Paradox
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- Joined
- May 29, 2006
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The forecast for Maine was rain on Friday, with much better weather for Saturday and Sunday. Better weather was expected for Southern Vermont on Friday. I had already made hotel reservations in Millinocket for Friday and Saturday night and did not want them to go unused. Hence, I got in the car and drove Saturday morning to The Trailhead on the Stratton-Arlington road and did a quick lope up Stratton Mountain getting to the Fire tower just as the clouds were lifting and after about 5 minutes, had quite good views in all directions. Had a 10 minute visit with the mountain steward and his wife and headed down. Now I had an 8 hour drive up to Baxter. Got in the car and bolstered my brain, if not my kidneys, with an energy drink, and headed off. I got to the Econo-Lodge in Millinocket, 8 hours to the minute later.
Got up 4 hours later and from Millinocket it took 35 minutes to drive to the Togue Pond Gate, 45 minutes in line, and 50 minutes on the tote road to get to the Marston Trailhead. The guard at the gate seemed genuinely appreciative when I told her that I had read the Park Rules. The walk up Mt Coe was easy until I came to the granite ledge in the last quarter mile. It is very slippery and slimy until the last 100’ which dives into some short scrubby trees. It was a cold wind from the NW up the ravine. As I climbed out of the ravine and out of the trees and onto the ledge the wind speed increased significantly and I began to consider turning back. I put on two more layers and kept climbing. In another couple hundred feet the wind speed dropped off considerably and yet I could still hear the constant shooooosh down below me. I found this very interesting and glad I had persisted. The visibility on Coe was not good and I kept moving. By South Brother views had increased nicely. Met A Group That Included McRat heading up South Brother, and Skiersteve with some friends on N. Brother. Thank you both for the invites for beers, but I had to check with my wife and take care of patients that might have called.
The bushwhack to Fort is much more of a non-maintained trail than a bushwhack or a herd path. Cairns lead you to the left from the summit of N. Brother. Plenty of crushed debris, axe and pole marks in knockdown trees, and near Fort spray painted blazes take most of the whack out of this bushwhack. Too many headhunters for my 6’3” taste but no permanent marks.
I have heard discussions about which end of Fort Ridge is higher. From the summit of N. Brother it looks like the SE end is higher. This photo was taken from the NW end to the SE end of the ridge with the camera at the base of the cairn. I measured the elevation here at 3866' (average of 25 measurements) I then went to the base of the cairn on the right center (about 300' away) and measured the elev. there at 3864'. If I have managed to hold the camera level, it looks like the SE end is lower than the cairn. The USGS maps list the NW end as 3867’ and the SE end as 3856’.
I had intended to head over to the SE end of Fort and get the elev. measurement and check out the plane wreck. I made it about ¾ of the way, when I hit "THE WALL" and I started to think about how good a pepperoni pizza would taste. Turned around and headed back down the Marston Trail. ( 11:00 hours, 11.9 miles, 4750 feet of elevation gain)
Pictures
Got up 4 hours later and from Millinocket it took 35 minutes to drive to the Togue Pond Gate, 45 minutes in line, and 50 minutes on the tote road to get to the Marston Trailhead. The guard at the gate seemed genuinely appreciative when I told her that I had read the Park Rules. The walk up Mt Coe was easy until I came to the granite ledge in the last quarter mile. It is very slippery and slimy until the last 100’ which dives into some short scrubby trees. It was a cold wind from the NW up the ravine. As I climbed out of the ravine and out of the trees and onto the ledge the wind speed increased significantly and I began to consider turning back. I put on two more layers and kept climbing. In another couple hundred feet the wind speed dropped off considerably and yet I could still hear the constant shooooosh down below me. I found this very interesting and glad I had persisted. The visibility on Coe was not good and I kept moving. By South Brother views had increased nicely. Met A Group That Included McRat heading up South Brother, and Skiersteve with some friends on N. Brother. Thank you both for the invites for beers, but I had to check with my wife and take care of patients that might have called.
The bushwhack to Fort is much more of a non-maintained trail than a bushwhack or a herd path. Cairns lead you to the left from the summit of N. Brother. Plenty of crushed debris, axe and pole marks in knockdown trees, and near Fort spray painted blazes take most of the whack out of this bushwhack. Too many headhunters for my 6’3” taste but no permanent marks.
I have heard discussions about which end of Fort Ridge is higher. From the summit of N. Brother it looks like the SE end is higher. This photo was taken from the NW end to the SE end of the ridge with the camera at the base of the cairn. I measured the elevation here at 3866' (average of 25 measurements) I then went to the base of the cairn on the right center (about 300' away) and measured the elev. there at 3864'. If I have managed to hold the camera level, it looks like the SE end is lower than the cairn. The USGS maps list the NW end as 3867’ and the SE end as 3856’.
I had intended to head over to the SE end of Fort and get the elev. measurement and check out the plane wreck. I made it about ¾ of the way, when I hit "THE WALL" and I started to think about how good a pepperoni pizza would taste. Turned around and headed back down the Marston Trail. ( 11:00 hours, 11.9 miles, 4750 feet of elevation gain)
Pictures
