine. Also it's nice you didn't get your boot stuck in a snow drift, like me. Did you take the KI road from Greenville through the mountains for Saddleback, or drive way around (which might have been faster)?

 

[Oncoman]

Hi Richard!

No, the red dot on your Topozone map corresponds to 1st fork in rd heading up Bluff Mtn. I parked 0,6 km further on dirt rd at the 2nd fork not indicated on map. Bearing up Baker was due south, with a brook on the northern side of the rd, so no wet feet here. The rd heading up Bluff Mtn can actually be seen clearly when going up Baker & can be used as an orientering guideline on your way down.

Regarding getting to the Lily Bay/Baker col, the left branch of the rd fork seemed to bring you right there, but of course I may be wrong not having personally checked it out. Also that rd section seemed too rough for car travel.

As for getting to Saddleback, I chose to drive the long way around since it was after sunset & raining. I got to the parking spot at 23h00.

Cheers,
Pierre

 

[poison ivy]

Pierre, you are a hiking machine! Congrats on finishing the NE fours & 111!

- Ivy

 

[marty]

Well done, Pierre. Great Trip Report, too! Congratulations!!
Marty

 

[Amicus]

Hello Pierre,

At first I found your reports rather inspiring but now I'm getting a little discouraged. Ivy's right - you're bionic. I've given up any hope of replicating your hikes, but they're still full of great info even if I end up breaking them into smaller pieces.

Congratulations on completing the NE 67. I deliberately held off, realizing that you deserved to break that tape first. I hear Marty may have done the same.

Mike

 

[RoySwkr]

No canister on summit (pk less than 3K), but there is an orange string tied to tree. Beware of numerous false pks before reaching end of ridge.

There is a survey marker (2998) on Saddleback, we dismantled the cairn to find it. Presumably PB wasn't hunting survey markers then.

 

[Nate]

Pierre, thank you for the trip report. I'm really jealous that you reached some of this peaks before me, but at least I greatly benefit from the information you share about these hikes.

Keep up the great work!

 

[dms]

Had to argue with Baxter Park ranger who didn’t want me to start hike up Doubletop from Nesowadnehunk, despite 4h45 of daylight remaining! Very well maintained trail. Zero blowdown. Can easily be moonshined. On my return again discussed with ranger who was now much more cooperative. And yes one can moonshine pks in Baxter though you must before hand obtain a special authorization & check with park rangers to ensure you carry all the proper equipment (namely headlamps with extra batteries & light bulbs). A bit too paternalistic to my liking, but that’s Baxter for you.

Pierre

Pierre, remember Big Brother knows best! Or so he'll tell you! Nice report, I'll pm you for some info on the best approach to Saddleback.

 

[onestep]

Pierre, remember Big Brother knows best! Nice report, I'll pm you for some info on the best approach to Saddleback.

Sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness than to ask for permission...

Onestep

 

[Papa Bear]

There is a survey marker (2998) on Saddleback, we dismantled the cairn to find it. Presumably PB wasn't hunting survey markers then.

Right. But more importantly, quoting what I wrote at the time:

We slogged on over a fairly open false peak and then through some thicker stuff and deeper snow, finally reaching the summit at 12:30. My gloved hands were freezing and Spencer's bare hands were freezing so we celebrated our first triumph for about 15 seconds and started down.

No digging around that day.