Mt OJI Trail Route

[DayTrip]

I'm heading up to Baxter this week (Nesowadnehunk) and with the weather looking pretty crappy I've been mapping out some alternate hikes. One peak that has had my interest for awhile is Mt OJI. There is a pretty large discrepancy on the route between CalTopo's Mapbuilder and Gaia versus my NatGeo maps and the USFS layer. See attached photo.

My Maine AMC Guide (2012) doesn't really say much (it's a terrible guide book) but it does appear to describe the USFS route. Curious if there has been a reroute of this trail since? The track on Gaia and CalTopo looks like it would be a fantastic hike zigzagging up the valley and including West Peak. The USFS layer also shows a "Foot Path" which also disagrees with the NatGeo maps.

If anyone can shed any light on the accuracy of the map it would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[peakbagger]

OJI trail was significantly relocated several years ago. I hiked a part of it several years ago from the road. I do not remember West Peak spur but do remember an interesting exposure knife edge ridge with good views.

BSP has very good maps on line https://baxterstatepark.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/trl_kidney-daicey_4apr2017.pdf that support the westerly jog onto the NW ridge to the summit (the tight spot was around the 3203s spot elevation) Great views down to the ponds and over to south cliffs of Doubletop (one of more impressive profiles in the park).

 

[DayTrip]

OJI trail was significantly relocated several years ago. I hiked a part of it several years ago from the road. I do not remember West Peak spur but do remember an interesting exposure knife edge ridge with good views.

BSP has very good maps on line https://baxterstatepark.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/trl_kidney-daicey_4apr2017.pdf that support the westerly jog onto the NW ridge to the summit (the tight spot was around the 3203s spot elevation) Great views down to the ponds and over to south cliffs of Doubletop (one of more impressive profiles in the park).

Excellent. Thanks.

I do love that view of Doubletop from the Tote Road. There is that corner that swings around driving North and it is just there looming in the center. I remember seeing it for the first time and thinkin "I don't know what the hell mountain that is but I am climbing it!" (which I did...on a very humid foggy day with zero views. I'm hoping to redo that one this week if I get decent weather.

 

[peakbagger]

Just do yourself a favor and do it from the north (Nesowadnehunk).

 

[JustJoe]

From Baxters website.

 

[skiguy]

The slides between Coe and OJI are classic.

 

[DayTrip]

From Baxters website.

Thanks for the screenshot. I followed Peakbagger's link earlier and saw that the reroute is what is displayed on CalTopo and Gaia. I am glad that is the trail. It looks like an awesome route.

 

[DayTrip]

The slides between Coe and OJI are classic.

My last time staying at Nesowadnehunk I did Mt Coe and South Brother via the slide and really enjoyed that area.

I feel like just about every peak in Baxter is pretty awesome. Katahdin gets all the attention but there are many sub 4k and sub 3k peaks that pack plenty of vertical and awesome views into nice little 4-5 mile hikes. The Travelers, DoubleTop, The Brothers, South Turner, South Branch/Black Cat (or whatever that peak is called) and even the tiny Trout Brook Mtn. All great hikes and all seem to have 1,000+ ft climbs in a mile or less. No cupcakes in the park.

 

[Daniel Eagan]

We did Fort and the Brothers and then came down Coe. It started to rain, which made the slide tricky.

 

[peakbagger]

I came down the Coe slide one October day with a glint of ices on the open slabs. We did not have traction. It was dicey to say the least. This was 35 years ago and when I visited the OJI trail (heading up Coe) it was quite noticable that the slide brook had grown in considerably, the first time around the land was a lot "rawer" along the slide path.

 

[nartreb]

Yep, what others have said. Major reroutes in this area, great views, and you should probably avoid the Mt Coe slide in slippery conditions.

The old trail routes aren't too hard to find (at least they weren't, 15 years ago), but include some terrain you DEFINITELY do not want to try in the rain.

https://www.summitpost.org/baxter/352144/c-152111

 

[DayTrip]

So I did OJI on TUE. Was a bit of a disappointment. The route was very comfortable climbing up to the col but it was fairly unexciting woods. The first mile in the flats was extremely wet and tedious - mud, walking on the tops of rocks, broken branches, etc.. Once in the col the forest was quite nice.

The West Peak Spur was a short, moss covered gem with a decent sized outlook for me to observe all the passing fog. The actual summit ridge was very cool, with a really awkward scramble at tree line that I actually couldn't figure out how to do so safely so I had to backtrack to a well worn path I suspected would be a bypass (and it was fortunately). I did the scramble descending and it is super tight! I'm still not sure how someone hoists themselves into such a narrow crack that is off to the side of all the holds. One of the few times being 6' 3" for a scramble was a disadvantage.

The other disappointment was the ridge. On the satellite view it looked like the whole spine of the ridge was out of the scrub but it actually goes back into the trees after a small knob that proved to be the best "views" of the day. I got some intermittent clearing so I could see Coe and the Coe Slide. From there to the summit it was 10-15 ft pine overgrown pine trees with some openings for restricted views. Summit was viewless. I was drenched completely by the time I got there - like I had jumped in a swimming pool with all my stuff on. Was glad it was warmish (maybe low 60's).

A nice hike overall but not quite as awesome as I thought it would be studying the map.

 

[akafuzzjones]

We did OJI the day they opened the reroute. We were doing some reconnaissance for winter and had been staying in the park. We started up and soon were extremely confused. The trail was obvious but didn’t match our planning or map, but we knew we started at the right trailhead and were in the only trail. We kept going trying to figure out “where the hell is this slide”. Got up to west and we met up with a few people and overheard them talking about how much they loved the new trail. What? Guess the people that came in that morning were given the new map and well wishes. There was no sign or notice at the trailhead. We were just glad we hadn’t completely lost it. We enjoyed it for sure but did descend the slide to check it out.

 

[Rhody Seth]

We did Fort and the Brothers and then came down Coe. It started to rain, which made the slide tricky.

We did this loop on Monday but in the opposite direction. Jeez I couldn't imagine going down that slide, going up was sketchy enough!

 

[DayTrip]

We did this loop on Monday but in the opposite direction. Jeez I couldn't imagine going down that slide, going up was sketchy enough!

Yah I remember that slide being pretty slick, and smoother than I thought it would be in many spots. I thought Mt Coe was a really cool summit actually, possibly the best of the peaks on that loop.

 

[skiguy]

Yah I remember that slide being pretty slick, and smoother than I thought it would be in many spots. I thought Mt Coe was a really cool summit actually, possibly the best of the peaks on that loop.

Back before electricity was invented my first trip included doing OJI, Coe, North Brother, Fort, and South Brother in one day. This was still when The Martson Slide was still open along with the slides on OJI. Made for a real "Slide a Palooza" kind of hike.

 

[DayTrip]

Back before electricity was invented my first trip included doing OJI, Coe, North Brother, Fort, and South Brother in one day. This was still when The Martson Slide was still open along with the slides on OJI. Made for a real "Slide a Palooza" kind of hike.

That OJI slide on the old route must have been a serious climb. It goes straight up on the map. I think is roughly 1200 ft in like 0.4 miles. That's like Flume Slide Trail in NH but no doubt much more rough and/or slick than Flume.

 

[skiguy]

That OJI slide on the old route must have been a serious climb. It goes straight up on the map. I think is roughly 1200 ft in like 0.4 miles. That's like Flume Slide Trail in NH but no doubt much more rough and/or slick than Flume.

That’s why you go up that along with Coe.Again The Marston made it a whole different Ball Game.