timmus
Well-known member
This year I decided not to wait for a group to invite me, and I organized a Baxter winter trip myself. We got in the park saturday the 28th, and the weather was perfect. We were a bunch of Quebecers, Meo, Jean & Nat, Motabobo are the ones known here, and the others, Karl, Dan, Suzie and Geneviève. Dan was there with one goal in his mind, finish the 115-W list.
We were staying at Kidney Pond, and after reading scary TR's (Thanks Seema !), we decided to go by the Tote road from Abol Bridge. Good decision, the 10,3 miles took us only 5 hours. When we got there we couldn't find the shelter #8, despite the fact that it was right after #6 and #7...
Sunday morning part of the group left for North Brother, one went for Doubletop, and Meo and myself were going for South Brother and Coe. Réjean and Pierre were already up there, they were doing a day-hike. I used the GPS to find the trail, because the markers were buried under the snow. We met with Pierre on the summit of South Brother, the sun was shining, and the views were amazing. The big ''K'' was majestuous.
Getting to Coe was tough, because absolutly no one have been there all winter. We switched turns to brake in 12-18 in of soft snow, and again the trail was hard to follow. Meo did a very good job to keep us on the trail, I guess it's because his experience as a winter hiker (1st Quebecer to finish the 115-W). It took us 1,5 hour to reach the summit of Coe. From there, we had to decided between backtracking or going down the Slide... It was getting late, and it seemed really faster (and more fun) by the Slide. Maybe some people used that path earlier in the winter because the spruce traps were not a problem. In 5 minutes we were on the top of the slide, and it was just a little bit icy, with a lot of snow on the side. Enough to get on the butt and go down. No sliding though, because self-arrest would have been impossible. I was going third, and I used the trees more than Meo and Pierre, because they kinda pushed all the snow down, and I could feel the rock underneath.
After that it was a nice walk to get back to the Marsten Tr. There are very nice sections lower down, along the brook. We wanted to be back to the Tote before darkness, and we succeed. Pierre was glad to have our company for the 3 miles between TH and Kidney Pond jct, because he was going back to his car... at Abol Bridge !
The day after, JS and I were getting out of the Park, while the others were going for Hamlin and Katahdin. The weather forecast was not good, so some of them stayed in the shelter. After going to Baxter pk, Danny reached the summit of Hamlin and succeed in finishing the 115 Northeast in Winter. Congrats to you, mon Dan !
8 inches of snow felt that day, so the walk out and the driving back to Montreal was not easy. BUT - this time my car is fine
PICS
We were staying at Kidney Pond, and after reading scary TR's (Thanks Seema !), we decided to go by the Tote road from Abol Bridge. Good decision, the 10,3 miles took us only 5 hours. When we got there we couldn't find the shelter #8, despite the fact that it was right after #6 and #7...
Sunday morning part of the group left for North Brother, one went for Doubletop, and Meo and myself were going for South Brother and Coe. Réjean and Pierre were already up there, they were doing a day-hike. I used the GPS to find the trail, because the markers were buried under the snow. We met with Pierre on the summit of South Brother, the sun was shining, and the views were amazing. The big ''K'' was majestuous.
Getting to Coe was tough, because absolutly no one have been there all winter. We switched turns to brake in 12-18 in of soft snow, and again the trail was hard to follow. Meo did a very good job to keep us on the trail, I guess it's because his experience as a winter hiker (1st Quebecer to finish the 115-W). It took us 1,5 hour to reach the summit of Coe. From there, we had to decided between backtracking or going down the Slide... It was getting late, and it seemed really faster (and more fun) by the Slide. Maybe some people used that path earlier in the winter because the spruce traps were not a problem. In 5 minutes we were on the top of the slide, and it was just a little bit icy, with a lot of snow on the side. Enough to get on the butt and go down. No sliding though, because self-arrest would have been impossible. I was going third, and I used the trees more than Meo and Pierre, because they kinda pushed all the snow down, and I could feel the rock underneath.
After that it was a nice walk to get back to the Marsten Tr. There are very nice sections lower down, along the brook. We wanted to be back to the Tote before darkness, and we succeed. Pierre was glad to have our company for the 3 miles between TH and Kidney Pond jct, because he was going back to his car... at Abol Bridge !
The day after, JS and I were getting out of the Park, while the others were going for Hamlin and Katahdin. The weather forecast was not good, so some of them stayed in the shelter. After going to Baxter pk, Danny reached the summit of Hamlin and succeed in finishing the 115 Northeast in Winter. Congrats to you, mon Dan !
8 inches of snow felt that day, so the walk out and the driving back to Montreal was not easy. BUT - this time my car is fine
PICS
