king tut
New member
I decided to actually climb something in Baxter other than Katahdin this time. After doing the big K 6 times, i decided to see what else the park had to offer. I have really wanted to do The Bro's for a while, so i decided to do those two and throw in Coe and Fort.
I started the hike nice and early today around 6:20. Just as the sun would have been rising, if it were visible. I went up the marston trail, and it was about 4.5 miles to N Brother and about 3100 vertical feet, i believe. The climb was very gentle, and i got to the top in a little over two hours. It was much easier than the presidentials w/ a 50 pound backpack. Or hiking up Mt Adams in 90 degree heat. Those two hikes hurt, a lot.
From the top of N Brother I decided to bushwack over to Fort. There was a little path over, but it was severely overgrown. Very hard to find the path, even when i was on it. After about 35 minutes of walking thru the brush, i got to Fort Mt. I walked to the top and then decided to search for the plane wreck. I saw the plane's radio on the ridgeline, but i never found the actual plane. Bummer.Here's a link to some pics of the plane crash. http://www.mainelyhiking.com/
So after 20 minutes of searching in the brush, i tried to find the trail back to N brother, but i was being pelted w/ lots of sleet and a 40 mph wind, so it was very difficult. I finally found it and spent the next hour making my way back to N brother, and ended up losing the trail a few times.
After a few minutes of muttering "why the heck did i take that stupid bushwack?"and assessing the bodily damage, i headed off to S Brother. The trail was .4 mile of gentle flat followed by a steeper .3 side trail to the top. The views were good but could have been better if the sun was out. But at least the sleet and rain had stopped, but i was already soaked thru all my clothes anyway.
From the top of S Brother it was another 1.6 miles to Coe Mt. Pretty uneventful, nice walk. I reached the top of Coe and had some fun views of Katahdin again. The views of todays hike would have been stupendous if it had been sunny. After a couple minutes i headed down, ready for a nice easy walk back to the car. About 1/3 mile from the top, i had a nice surprise. I hit the Coe rockslide, which must have been about 800 or so vertical feet of slick, wet rock that went straight down. So i slowly headed down, trying not to slide to the bottom. All the blue blazes seemed to point down the steepest wettest rocks. I avoided those. About 1/2 way down, it became less steep, so i sat on my but and slid down the smooth rocks for a ways. Much easier than walking down them. I got to the bottom and then realized, my blue stripes had disappeared. oh crap. So i hiked sideways across the hill for another of today's bushwacks and found the trail again. From there it was just a few miles down. And the valley between Coe and OJI was very beautiful.
I got back to the car at 2:20, about an 8 hour day. 2 of those spent on the Fort voyage. I believe it was about 11 miles or so and around 4600 vertical. My knees were killing me and my clothes were soaked, but all in all a good hike.
Next hike I want to try is Doubletop. It looked like it would be a fun hike. Has anyone done this one?
here are today's pics-a little gloomy though http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=458082944
I started the hike nice and early today around 6:20. Just as the sun would have been rising, if it were visible. I went up the marston trail, and it was about 4.5 miles to N Brother and about 3100 vertical feet, i believe. The climb was very gentle, and i got to the top in a little over two hours. It was much easier than the presidentials w/ a 50 pound backpack. Or hiking up Mt Adams in 90 degree heat. Those two hikes hurt, a lot.
From the top of N Brother I decided to bushwack over to Fort. There was a little path over, but it was severely overgrown. Very hard to find the path, even when i was on it. After about 35 minutes of walking thru the brush, i got to Fort Mt. I walked to the top and then decided to search for the plane wreck. I saw the plane's radio on the ridgeline, but i never found the actual plane. Bummer.Here's a link to some pics of the plane crash. http://www.mainelyhiking.com/
So after 20 minutes of searching in the brush, i tried to find the trail back to N brother, but i was being pelted w/ lots of sleet and a 40 mph wind, so it was very difficult. I finally found it and spent the next hour making my way back to N brother, and ended up losing the trail a few times.
After a few minutes of muttering "why the heck did i take that stupid bushwack?"and assessing the bodily damage, i headed off to S Brother. The trail was .4 mile of gentle flat followed by a steeper .3 side trail to the top. The views were good but could have been better if the sun was out. But at least the sleet and rain had stopped, but i was already soaked thru all my clothes anyway.
From the top of S Brother it was another 1.6 miles to Coe Mt. Pretty uneventful, nice walk. I reached the top of Coe and had some fun views of Katahdin again. The views of todays hike would have been stupendous if it had been sunny. After a couple minutes i headed down, ready for a nice easy walk back to the car. About 1/3 mile from the top, i had a nice surprise. I hit the Coe rockslide, which must have been about 800 or so vertical feet of slick, wet rock that went straight down. So i slowly headed down, trying not to slide to the bottom. All the blue blazes seemed to point down the steepest wettest rocks. I avoided those. About 1/2 way down, it became less steep, so i sat on my but and slid down the smooth rocks for a ways. Much easier than walking down them. I got to the bottom and then realized, my blue stripes had disappeared. oh crap. So i hiked sideways across the hill for another of today's bushwacks and found the trail again. From there it was just a few miles down. And the valley between Coe and OJI was very beautiful.
I got back to the car at 2:20, about an 8 hour day. 2 of those spent on the Fort voyage. I believe it was about 11 miles or so and around 4600 vertical. My knees were killing me and my clothes were soaked, but all in all a good hike.
Next hike I want to try is Doubletop. It looked like it would be a fun hike. Has anyone done this one?
here are today's pics-a little gloomy though http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=458082944
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