Your NE67 Finish

[hiker0200]

Calling all New England 67 finishers:

I hiked the Bigelows yesterday, which puts me at 64/67 on the NE67. Now I gotta start thinking about the big finish . I know it's gonna be in Baxter State Park, most likely on North Brother, but I have a lot more planning to do.

My question(s) to you good folks:

How did your finish go? What mountain was your last one? Was the finish epic or something you wish you could have done on a better day? A lot of people or just a close few? Now that I'm on the home stretch, so to speak, I'm curious .

 

[KPMMBM]

are your 3 all in BSP? if so you gotta finish on Baxter peak (Katahdin), that's were I finished, its in my top 5 hikes of all time

 

[bikehikeskifish]

My NE67/NEHH finish here

Due to weather and popular demand, I reversed the desired order to finish on North Brother/Fort rather than Baxter Peak.

Tim

 

[weatherman]

IMHO, every hike is great. North Brother's very nice too- just as pretty and a lot more solitude. Everyone's different- for me it was who I was with, more than anything. Finished my 67 on Ellen with my Dad, a few yards from the top of the ski area, nothing special about the peak or anything but it was with someone special. A month later I was with him on Bondcliff for his NH 48th, well into his 70s. Weather was great for both but it didn't really matter. Champagne and cake for both, though...

So cool that you got your 67 and 100HH on the same trip!

 

[peakbagger]

North Brother is definitely a nice place to finish. At some point I expect BSP will throw a trail crew at the final approach trail and do major rebuild or relocation as its deeply eroded, in some spots 4 to 6 feet. There is a long term plan to install a new traill From Center Pond to the NW basin between Fort and Mullen and I wouldn't be surprised if ultimately the trail to Fort will be made legit and connected to the new trail.

 

[Raven]

How did your finish go? What mountain was your last one? Was the finish epic or something you wish you could have done on a better day? A lot of people or just a close few? Now that I'm on the home stretch, so to speak, I'm curious .

My 67 finish was on Redington. It went fine and was a lovely day out. It was not epic. It was solo. I would not recommend Redington as a final peak, but I was looking at finishing the 67 as a step along the way to the NEHH, so didn't really plan an epic 67 finish.

Good luck!

Edit to add other lists:

AT Springer (2001)
NH48 Moosilauke (2001)
NE67 Redington (2005)
NEHH Boundary (2010)
NH48W West Bond (2011)

Other rounds of the 48 have finishes on Moosilauke again, Galehead, and at least one or two I can't recall....I don't plan for specific ones now to complete rounds.

 

[hiker0200]

are your 3 all in BSP? if so you gotta finish on Baxter peak (Katahdin), that's were I finished, its in my top 5 hikes of all time

Two of them are in BSP- Hamlin Peak and North Brother. The other one is Spaulding Mountain. When I do Hamlin, I'll probably tack on Katahdin Baxter Peak, just 'cause .

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Can't say much about Spaulding, but if all goes according to plan, I will finish my winter NE67 on North Brother in 2017.

Tim

 

[JustBob]

I finished on N Brother, solo.

I spoke to the guy who runs trail maintenance in the park this past summer. He said they that their plans to relocate the upper section of the Marston Trail to N Brother where delayed due to the fact that they had to divert the crew to repairing the more popular Abol Trail. They did relocate some of the lower portion in 2014.

 

[brobichaud]

How did your finish go? What mountain was your last one? Was the finish epic or something you wish you could have done on a better day? A lot of people or just a close few? Now that I'm on the home stretch, so to speak, I'm curious .

Finished on Mansfield this past October with my buddy Mike. I don't think I could have made the finish any more epic if I tried... reaching the summit ~200 miles into a northbound Long Trail thru-hike. Wouldn't change a thing!

 

[Summerset]

My son and I finished our 67 on the Bigelows. We had originally planned on finishing on Baxter, but due to scheduling issues, we ended up going to Baxter in early July of 2014 and bagging the three peaks there. Then, much like brobichaud's very cool finish, we backpacked the AT from Gorham, NH to the Bigelows and bagged all of the remaining peaks in Maine along the way. Details: here. It was just the two of us at the end, and a few hikers who showed up at the summit just after we did were really kind and took our picture together on the summit. We had a gorgeous sunny day, and although not quite the Baxter finish we had planned, the Bigelows were a great finish.

 

[peakbagger]

Spaulding is definitely not a special summit to finish on. Its just a spur path off the AT with an obscured view. Of the two remaining both North Brother and Hamlin are impressive but Hamlin has a nice loop. If you have chance, try to descend Hamlin Ridge Trail if its a nice day. While heading up most hikers focus on what is immediately ahead of them and miss some of the wide vistas behind them. Hiking down, the views into the North Basin and the Chimney Pond area are hard to beat anywhere in Northern New England.

 

[Trail Boss]

My NE67 was also completed on Redington but I wasn't aware of it at the time. I was focused on the NE111/115 and didn't know which peak had completed the NE67 until I reviewed my list.

If you want the final peak of your NE67 to be something special, I'll concede Redington might not be the one.

 

[sdways01]

I finished my 67 with a winter hike of Mansfield. I was finishing up my NE67 in a single year and as I neared the end, I wanted to finish that goal at the same time as finishing my first visit to each of the 67 (I had done all the NH48 before trying for the NE67 in one year). As with almost all my hikes, I hiked solo. I did summit with a nice man from Maine that was skiing/hiking up for a nice ski loop back down. I told him what I just finished up once we were at the summit. It was a great day and nice way to finish, but what would make it the most "epic" would be the conditions. I didn't have crampons for the expected ice above Taft Lodge, so I went up the Profanity Trail. That turned out to be a bit hard to follow and very soft down low and only used by skiers coming down. It was steep and I was periodically postholing to my knees even with snowshoes. I came down the path the skiers use from the slopes to get to the summit and asked permission to hike the ski trail until it's a short distance through the trees back to the LT.

Given your options, I'd finish on Hamlin Peak. Even though my hike up the Saddle then down Hamlin Ridge was in the clouds, you pass over some great terrain and will have plenty of views. North Brother is nice and would be a quieter hike though. And I'll agree that Spaulding is probably the most lack luster of the 3. It has some nice trails leading to it, but the view is as stated, a bit obscured.

 

[The Sikes]

Both times ended on Abraham in Maine. Wasn't planned that way...just the way it worked out.

 

[IQuest]

I finished on Redington in '09. I was stuck on 63 for 4 years until I dove up with my dog, hiked Sugarloaf, Spaulding, & Abraham the first day, slept in my truck at the AT crossing on Caribou Valley Rd, then hiked the Crockers and Redington on the second day. It wasn't very epic but I was glad to finally finish that list and enjoy some quality time with my dog. I think we only saw a couple people the first day near Spaulding Shelter and none on the second day. It was memorable none the less.

 

[DMOutdoors]

I finished my NE67 on North Brother, with my brother in June 2013. It was pretty awesome. We had hiked every single one together. We stayed at Neso. Campground for two weekend nights...it was the weekend of a Super Moon. Although we had a little bit of overcast and a passing shower during the day (we did the whole 4-pack), that night, it was clear and we watched the Super Moon from the campground with a nice cold beer.
A brotherly NE67 Finish

My winter 67 finish was a solo trip to North Brother.

 

[Peppersass]

#67 was North Brother. A beautiful day and two days after Baxter/Hamlin. We wanted to enjoy the stay up there and not be too burnt out.

 

[1SlowHiker]

North Brother for me too (090513). Not planned - It just worked out that way. Actually finished 15 minutes before Tim because he skirted NB before he did Fort so he could finish his 67 and 100 together.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Who left you a beer, Marvin?

Tim