mainelyhiker
New member
We headed up to Baxter State Park for a long weekend. It was our first time, despite being lifelong Maine residents.
We decided to take a hike up Mt. OJI via the Mt. OJI Trail. After reading the AMC Maine Guide, which basically said - walk through the woods, up the slide and you reach the top (helpful, thank you!). We were expecting a slide, maybe something similar to the slides on the Tripyramids?
The beginning of the trail was very wet. In the very beginning, there are planks to walk on since the trail is completely flooded, after that be prepared to just get a little wet and muddy and do some rock hopping across the flooded areas. This is an easy, moderate grade until you reach the base of the slide. It begins with just a washed out, rocky area, then opens up (turn around for the views!) and becomes more rocky and gravely, like the Tripyramid slides. Closer to the top of the slide, it becomes more ledgey and had huge slabs. The last slab is quite significant and really has no hand or foot holds except for a small crack that goes diagonally up the face of the slab. If you fell on this, you'd go for quite a ride! This is where I became too freaked out to continue. I knew I could probalby get up, but this being an in and out hike, I was worried about going down. It's never good to be freaked out about going down before you've even gotten to the top.
We decided to turn around here. We enjoyed the views that the open slide provided of the surrounding ponds and Doubletop Mtn. The black flies were miserable in this open area so we quickly descended back into the trees where the footing was better and where we could out run the bugs.
Even though I was stumped by Mt. OJI, it was still a great day. We'll have to attempt this mountain from the Marston Trail next time.
We decided to take a hike up Mt. OJI via the Mt. OJI Trail. After reading the AMC Maine Guide, which basically said - walk through the woods, up the slide and you reach the top (helpful, thank you!). We were expecting a slide, maybe something similar to the slides on the Tripyramids?
The beginning of the trail was very wet. In the very beginning, there are planks to walk on since the trail is completely flooded, after that be prepared to just get a little wet and muddy and do some rock hopping across the flooded areas. This is an easy, moderate grade until you reach the base of the slide. It begins with just a washed out, rocky area, then opens up (turn around for the views!) and becomes more rocky and gravely, like the Tripyramid slides. Closer to the top of the slide, it becomes more ledgey and had huge slabs. The last slab is quite significant and really has no hand or foot holds except for a small crack that goes diagonally up the face of the slab. If you fell on this, you'd go for quite a ride! This is where I became too freaked out to continue. I knew I could probalby get up, but this being an in and out hike, I was worried about going down. It's never good to be freaked out about going down before you've even gotten to the top.
We decided to turn around here. We enjoyed the views that the open slide provided of the surrounding ponds and Doubletop Mtn. The black flies were miserable in this open area so we quickly descended back into the trees where the footing was better and where we could out run the bugs.
Even though I was stumped by Mt. OJI, it was still a great day. We'll have to attempt this mountain from the Marston Trail next time.
