Fort Mountain bushwhack

[trailbiscuit]

For a duo (Danielle and I) with relatively little bushwhacking experience, (i.e. none) can all you experienced whackers out there, rate this bushwhack in terms of difficulty? The route finding was easy, but crashing through the trees and blowdowns was less than pleasant. (Granted, it was wet, cold and windy, which didn't help.)

Let's go with a scale from 1 to 10: 1 being a walk in the park and 10 being heinous beyond belief. Survey says...

We're just trying to get a feel for what we have in store for the rest of the NE 100 and beyond.

THANKS!

P.S. This was overheard during our whack: "post'r boy only whacks! He's insane!"

 

[Dennis C.]

I'd rate the bushwhack to Fort Mtn as mostly easy in the (3) seasons but can be difficult in winter conditions. The herd path is pretty well defined and worn but has no maintained overhead trail canopy. If this sounds a bit confusing, then throw in a bunch of blowdowns (as you've described) and the difficulty factor increases dramatically!

Hey "post'r boy", you sound like someone with time on your hands and needs a long list of peaks with lots of 'whacks. I have just the cure. Interested?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I rate Fort

a 1.5 as far as difficulty. Really not much wacking involved.

 

[SherpaKroto]

I'll say a 2, if you dial it in right, but it can be a 3 if you don't follow the herd path closely, particularly on the return.

None of the other whacks on the NEHH are much harder, and they get more use each year. Elephant, PatN, and N Kennebago Divide seemed toughest to me, but none real tough. Well, Elephant definitely had its moments (we did it from the Northwest - not recommended, but I did find a nice Moose antler). I've heard that Scar (from East Pond side) is a bear.

Easy ones: Mendon, E Kennebago, Boundary (depends on the route though! Listen to Ridgerunner or Meo on this one and come in from the North!), Cupsuptic Snow. The Whitecap portion of NKD/Whitecap hike is quite easy, so do NKD first.

Do the research, get Gene's notes, and you will be fine.

If you want real bushwhacks, follow Post'rBoy. With any luck, I'll be doing just that later this month to Fort. I may have to wrap my body in flagging so I can find myself! This could get real interesting , and will definitely be my most ambitious whack in memory. I have this image of being used as a battering ram to get through the thick stuff.

 

[Jim W]

2.0
We followed painted bushes.
Ya, PAINT !

 

[trailbiscuit]

Thanks for the input everyone. Upon further review, I think the cold, wetness and lack of truly waterproof pants made our experience less than stellar. We managed to followed the herd path, but even without it the navigation would have been fairly easy. I was more curious about how typical the denseness of the scrub and proliferation of blowdowns were. Now that it's a few days later, I'm already dreaming about a return trip on a crystal clear day!

 

[SherpaKroto]

trailbiscuit: sounds to me like the bushwhack hook is set, and the mountains are reeling you in I can think of much worse fates.

 

[trailbiscuit]

Luckily, I found the right support group. Of course, I might end up like post'r boy!!! (Uh-oh, I think it already started!)