7/16/95 Yes. That’s right, July 16, “1995” on the summit of North Brother
Go back in the time machine and we are standing on North Brother in Baxter State Park, looking over to Fort Mountain and wondering, ‘should we head over?’ The day was getting late; we still had some miles to cover before darkness, so we opted not to do Fort, saying to one another “we’ll just do it the next time we’re here.”
Fast forward to 9/2/06 Yes. That’s right, September 2, “2006” on the summit of North Brother – 11 years later!
Well “next time we’re here” finally arrived this past Labor Day weekend. Earlier in the year we had received an invitation to share a group site at Baxter. While there, we revisited the Brothers, Coe and others, and this time we made the journey over to Fort.
9/2/06 Fort Mountain (#88)The ‘bushwhack’ to Fort is an easy one, with no shortage of axe blazes, pruned limbs (old and new), as well as red paint blazes (predominantly on the Fort side). You just have to be careful around the blow down areas to pick up the herd path on the other side. The Fort Mountain ridge is visible almost the entire way over.
Pictures here:
Alright, we’ve done Fort, now what do you want to do? Returning from the Baxter weekend, we decided to look at what we had left for the NEHH summits. It wasn’t something we were actively pursuing, though if we happened to do a ‘qualifying peak,’ as we did on our Kilkenney Ridge Hike, we noted it. Seeing that we only had 12 left to do (hiking them all together as J&J), we drafted a plan to ‘git ‘er done. And we got ‘er done!
9/15, 16, 17 Western Maine
9-15-06 East Kennebago (#89) — We came in from Rt. 16 via Bridge Rd. in the area of Langtown Mill. We drove logging roads to our jump off spot where we continued on foot up an old logging road until we reached the yellow boundary marker where we met two hikers, Rick (Diplodocus) and his friend Scott and enjoyed hiking with them to and from the summit. We celebrated on the summit with Rick passing out some of his very tasty olives. There is a herd path to the top, pretty much following the bearing from the height of land along the boundary path.
Pictures here:
9-16-06 White Cap (#90) & North Kennebago Divide (#91) — Came in from Rt.16 via the Morton Cutoff. Drove as far as we could, then continued on foot up the road. Made good time to the col between White Cap and NKD. Just before heading into the woods from the end of the logging road, a group of 5 arrived (among them were Dolt and Pippy Long Stockings). After summiting White Cap and getting back down to the col, we walked just past the stick wrapped with flagging tape, took a sight bearing of NKD, and headed up. The woods are a bit thick with evergreens at first, but then open up. Midway we caught a herd path that took us to the top where we joined Dolt and PPLS and their crew where we celebrated on the summit. (This was John’s third time on White Cap, second time on NKD and June’s second time on these two.)
Pictures here:
9-17-06 Cupsuptic Snow (#92) — Initially it’s the same route in as White Cap, NKD, but you stay on Wiggle Brook Rd. We came upon a family of moose--cow, bull and yearling, on drive in. Parked at the mile 22 marker and headed on foot up the road to the left. At the second clearing we turned left and into the woods. The bushwhack alternates through open fern and shrub areas, and woods. Nothing gnarly. Up high, we picked up a herd path to the summit. No one else was in the woods that day. We left a new book for the canister and took the old one, which was full, with us to mail to the AMC 4k committee. Note—we forgot to write the name of the mountain on the notebook cover—if someone is heading up there would you kindly write it on--thanks.
Pictures here:
9/22, 23, 24 Vermont
9-22-06 Stratton Mt. (#93) — Nice trail hike to a great summit with a fire tower—spent almost an hour speaking with the Green Mountain Club care taker, Jean, who, with her husband, actually manned the fire tower in the 1970’s—great history conversation. Another point of history--The idea for the Long Trail was actually conceived on this mountain. This was our only day of sunny, beautiful weather that weekend.
Pictures here:
9-23-06 Equinox (#94) in the a.m.Awoke to rain but headed up Equinox anyway. Took the Burr & Burton (blue blazes) trail to the summit. On the summit, we stepped onto the old hotel porch to get out of the rain. Our only company was RoboHiker staring off into the clouds. Peering into the windows of this abandoned hotel, on a very grey, windy, damp, and cold day, gave us visions of Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Old autumn decorations still adorn the dining room, and the tables, with chairs pushed aside, speak of diners who have just departed. On the descent, we noticed how rich the surrounding woods are—lots of Maiden Hair fern, Jack in the Pulpit, and pale spotted touch-me-nots (jewelweed.) After a quick change to dry clothing, we were off to our second hike of the day.
Pictures here:
9/23/06 Dorset (#95) in the p.m.The rain held off, but we hiked in the clouds and mist, so things were still very wet. We parked at the end of Dorset Hollow road, across from a long driveway, and just past a neat old mill and waterwheel along the brook on our left. This was an easy hike up the old roads. The ridge has no shortage of ‘stuff’ on it, from spatter ware pitchers to doorknobs on trees to fire tower remains and BBQ grills and old cabin remnants.
Pictures here:
9-24-06 Mendon (#96) – Another cloudy day but the sky was holding. We parked at the Killington trail head, following an old road/path to high elevation. Easy whack to the summit, with only one area of blow down/spruce-fir to skirt around a bit before catching a herd path. After summiting, and heading back, we got caught in a massive downpour just a few minutes before regaining the old logging road. As we made our way out to the road a loud clap of thunder boomed over head. The rain didn’t last, so the walk out was pleasant.
Pictures here:
Continued. . .
Go back in the time machine and we are standing on North Brother in Baxter State Park, looking over to Fort Mountain and wondering, ‘should we head over?’ The day was getting late; we still had some miles to cover before darkness, so we opted not to do Fort, saying to one another “we’ll just do it the next time we’re here.”
Fast forward to 9/2/06 Yes. That’s right, September 2, “2006” on the summit of North Brother – 11 years later!
Well “next time we’re here” finally arrived this past Labor Day weekend. Earlier in the year we had received an invitation to share a group site at Baxter. While there, we revisited the Brothers, Coe and others, and this time we made the journey over to Fort.
9/2/06 Fort Mountain (#88)The ‘bushwhack’ to Fort is an easy one, with no shortage of axe blazes, pruned limbs (old and new), as well as red paint blazes (predominantly on the Fort side). You just have to be careful around the blow down areas to pick up the herd path on the other side. The Fort Mountain ridge is visible almost the entire way over.
Pictures here:
Alright, we’ve done Fort, now what do you want to do? Returning from the Baxter weekend, we decided to look at what we had left for the NEHH summits. It wasn’t something we were actively pursuing, though if we happened to do a ‘qualifying peak,’ as we did on our Kilkenney Ridge Hike, we noted it. Seeing that we only had 12 left to do (hiking them all together as J&J), we drafted a plan to ‘git ‘er done. And we got ‘er done!
9/15, 16, 17 Western Maine
9-15-06 East Kennebago (#89) — We came in from Rt. 16 via Bridge Rd. in the area of Langtown Mill. We drove logging roads to our jump off spot where we continued on foot up an old logging road until we reached the yellow boundary marker where we met two hikers, Rick (Diplodocus) and his friend Scott and enjoyed hiking with them to and from the summit. We celebrated on the summit with Rick passing out some of his very tasty olives. There is a herd path to the top, pretty much following the bearing from the height of land along the boundary path.
Pictures here:
9-16-06 White Cap (#90) & North Kennebago Divide (#91) — Came in from Rt.16 via the Morton Cutoff. Drove as far as we could, then continued on foot up the road. Made good time to the col between White Cap and NKD. Just before heading into the woods from the end of the logging road, a group of 5 arrived (among them were Dolt and Pippy Long Stockings). After summiting White Cap and getting back down to the col, we walked just past the stick wrapped with flagging tape, took a sight bearing of NKD, and headed up. The woods are a bit thick with evergreens at first, but then open up. Midway we caught a herd path that took us to the top where we joined Dolt and PPLS and their crew where we celebrated on the summit. (This was John’s third time on White Cap, second time on NKD and June’s second time on these two.)
Pictures here:
9-17-06 Cupsuptic Snow (#92) — Initially it’s the same route in as White Cap, NKD, but you stay on Wiggle Brook Rd. We came upon a family of moose--cow, bull and yearling, on drive in. Parked at the mile 22 marker and headed on foot up the road to the left. At the second clearing we turned left and into the woods. The bushwhack alternates through open fern and shrub areas, and woods. Nothing gnarly. Up high, we picked up a herd path to the summit. No one else was in the woods that day. We left a new book for the canister and took the old one, which was full, with us to mail to the AMC 4k committee. Note—we forgot to write the name of the mountain on the notebook cover—if someone is heading up there would you kindly write it on--thanks.
Pictures here:
9/22, 23, 24 Vermont
9-22-06 Stratton Mt. (#93) — Nice trail hike to a great summit with a fire tower—spent almost an hour speaking with the Green Mountain Club care taker, Jean, who, with her husband, actually manned the fire tower in the 1970’s—great history conversation. Another point of history--The idea for the Long Trail was actually conceived on this mountain. This was our only day of sunny, beautiful weather that weekend.
Pictures here:
9-23-06 Equinox (#94) in the a.m.Awoke to rain but headed up Equinox anyway. Took the Burr & Burton (blue blazes) trail to the summit. On the summit, we stepped onto the old hotel porch to get out of the rain. Our only company was RoboHiker staring off into the clouds. Peering into the windows of this abandoned hotel, on a very grey, windy, damp, and cold day, gave us visions of Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Old autumn decorations still adorn the dining room, and the tables, with chairs pushed aside, speak of diners who have just departed. On the descent, we noticed how rich the surrounding woods are—lots of Maiden Hair fern, Jack in the Pulpit, and pale spotted touch-me-nots (jewelweed.) After a quick change to dry clothing, we were off to our second hike of the day.
Pictures here:
9/23/06 Dorset (#95) in the p.m.The rain held off, but we hiked in the clouds and mist, so things were still very wet. We parked at the end of Dorset Hollow road, across from a long driveway, and just past a neat old mill and waterwheel along the brook on our left. This was an easy hike up the old roads. The ridge has no shortage of ‘stuff’ on it, from spatter ware pitchers to doorknobs on trees to fire tower remains and BBQ grills and old cabin remnants.
Pictures here:
9-24-06 Mendon (#96) – Another cloudy day but the sky was holding. We parked at the Killington trail head, following an old road/path to high elevation. Easy whack to the summit, with only one area of blow down/spruce-fir to skirt around a bit before catching a herd path. After summiting, and heading back, we got caught in a massive downpour just a few minutes before regaining the old logging road. As we made our way out to the road a loud clap of thunder boomed over head. The rain didn’t last, so the walk out was pleasant.
Pictures here:
Continued. . .
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