poison ivy
Well-known member
I really wanted to finish the New England Fours on Hamlin… mainly because I started hiking on Katahdin’s Baxter Peak, and it seemed like it would be a great way to end. However, with perfect hiking weather on Saturday, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the views so Hamlin became number 66 instead.
Dave and I headed up the trail at 7 a.m. from our campsite at Roaring Brook. It was a little nippy in the morning and certainly breezy as we made our way up the Chimney Pond Trail. We stopped to take in the pretty foliage -- mainly the yellows of birch trees, from the bridge over the brook before heading up the trail.
Chimney Pond Trail will not go down as one my favorites -- mainly because there were tons and tons of people on it… so I ended up stepping aside to let someone pass about every two seconds. My favorite was a boy in a group of teenagers -- when I stepped aside he said “you’re not going to make it.” I thought he couldn’t be talking to me and so I said, “Excuse me?” and he repeated himself adding that if I had to stop and take a break already, I wouldn’t make it to the top. I just laughed and kept on walking. Dave, however, (usually the mild mannered one of the two of us, by far) called up the trail… “There’s a 14er in California that would disagree with you on that one.”
So, let’s just say I was glad to reach the North Basin Cutoff Trail, where we were back to ourselves for much of the hike. We had occasional views through the trees of the clouds rolling over Hamlin and were hopeful that they would dissipate before we reached the Hamlin Ridge Trail, where our easy walking ended.
Hamlin Ridge is a terrific trail -- lots of scrambling and little ledgy areas with awesome views of Katahdin, Knife’s Edge and South Turner Mountain. It reminded me a lot of the Castle Trail up Jefferson, another of my favorites. It was super breezy so we took any opportunity when the ridge allowed us to sit out of the wind for short breaks and to enjoy the view. We kept betting whether the next bump would be the summit or a false peak… Dave eventually won but he bet every peak was the summit, while I always said there was at least one more bump ahead.
We arrived on the summit of 4,756-foot Hamlin at 11 a.m. Since we had the summit to ourselves, we hunkered down out of the wind near the cairn for lunch. My original plan was to hike back down the Hamlin Ridge Trail… but Dave said it was such a beautiful day, he’d like to hike up on the ridge and could we find another way down? (I was shocked that my non-hiking hubby wanted to make this a longer hike and happily obliged.) So, we decided to follow the Northwest Basin Trail over to the Saddle Trail and take that one down instead.
When we reached Caribou Spring, we saw other hikers for the first time since Chimney Pond and passed a steady stream for the rest of the day. We had to cross over lots of rocks but the views of the Brothers, Coe and Doubletop were just outstanding from the ridge. If it weren’t for the wind, we could have lingered up there for hours.
Upon reaching the Saddle Trail, which someone had told us was really easy, we were surprised at how much climbing was required to make it down a rocky slide. We made it down the steep, slabby part and were on the scree when Dave twisted his ankle. I gave him both of my poles and he managed to hobble down the rest of the trail, but it was very slow going for the rest of the day.
We took a short rest break at Chimney Pond but still had three miles to go. We took it very slow and stopped quite a few times for Dave to rest his ankle… making back down to Roaring Brook campground at 4:30 p.m. A long day, but a good one (except for Dave’s ankle giving him trouble. His ankle is a little swollen but feeling better today.)
Pictures from this gorgeous day can be found here
-Ivy
Dave and I headed up the trail at 7 a.m. from our campsite at Roaring Brook. It was a little nippy in the morning and certainly breezy as we made our way up the Chimney Pond Trail. We stopped to take in the pretty foliage -- mainly the yellows of birch trees, from the bridge over the brook before heading up the trail.
Chimney Pond Trail will not go down as one my favorites -- mainly because there were tons and tons of people on it… so I ended up stepping aside to let someone pass about every two seconds. My favorite was a boy in a group of teenagers -- when I stepped aside he said “you’re not going to make it.” I thought he couldn’t be talking to me and so I said, “Excuse me?” and he repeated himself adding that if I had to stop and take a break already, I wouldn’t make it to the top. I just laughed and kept on walking. Dave, however, (usually the mild mannered one of the two of us, by far) called up the trail… “There’s a 14er in California that would disagree with you on that one.”
So, let’s just say I was glad to reach the North Basin Cutoff Trail, where we were back to ourselves for much of the hike. We had occasional views through the trees of the clouds rolling over Hamlin and were hopeful that they would dissipate before we reached the Hamlin Ridge Trail, where our easy walking ended.
Hamlin Ridge is a terrific trail -- lots of scrambling and little ledgy areas with awesome views of Katahdin, Knife’s Edge and South Turner Mountain. It reminded me a lot of the Castle Trail up Jefferson, another of my favorites. It was super breezy so we took any opportunity when the ridge allowed us to sit out of the wind for short breaks and to enjoy the view. We kept betting whether the next bump would be the summit or a false peak… Dave eventually won but he bet every peak was the summit, while I always said there was at least one more bump ahead.
We arrived on the summit of 4,756-foot Hamlin at 11 a.m. Since we had the summit to ourselves, we hunkered down out of the wind near the cairn for lunch. My original plan was to hike back down the Hamlin Ridge Trail… but Dave said it was such a beautiful day, he’d like to hike up on the ridge and could we find another way down? (I was shocked that my non-hiking hubby wanted to make this a longer hike and happily obliged.) So, we decided to follow the Northwest Basin Trail over to the Saddle Trail and take that one down instead.
When we reached Caribou Spring, we saw other hikers for the first time since Chimney Pond and passed a steady stream for the rest of the day. We had to cross over lots of rocks but the views of the Brothers, Coe and Doubletop were just outstanding from the ridge. If it weren’t for the wind, we could have lingered up there for hours.
Upon reaching the Saddle Trail, which someone had told us was really easy, we were surprised at how much climbing was required to make it down a rocky slide. We made it down the steep, slabby part and were on the scree when Dave twisted his ankle. I gave him both of my poles and he managed to hobble down the rest of the trail, but it was very slow going for the rest of the day.
We took a short rest break at Chimney Pond but still had three miles to go. We took it very slow and stopped quite a few times for Dave to rest his ankle… making back down to Roaring Brook campground at 4:30 p.m. A long day, but a good one (except for Dave’s ankle giving him trouble. His ankle is a little swollen but feeling better today.)
Pictures from this gorgeous day can be found here
-Ivy
But yes, I did indeed finish the list on North Brother today. 
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