"Easiest" route for Baxter and Hamlin Peaks?

[king tut]

I stayed at Katahdin Stream cg the last time i was there, and it was great. I would suggest getting a lean to that is right next to Katahdin stream. There are at least 3 or 4 of them right next to the stream and the AT. One of the best sites I have stayed at. Abol cg is ok, but I like Katahdin Stream better. I have not stayed at roaring brook in a long time, so i can't comment on the actual sites, but it is in a nice area for shorter walks/hikes. One other thought. You may want to leave the wife behind when you go to Fort Mt. It is a miserable bushwack. Of course I think all bushwhacks are miserable, but this one destroyed my Adidas warmup pants and beat the crap out of me. Also avoid the Mt Coe slide in rainy weather. I did not, and it was not too much fun. I was just happy that my body did not bounce all the way down the slide on the wet rocks.

 

[Raymond]

Coldfeet, be sure to check out the through-hikers' register on the porch of the Katahdin Stream ranger station.

And all you Baxter State campers, watch out for the mice. They're relentless.

 

[coldfeet]

Raymond...(don't know if i copied this correctly)

"Coldfeet, be sure to check out the through-hikers' register on the porch of the Katahdin Stream ranger station".


Don't understand...should i look for names from this website?....or will that tell me how many people made it to the end.....excuse me for not knowing....I'm learning a lot..that's why so many posts as a beginner...

 

[lx93]

I'll second the warning about mice.

I left my car's hatchback open while organizing my stuff in camp, and Nartreb warned me that I should close it. In the morning, I looked on the floor of my car and saw mice droppings...

 

[Raymond]

No, no, there may be VFTTers in there, but that's not what I was thinking of.

You mentioned that you would be staying at Katahdin Stream so I just wanted to point out the existence of the register on the porch of the rangers’ cabin (last I knew, anyway) for Appalachian Trail through-hikers only, which I thought was pretty interesting and worthwhile to read.

In August you will probably get to meet some through-hikers, for that matter.

 

[Raymond]

Two mornings in a row when I opened my car’s trunk there was a mouse sitting on the cooler, looking at me. Never did catch it.

We later found that the contents of a bag of M&Ms had migrated from the trunk into a paper bag in the back seat.

The ranger told us he’d caught about three dozen mice and tossed their bodies across the road for the coyotes.

 

[weatherman]

mice

me too- when returning from 3 days at Chimney Pond two years ago, a rear seat belt in my car had been chewed through completely, and the mice had used the fuzz from the webbing to build a nest in the trunk. Cost me $200 to have the dang thing replaced. They were after the remains of an egg mcsomething in the front- serves me right...

Anyway, as the topic migrates, I like your plan very much, Double Bow. And I, who do not like bushwhacks much, had a fine time going to Fort and back. It all depends on whether you find the faint herd path. Look down as you walk to look for bootprints, and you should be fine. And make a mental note of where you came out on top, to start your way back!
Weatherman

 

[Gator]

10 or 12 years ago my Mom did Baxter via the Saddle trail. If she could do that, I know Shamie can get Hamlin in as well.

I'm trying to think of a comparable hike in the Whites for comparison's sake. Hitting both peaks and going up and back via Saddle, I think you're looking at about 13 miles with a touch over 4000 feet of climbing. Sound right, everyone? The hike to Chimney Pond or a comparable elevation is easy; easier than the Tuckerman trail, but harder than something like the Livermore trail. I did the saddle trail so long ago, I don't remember how long it was compared to some of the slides in the whites. If I recall it's gravel with some rocky sections. Footing and getting a grip didn't seem to be a problem. Once you gain the ridge it's not that steep to either peak, but it's quite rough at times (sometimes not at all though).

You could go up the Saddle trail, hit Baxter, go back to the junction and see how you feel about Hamlin. Then when you reached Hamlin, if you were feeling really good, you could descend the Hamlin ridge trail, which is a descent with beautiful views, but it's rough (like coming down the Wildcat trail or one of the trails on Cannon), it'll save you some distance too.

 

[spencer]

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference"

Robert Frost, of course.


Spencer

 

[coldfeet]

Just thought I'd tell you, got my reservations in the mail today..8/15-16 Chimney pond...8/17 - 18 Katahdin Stream...after reading Tim's report...goal #1...get there safely..goal #2 enjoy the scenery..goal #3..hike as far as my kids can go and try to keep them in front view (there fast)...gotta start exercising!

 

[percious]

My tact would be to break it out over a couple of days to make it easier, and experience as much as Baxter has to offer.

Day 1 Hike into chimney pond.
Day 2 Hike Pamola over Knife's Edge to Baxter, Grab Hamlin and head down or just head down the Saddle Trail.
Day 3 Hike Hamlin via the Ridge Trail, descend the Saddle, or *rest*
Day 4 Hike out.

We hiked into Chimney pond, then hiked Knife's edge, descended the Saddle in one day, and I would say it was a 7/10 for difficulty day. We are all strong hikers. Had you an entire day, adding Knife's edge would add significant pleasure to an already awesome hike. Just my $.02

Here are some pics from our trip:

http://www.percious.com/hiking/HP/HP - ME - June 2005 - P1/index.html

-percious

 

[dom15931]

I will always remeber getting a campsite at Hidden Springs campground the first time we went to climb K. Two of the members in are group were not in as good of shape and did not like steep slopes. The camp manager said 'There are no easy ways up this mountain'. One of those quotes that has stuck in my mind.

 

[Double Bow]

I wasn't able to get a tentsite at Roaring Brook for that weekend. I got Katahdin Stream instead which is fine. At least we're "in" and we're not staying at Abol again.

While I like your idea Percious, it'll have to wait for another time. We've only got three days in the park and a whole mess o' peaks we want to visit. If we reach the peaks we want to get this time, the next visit we'll be takin' it easy.

I did have another question though. If the weather is on our side, Shamie will want to rest on the middle day while I'll be wanting to do something else. I was looking at either The Owl or Double Top. What are people's suggestions about these two?

 

[Mike P.]

Both have great views, Owl won't take you very long & very close to Katahdin so for a different type of trip, I'd go with Double Top. In heavy rains, brook crossings here are very tough. I got turned back in 2004 because of water there & trying Sentinel.

 

[Raymond]

Never tried Doubletop, but I climbed The Owl back in 1995. It has a tiny top, and there's a difficult boulder jutting out just below the summit that I had to cheat to get by (using the foliage, that is). I was kind of acrophobic at the time, so it was an intense experience coming to the edge of a cliff then having to hang out into space to get over that rock (although not THAT close to the cliff; I was pretty sure that if I fell off it I wouldn't actually tumble over the precipice; it was still worrisome for me), then climbing up onto the summit horseshoe. I had to keep my nose to the ground all the way to the top, but I made it, and I'd go back again.

 

[slowandsteady]

Route to Fort in Baxter

On a semi-related note: we have reservations for June 26-30, although I have not received confirmation via snail mail yet. This was the only time we could fit the trip into our schedule this summer so I hope the blackflies die out early.

But I had a few questions about Fort - got general directions from Eric Savage as the info to the NEHH Trailless peaks from the AMC is in the process of being revised and may not be available in time for our trip. Is GPS necessary for this one? We'll obviously have compass and maps. Is the summit generally in view? Is the col between N Brother and Fort relatively open? It looks like there is more than one peak on Fort, so which one is the "official" peak?

 

[Daniel Eagan]

But I had a few questions about Fort - got general directions from Eric Savage as the info to the NEHH Trailless peaks from the AMC is in the process of being revised and may not be available in time for our trip. Is GPS necessary for this one? We'll obviously have compass and maps. Is the summit generally in view? Is the col between N Brother and Fort relatively open?

You can see Fort from the summit of North Brother, so if you can get to the latter you probably won't need a GPS to get to the former. That said, it is quite thick in spots between the two.

They have been "revising" the NEHH notes for two years now. You're right not to wait for them.

 

[Mike P.]

If you've done some bushwhacking this should not be too difficult both bare on top so you can get a compass bearing if you need it easily.