Fort Herd path / Bushwhack

[HockeyPuck]

How difficult is the herd path / bushwhack from North Brother over to Mt. Fort? The only hiking off the beaten path I've done is from S Crocker to Redington and found the 'path' 'bushwhack' terrain conditions relatively easy to follow. How does the Brother - Fort trip compare and will 'path' conditions be similar? Which peak along the Fort ridge is the actual summit?

I will certainly be prepared with map & compass along with a GPS (for emergencies).

Thanks in advance, any and all input is appreciated.

 

[king tut]

The bushwack over to fort is not too fun. The trail through the woods is very over grown, but you can mostly see where to walk. You really can't see the ground when you are walking b/c the brush/tree limbs cover the whole path. It took me about 40 minutes each way to do the bushwack, trying not to lose the trail, but i did lose it a couple of times. I also ruined my good adidas warm up pants in there, the lower zipper got ripped out from the brush and trees. The actual peak is a one minute walk to the left on the ridgeline. There is also a plane wreck on the mountain. I looked for 30 minutes for it, but came up empty.

 

[Papa Bear]

How difficult is the herd path / bushwhack from North Brother over to Mt. Fort? The only hiking off the beaten path I've done is from S Crocker to Redington and found the 'path' 'bushwhack' terrain conditions relatively easy to follow. How does the Brother - Fort trip compare and will 'path' conditions be similar? Which peak along the Fort ridge is the actual summit?

I will certainly be prepared with map & compass along with a GPS (for emergencies).

Thanks in advance, any and all input is appreciated.

If you keep your eyes on the path (down near your feet), it's not bad. In addition there are occasional pieces of flagging and the occasional paint mark. Be careful at blowdowns, that's when you might lose it, search the far side of the blodown carefully. Losing the path is dicey since with the bolders and krumholz it's slow and sometimes painful going.

As for map, compass (and GPS), of course bring them, but most of the time they are superfluous since the the destination is in plain site. The straight line course you might follow with map and compass is definately not the shortest route in this case.

 

[bobandgeri]

It took us an hour to go over to Fort and an hour back. It was fairly easy to follow the herd path by watching the well work path on the ground, even though in spots the path is overgrown starting a foot off the ground. Wear long pants and sleeves to make it easy to push though the tree branches.

 

[Tom Rankin]

The bushwack over to fort is not too fun. The trail through the woods is very over grown, but you can mostly see where to walk. You really can't see the ground when you are walking b/c the brush/tree limbs cover the whole path. It took me about 40 minutes each way to do the bushwack, trying not to lose the trail, but i did lose it a couple of times. I also ruined my good adidas warm up pants in there, the lower zipper got ripped out from the brush and trees. The actual peak is a one minute walk to the left on the ridgeline. There is also a plane wreck on the mountain. I looked for 30 minutes for it, but came up empty.

When back on the Brother, the wreck can be seen to the extreme right of the summit ridge, with binoculars. It's very shiny metal.

I didn't think the 'trail' was particularly hard, but I am used to whacking in the Catskills and ADKs. Just go carefully, it's always there.

 

[erugs]

Fort hike is fun

I've always enjoyed the bushwack over to Fort. My tip is to watch your feet. Sometimes you can't see the "trail" at eye level, but you can see the footbed. The main part of the wreckage is over to the right, another bushwack. Please take only pictures, leave only footprints and leave the wreckage where it is.

 

[MichaelJ]

If you had no problems with Crocker => Redington (in particular, Crocker to the logging road), you should not have a problem with getting to Fort. The path is followable as long as you pay attention. The only time it might get confusing is coming back down off Fort ... make sure you descend exactly where you ascended.

 

[Stan]

As with any bushwhack, it can vary with the luck of the draw in finding and/or staying on a herd path and in conditions that can vary from season to season. This route, while popular among peakbaggers, is not so well traveled that a hardened path is clear. All in all it wasn't difficult but it took us 2 hours r.t. from North Brother, including a break on the summit and a little time exploring the ridge and trying to get the radio to work.

Be careful using your compass. The iron content in North Brother is sufficient to effect the compass so that a course or a visual taken from there may be unreliable.

 

[king tut]

When back on the Brother, the wreck can be seen to the extreme right of the summit ridge, with binoculars. It's very shiny metal.

I didn't think the 'trail' was particularly hard, but I am used to whacking in the Catskills and ADKs. Just go carefully, it's always there.

Dang! I whacked thru most of the ridge, but gave up before i got to the extreme right part. I did have a little trouble finding the trail back down from Fort as it was sleeting out w/ a 40 mph wind right in my face. You might want to leave your pack or something at the junction of the whack and the ridgeline to make it easier to spot on the way back.

 

[Eric Savage]

There is also a plane wreck on the mountain. I looked for 30 minutes for it, but came up empty.

To get to most of the wreckage, you have to make a pretty determined effort to whack south along the the ridge. We found a herd path of sorts for about half of the distance, the second half was pure thick bushwhack (but apparently not thick enough to prevent us from finding, on the way back, a pair of glasses that were lost on the way over when their owner fell into a hole). The very end of the ridge is wide open with pieces scattered about. We also heard about a herd path leading down to the west to a large piece of wing (visible from North Brother) but we didn't look for it very thoroughly.

 

[erugs]

I remember that bushwack and the lost glasses. Eric: Do you also remember that, on the way back, before we found Brian's glasses, I called out, "I don't think we're on the 'trail'" and a voice from the other direction responded, "If you're lost, then I must be, too!" It was a hiker from Maine who was on his way over to see the area of wreckage.

 

[Stan]

You might want to leave your pack or something at the junction of the whack and the ridgeline to make it easier to spot on the way back.

I've left my pack behind for a dash to a summit or view or the like but only on a clear day and obvious trail but wouldn't recommend it under the conditions kt described ... no trail, the middle of nowhere (let's see, if I go that way I might hit N. Brother, if I go that way I might hit the trail to Davis Pond, if I go that way I get deeper into the interior, if I go that way its the Klondike ... without a pack possibly), 40 mph wind, sleet. I'd sooner risk my wife's wrath (which probably approximates the Klondike) than be stuck up there without a pack.