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This is not a full report, just a few little notes to help future hikers (I hope). Eric and I did 'The Big 4' on Tuesday, having established a baseline of what constitutes acceptable shrubbery the day before on Elephant. We also lost my watch there, so we do not have much in the way of split times, except for the few occassions where Eric checked on his cell phone. Notes:
1: There's a lot of logging activity on Bear Brook road. I was only comfortable taking my Corolla to about 2300'. Anyway, the walk up from that point to the Kennebago/Whitecap col was easy and fast. We used this approach from the southeast. It worked well, though I can't speak for conditions on the west side, where lots of other people apparently start. We left the car about 7:30, having taken 1:20 to get from the Cupsuptic Campground. We had a lot of delays at active logging operations, though people were pretty accomodating to us, stopping work to let us through.
2: We made Whitecap at 9:00. Its a very easy whack. Just stay right at intersections near the col and turn into the woods at the ribbon, just before the path fills with spruce. The herdpath was good except for the last 50 yards or so, which were a bit thick.
3: Boundary involves a fairly easy whack, though with almost no herd path, to the border cut. Its a longish walk on the cut through what appears to be a moose shooting gallery. Grades are steep and the level parts were wet, but the walk is straightforward. Incidentally, we did the entire day with soaked feet. I think this almost inevitable except in very dry conditions. We had water coming at us from below (mucky ground), the sides (wet vegetation), and from the sky for the entire trip from the summit (11:00 AM), back to the col below Kennebago Divide (1:45).
4: Returning from the border we hung a bit to the left (the north side of Whitecap). This made for easy walking in open conditions, but it was a bit of a trial to regain the ridge when we finally moved back south.
5: The only tricky issue on Kennebago Divide was finding the herd path. We basically went due south from the col and found a good path in 15'. This path took us up the peak and then right back to the col (a bit west of it, actually). The climb was rain free, but rain resumed on the descent until we got to the car at 2300' at 4:00.
6: 4:45 found us at the woods road leaving Wiggle Brook road at the 22 marker. The woods road is an easy walk, but again, really wet underfoot, though it had stopped raining by then. Head into the woods at the point which is nearest to the summit of Snow. There's a low peak (3200') almost due west of Snow that is usefull for staying oriented, when you can see it. We did not use a herd path except for the final 200 yards, but the whack was mostly pretty open, though there were a few thick spots, but nothing like Elephant. We did see a cow moose at the summit, along with massive amounts of droppings. Back to the car at 6:45.
7: Comment: The compass was a lot more usefull than the GPS, which we pretty much only used for the return from the Canadian border. We could have avoided using it entirely, if we had wanted. The compass was absolutely essentially, over and over, especially for keeping a heading west to the border and south to the herd path on Kennebago Divide.
This was a hard day, but I think not unreasonable. (I am an only moderately fit AARP member, thats the old people's club). Now I've got 98 of the NEHH, including all the whacks. I still think Scar Ridge is easily the worst. Perhaps that because we did it in about 3" of heavy wet October snow.
Big thanks to Eric for coming along on so many of the tough ones. Now for an excuse to go back to Baxter for Coe and South Brother. Why didn't I climb them when I did North Brother and Fort, five years ago?
1: There's a lot of logging activity on Bear Brook road. I was only comfortable taking my Corolla to about 2300'. Anyway, the walk up from that point to the Kennebago/Whitecap col was easy and fast. We used this approach from the southeast. It worked well, though I can't speak for conditions on the west side, where lots of other people apparently start. We left the car about 7:30, having taken 1:20 to get from the Cupsuptic Campground. We had a lot of delays at active logging operations, though people were pretty accomodating to us, stopping work to let us through.
2: We made Whitecap at 9:00. Its a very easy whack. Just stay right at intersections near the col and turn into the woods at the ribbon, just before the path fills with spruce. The herdpath was good except for the last 50 yards or so, which were a bit thick.
3: Boundary involves a fairly easy whack, though with almost no herd path, to the border cut. Its a longish walk on the cut through what appears to be a moose shooting gallery. Grades are steep and the level parts were wet, but the walk is straightforward. Incidentally, we did the entire day with soaked feet. I think this almost inevitable except in very dry conditions. We had water coming at us from below (mucky ground), the sides (wet vegetation), and from the sky for the entire trip from the summit (11:00 AM), back to the col below Kennebago Divide (1:45).
4: Returning from the border we hung a bit to the left (the north side of Whitecap). This made for easy walking in open conditions, but it was a bit of a trial to regain the ridge when we finally moved back south.
5: The only tricky issue on Kennebago Divide was finding the herd path. We basically went due south from the col and found a good path in 15'. This path took us up the peak and then right back to the col (a bit west of it, actually). The climb was rain free, but rain resumed on the descent until we got to the car at 2300' at 4:00.
6: 4:45 found us at the woods road leaving Wiggle Brook road at the 22 marker. The woods road is an easy walk, but again, really wet underfoot, though it had stopped raining by then. Head into the woods at the point which is nearest to the summit of Snow. There's a low peak (3200') almost due west of Snow that is usefull for staying oriented, when you can see it. We did not use a herd path except for the final 200 yards, but the whack was mostly pretty open, though there were a few thick spots, but nothing like Elephant. We did see a cow moose at the summit, along with massive amounts of droppings. Back to the car at 6:45.
7: Comment: The compass was a lot more usefull than the GPS, which we pretty much only used for the return from the Canadian border. We could have avoided using it entirely, if we had wanted. The compass was absolutely essentially, over and over, especially for keeping a heading west to the border and south to the herd path on Kennebago Divide.
This was a hard day, but I think not unreasonable. (I am an only moderately fit AARP member, thats the old people's club). Now I've got 98 of the NEHH, including all the whacks. I still think Scar Ridge is easily the worst. Perhaps that because we did it in about 3" of heavy wet October snow.
Big thanks to Eric for coming along on so many of the tough ones. Now for an excuse to go back to Baxter for Coe and South Brother. Why didn't I climb them when I did North Brother and Fort, five years ago?
