Baxter NEHH Peakbagging

[albee]

This past weeked, I dragged my friend Dave up to Baxter State Park in Maine for two days of peakbagging. We wanted to get all of the New England Hundred Highest peaks in the park, and it was fairly easy to do with two 12 or 13 mile hikes from the West side of Katahdin.

We left at 2:00 AM on saturday morning from the seacoast of NH and made awesome time up to Baxter. We were in line at the gate by 6:45 but we wouldn't get through the gate until 7:45. It was unbelievable how many people were heading for Katahdin. We lucked out in that there were only 4 parking spots left at Katahdin Stream, as that was our original plan and Roaring Brook and Abol Campground had already filled up!

We hit the trail at 8:15 and signed the log - 99 people had left this particular trailhead before us, including a group of 29 from Bates College. We made good time and had passed 70 people by the time we got to the Gateway, and then we ran into problems because it turned out that Dave is afraid of heights! While I didn't think this trail was particularly precarious, he took his time going up the ridge to Tableland since it was windy and cloudy up high and rime ice had been forming on all the rocks and sedge grass at the higher elevations.

After we made it to the Tableland, we cruised over to Thoreau Falls and up to the summit. Dave completed his New England high points, and we weaved our way through the throngs of people on the summit. I have never seen a summit that didn't have an auto road so crowded! There was a group of at least 40 students from Bowdoin College that was standing in line to have pictures taken with the freshly repainted AT sign. I got a kick out of one girl that had somehow made it up there with jeans, sunglasses, a fur-fringed coat and a funky hat cocked sideways. I honestly thought she was Lindsey Lohan for a second.

From there, we moved on over to Hamlin Peak. It was a stark contrast as the clouds had lifted and there were only two other people on the summit. It was turning out to be a gorgeous day with a bit of a stiff breeze. The foliage in the valley was amazing.

From Hamlin Peak we headed back to the Tableland and descended the Abol Trail. Once again, Dave had problems with his fears of falling. At one point a couple teenage boys passed us, just hopping and jogging down the scree. Not two minutes after they passed us, one kid turned his ankle in the rocks, but after a couple minutes he shook it off and continued on his jog down the slope.

Once we were back to the trailhead, we decided to jog the 2.3 miles back up the Tote road back to the car. It was a nice way to cool down and reflect on the trip. I even took a dip in Togue Pond on the way out of the park. Brrr!

Day two began even earlier as we were at the gates by 6:15 AM. We hit the Marston Trail at 7:15 with the plan of summiting Coe, South and North Brother, and bushwhacking to Fort and seeing the old plane wreck up there. It was amazing to see that only 5 people had been on this trail the previous day and we were the first ones on Sunday.

The trail to Coe slide was beautiful, and I thought going up the slide was exhilharating. My companion had even more troubles here since he was afraid of the wet slabs. We summited Coe in just under 2 hours and were almost blown off the peak by the stiff winds. The trail was a bit overgrown over to the junction to South Brother, but it was still pretty nice. We took some photos on South Brother's summit, then headed over to North Brother.

The trail follows a stream for awhile and the trail is getting eroded quite a bit. Before long, we were climbing steeply to the summit, where we took some panoramic photos and tried to stay out of the wind.

The herd path to Fort was quite easy to follow. It took 36 minutes to get to the summit of Fort. From there, we followed the ride across to where the flagging lead us through the trees and down to the plane wreck. It was quite a sight to see and we took more pictures. From there, we contoured and bushwhacked back to the herd path and headed back over North Brother and back to the car. This trip took us 8 hours total, but we were dawdling and spending a lot of time enjoying the views. Back at the trail register, we found out that only one other person had hiked the trail today, whom we never saw. What a difference from one day to the next!

All in all, it was an amazing weekend. Now I just have to get over to Old Speck to complete my 67. No rush, though. I may get to it by the end of the year.

Pictures are here... enjoy!

 

[onestep]

This past weeked, I dragged my friend Dave up to Baxter State Park in Maine for two days of peakbagging. <SNIP>
The herd path to Fort was quite easy to follow. It took 36 minutes to get to the summit of Fort. From there, we followed the ride across to where the flagging lead us through the trees and down to the plane wreck. It was quite a sight to see and we took more pictures. From there, we contoured and bushwhacked back to the herd path and headed back over North Brother and back to the car. This trip took us 8 hours total, but we were dawdling and spending a lot of time enjoying the views. Back at the trail register, we found out that only one other person had hiked the trail today, whom we never saw. What a difference from one day to the next!

Three of us where on top of Mullen last Sunday. We saw 2 people on top of Fort and waived... you must have not seen us.

It was a great day to be in the mountains! Good job, great trip report and pic's!!


Onestep

 

[Amicus]

Fort - east end of ridge?

Hello Albee,

Good to see you're keeping up an ambitious schedule, as you were when we met on the top of Sugarloaf last month. As I recall, you may be part of Oncoman's remarkably ambitious Pemi bushwhack this coming weekend?

Your two Baxter loops remind me of a similar pair I did with a hiking buddy in July. The one we didn't get was Fort, which I'm planning on getting to this Friday, so your notes and photos are very timely for me. Your shots of the Fort ridge, like all others I've seen and what my own eyes told me from the summit of No. Brother in July, make the east end look a little higher than the west end, where the herd path goes and the cairns are located. When you hiked SE to the wreckage, did you see any sign of daylight heading up to the east end, or is it impenetrable? I'm sure hikers must have been up there, but I haven't heard of any.

 

[Pamola]

I thought the same thing when I was on Fort, which led me to finding the plane in the first place. My hiking partner and I eventually said f*** it because there really wasn't a path from the plane continuing east and back up the ridge and returned, peak bagged or not. We pulled out the map and it lists the west peak as being the true one, but I do agree that visually that's tough to believe when on top.
There was a previous thread about the plane wreck where some other folks weighed in with the same experience as mine.

I hate not trusting my eyes though!

 

[albee]

In regards to the true summit on Fort... When I was on the western end of the ridge, the eastern end looked higher, but when I got about halfway across it looked like the western end was higher. This is a common illusion. See: West Bond. My hiking partner had a more detailed map with 20 foot contours and the two highest points on the ridge were the western knobs.

There isn't any trail that goes past the plane wreck to the east. You could follow the ridge east if you wanted - it was a little scrubby but nothing a novice bushwhacker couldn't handle.

Amicus - there was one part of the bushwhack to note that would make it a little easier. Before you dip below treeline on the northeast of North Brother, there is a split in the herd path. We took the right fork going out and the left fork coming back. The left fork was quite a bit easier even though it counterintuitively heads northwest at first. Both eventually reconnect and seeing as how it only took us 36 mintes to get there, the right fork wasn't a terrible option either.

Onestep - were you really on Mullen? Wow, I figured nobody else would be hiking a peak other than Katahdin. I think 8 people hiked the Brothers and over 600 people hiked Katahdin last weekend! Baxter is such a beautiful place, it is a shame that people don't generally explore the other beautiful peaks in the area. I'm already planning a trip to go back and check out the Traveler, Doubletop, the Owl, OJI...

 

[Amicus]

In regards to the true summit on Fort... When I was on the western end of the ridge, the eastern end looked higher, but when I got about halfway across it looked like the western end was higher. This is a common illusion. See: West Bond. My hiking partner had a more detailed map with 20 foot contours and the two highest points on the ridge were the western knobs.

Excellent example - When I was on top of West Bond on a clear day a few years ago, I was certain the bump at the SW end of that plateau must be higher, until scientific evidence persuaded me otherwise. I guess the Fort plateau must be a similar optical illusion, so I probably won't subject myself to what would be the pointless aggravation of struggling up there from the wreck tomorrow, although the weather should be perfect for that. Thanks also for the tip on the Fort herdpath.

Meanwhile, when I get back from Baxter I'll be looking forward to a report on what should be a remarkable Pemi traverse by Oncoman and you.

Good luck!

 

[dms]

albee, don't forget to visit some other nice Baxter peaks --- Barren and Squaw's Bosom! Although tecnically I think S.B. is just outside the park.

 

[onestep]

In regards to the true summit on Fort... When I was on the western end of the ridge, the eastern end looked higher, but when I got about halfway across it looked like the western end was higher. This is a common illusion. See: West Bond. My hiking partner had a more detailed map with 20 foot contours and the two highest points on the ridge were the western knobs.

Here is a pic of Fort taken from Mullen the same day you where up there. The sun makes for a poor pic but you can clearly see that the West bump is higher.

Onestep