Brother, Fort, & Coe loop?

[Double Bow]

I'll soon be heading up to Baxter and I was wondering what the prefered way of doing this loop is. Do most people go clockwise or counter-clockwise? Why?

Also, any pointers on finding the herd path to Fort?

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Personally, I'd go to N. Brother and then head for Fort. When you're returning if you still have enough energy then shoot for Coe. If you don't, chances are you'll have to return to get Fort, and you'll be kicking yourself because you have to climb N. Brother to get there! Not that N. Brother doesn't have great views - it does. But ... better to shoot for N. Brother and Fort on one day, and return for Marston, Coe and S. Brother on another if needed.

As for best route - hmm, only been there about 3 times, and IIRC, always sorta aimed initially for slightly left of Fort's summit. But, it doesn't matter for long as soon you're in the scrub and can only see Fort occasionally. There are a fair number of various paths over there, so I doubt you'll have much trouble so long as you just keep your eyes open.

 

[onestep]

Coe slide

I'll soon be heading up to Baxter and I was wondering what the prefered way of doing this loop is. Do most people go clockwise or counter-clockwise? Why?

I did the loop counter-clockwise so I would not have to go down the Coe slide.

Also, any pointers on finding the herd path to Fort?

As I recall, when facing Fort from the summit of N Brother, there's a line of cairns descending to the left that lead to the scrub and herd path.

Onestep

 

[funkyfreddy]

A couple of us VFTT'ers did Coe, the bros and Fort a few years ago in Sept. We started at dawn on a nice day and had no problems doing all of them even though it was pretty hot. I ended up taken a longer break than planned on N. Brother in order to rest and rehydrate.

The herd path to Fort was fairly easy to follow although we lost it going back to N. Brother at one point. Make sure you bring your map and compass as there's some serious scrub between the 2 mountains! The views are beautiful from all 4 of these peaks, I'll try and post a link to some of my pictures.

EDIT: Yes, as Onestep says above, going to Coe first is recommended because of the slide, which was slippery in a few spots because of recent rain. We got great views from it and Josef saw a bear cub at the beginning of it.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

funkyfreddy makes a good point - getting an early start on this hike. If you stay INSIDE the park, that possible. But - if you have to wait for the gate to open, then you're hardpressed to get to the trailhead and be on the trail by 9AM, so factor that into your plans. Except for one winter hike, I've always stayed outside, so there was never enough time to comfortably do all the peaks as one long (mostly) loop. And I agree - going up Coe is far preferable to descent.

 

[bobandgeri]

Check out our trip report from last July:
http://rbhayes.net/bsp1.html

We did the trail counter clockwise in order to go up the Coe Slide which was wet even thought it had not rained recently. We would not have wanted to go down it.

On the summits of the Brothers we saw these huge bugs that resembled a cross between a Horse Fly and a Wasp - they would land on you but did not bite or sting.

To find Fort - from N Brother looking at Fort head to your left and down where you will pick up the herd path which is easy to follow at the start. As it goes into the trees which are thick at times keep your eyes on the ground and you can follow the heard path which appears very overgrown if looking straight out at eye level.

Wear long pants and shirts!!!!!

Bring extra water and a filter - it's a long hike!

 

[Tom Rankin]

We did the trail counter clockwise in order to go up the Coe Slide which was wet even thought it had not rained recently. We would not have wanted to go down it.

My friends make me go first down slides now, because I touched off a fairly significant rock slide on the Coe Slide!

Fort: The path is easy enough to find if you look down at your feet. There is a lot of brush, but the trail underfoot is fairly clear. Don't forget to go over to the plane wreck if you have time!

 

[RoySwkr]

My mother who is not a fast hiker did all 4 on a drizzly day in September even though she had to walk partway out in the dark because she did not want to drive to Baxter Park again. We did the loop up Coe to do the slide uphill. (This makes us newbies because when the Brother trail went up a worse slide you wanted to do that uphill instead!)

We had a great deal of trouble finding the herd path to Fort because everybody claims it is obscure, so we were hunting between spruce trees for it. It turned out to be a cairned and blazed path of the same quality as many trails so we assumed it just went to a viewpoint.

 

[king tut]

I will play Devil's advocate and say "Do it clockwise!" I went down the slide on a rainy day. While not completely safe, it sure was fun. If you have climbed Katahdin, the slide is a piece of cake. Also, the valley between Coe and OJI is very pretty. It is a very pleasant walk out of the park.

 

[SherpaKroto]

Another clockwise vote. My thinking is that I could more easily gauge my progress and decide if I had time to do South and Coe once I reached the trail junction after finishing North and Fort. In my mind it was safer to head down Coe in failing light than to try to bushwhack Fort (should it be that late) late in the day. Heading back to do Fort did not seem appealing to me at the time (I'd love to go back now though!). I also loved the view coming down the Coe slide. FWIW, it took us about 12 hours for the loop, but the last hour was in the dark. We had a blast stubbornly refusing to put our headlamps on in the darkness
BTW, 5 VFTTers finished their NE67 that day! (Carole and her husband Richard, Michelle, Chomp, and me). That night we got to watch the Northern Lights from the field at Katahdin Stream. Sweet!

 

[Mike P.]

If you're careful on Coe you should be okay, as Sherpa said, I'd rather descend a slide late then bushwhack late.

 

[Raymond]

Maybe you aren't familiar with the Coe slide. It is not slick rock, but mushy. The rocks on it sink into soft, shifty soil.

We tried to climb Coe when my son was five years old. It took us a long time to reach the top of the slide (the entire hike was time-consuming, not just the ascent of the slide), and the very top of the slide seemed too dangerous to attempt traversing, because we had to tightrope a narrow ledge that had ice falling across it, so we gave up and went back down the way we had come.

A year later my ladyfriend and I made it up and hit Coe and South Brother (mainly because I didn't feel like going down the slide again), but we weren't peak bagging lists in those days so we didn't bother with North Brother or Fort.

We finally got to North Brother six years later, but it was too cold and cloudy to try for Fort, so I'll be going back someday. I think Susan has probably had enough, though.

 

[Double Bow]

Trying to gauge what the Coe slide is like...

Is it similar to the South Tripyramid Slide or the Owl's Head slide?

Also, Roy alluded to a slide on Brother. How does that one compare?

 

[onestep]

Pic of Coe Slide as seen from OJI

 

[JohnL]

For me, counter-clockwise was the way to go. Personally I prefer going up steep slides than coming down them. I would say that the Coe Slide is a combination of the North and South Slides on Tripyramid. There is a combination of long slabs and loose gravel/rocks. Chomp has a couple nice photos of the slide on his web site. Chomp and I did the loop when he, SherpaK and 5 others finished up their NE67 back in Sept '02. We did it in what I would call a leisurely 8 hours but my idea of leisurely is different from others. I have the distance as 13.8 miles and elevation gain as 4008 ft.

As for the slide on North Brother, that is the Marston Slide and that trail has been closed for some years now. I went up it in Sept '85 in the rain and it was loose and nervy. There were some deaths on that trail and I presume that is the cause of the closure.

JohnL

 

[injektilo]

Anyone have any pics of the Marston Slide on N. Brother? I often hear people talk about it and am curious what it loks like.

 

[bill bowden]

Fort bushwhack

The four peak loop can be a long day although a relatively recent relocation of the trail to North Brother improves the footing somewhat. The route over to Fort is not exactly a bushwack since so many have taken the route but there is no well-defined herd path either. Going off North Brother towards Fort has a bunch of possible routes which more or less maintain through the col and part way up Fort but near the summit of Fort there are a lot of extremely large boulders and some care in following the herd path will make that part of the trip a little easier. The various paths tend to funnel together into one route through the boulders with the alternatives becoming extremely scrubby. It is relatively easy to follow the same route off Fort but harder to pick up a decent route up North Brother on the return. Good lukc!

 

[JohnL]

I have several good shots of the slide from my hike in '85 but I'll have to dig them out, scan them and post them. It may take me a couple days.

JohnL

 

[Mike P.]

IMO the Coe Slide while similar to N. Tripyramid, it's not as steep

I'd say it's a cross between North Tri & the trail down Algonquin to Lake Colden

 

[skiguy]

Anyone have any pics of the Marston Slide on N. Brother? I often hear people talk about it and am curious what it loks like.

Here you go.Taken from Doubletop September '04. This was the Marston trail when I did it in October '86. The trail now follows the ridge to the left of the slide.