September 11: North Brother and Fort
This is the next-to-last part of my report of my recent trek in Maine, first we backpacked along the Appalachian trail through the "100 Mile Wilderness" culminating in the summiting of katahdin on September 7th. Then for 6 more days we stayed in the area to hike numerous peaks. We had a rainy few days, but finally on Saturday September 11th we had sun and blue skies which stayed with us until we left Maine on Tuesday the 14th.
Rambler and I had done the AT section together, and on Friday evening we were joined by Funky Freddie and Josef. We would be staying 4 nights in Baxter State Park: 2 at the Nesowadnehunk Campground and 2 at the Chimney Pond campground. We had made our reservations way back in January for these 4 days in the park. Luckily the weather turned from rain to sun when we got there - or actually the day after we got there.
Saturday, September 11th: North Brother and Fort
Saturday was the day we had planned to climb the 4 peaks of the Brothers Range: Coe, South Brother, North Brother and Fort, since they are all on the New England 100 Highest list. However, Rambler and I had gotten a head start by climbing Coe and South Brother in rainy and windy weather on Thursday. Fred and Josef were still game to do all 4 so we would split up for the day. To complicate things, Rambler's plans had changed and he had to get home on Sunday, and he wanted to climb Hamlin Peak rather than North Brother and Fort with me. So we wound up doing 3 separate hikes: Fred and Josef would start early and do all 4 peaks as originally planned. Rambler would go around the other side of the park and climb Hamlin and I would start a bit later and just do North Brother and Fort.
Rambler dropped me off at the Marston Trail parking lot and I was off at 8:00 AM. We saw Josef's car with the kayaks on top in the lot and I saw their entry in the register. They had got going a little after 7. I had told them I would leave a note at the North Brother turn where their route joined mine, so they would know how far ahead I was. The lower section of trail, up to the North Brother junction was the same trail we had hiked on Wednesday, but today there was sunlight and a much dryer trail. The pond was much nicer and the steep stretches were much easier without so much wetness. The signs of 3 days of intermittent rain were however still evident in many puddles and wet stretches that made parts of the trail seem more like a stream than a trail.
In the flat section above the pond, I was passed by 2 young hikers who said they were in a high school "class" in wilderness leadership, and that their teacher and her husband were right behind. We all managed to get to the North Brother junction together and as they debated whether to do North Brother or South Brother first, I went on ahead, The trail from here to the peak was rather steep and had lots of ledges interspersed with wet areas. I was thinking that if the trip from North Brother to Fort, which was a bushwhack on the other side of the mountain, were like this, it would be very rough going.
I reached the North Brother summit at 11:00. It was a beautiful sight: South Brother, Coe and OJI stretched to the South. Doubletop lay to the west, and to the east was the awesome Northwest Basin with the mighty Katahdin beyond. And there just to the north was Fort Mountain, my next goal. It had a narrow open ridge with a couple of knobs on the west end. The col between it and where I was standing was much shallower than what I had just hiked, so I knew it would be much easier going than what I had dreaded. I had gotten two sets of contradictory reports of the bushwhack to Fort: one was that it was hard to find the herd path going over but easier coming back. The other, from a hiker we met in the parking lot (who was also hiking all 4 peaks today) was the opposite - it was easier finding the route going over, than coming back.
Picture of Fort from North Brother
Picture of the Northwest Ridge from North Brother
Meanwhile the two high school kids with their teacher and her husband showed up and we got to talking what I was doing. When I said I was doing a bushwhack over to Fort, they got interested in going with me. The teacher was a peakbagger and she decided this was a peak she would like to do also. They asked if they could "follow" me. I was amused, but said of course, but that the kids would have to help in the route finding. It turned out they were actually a great help. Whenever the herd path seemed to peter out or disappear they were there with sharp eyes helping to find the route. We started over to Fort at 11:25.
The route itself is quite easy. A few cairns mark the spot where you head down from North Brother, and the path through the krumholz is generally easy to follow. There are a few blue paint spots on some rocks which help, but the flagging that others had reported is pretty much gone. As we got down into the col, the krumholz became thick Fir and Spruce. As is usual, the hardest spots were whenever we came to a blow down. Then the path would disappear and you could see in your minds eye how past bushwhackers had each gone off in a different direction to skirt the blowdow, and usually (hopefully) they would all converge somewhere on the other side. Having the kids was very helpful in these spots. We would each scout in a different direction until someone would shout "here it is", and once again we would follow the well trodden herd path. As we climbed the other side up the slope of Fort, the trees once again became krumholz and rocks and boulders appeared between patches of vegetation until near the top it became very open. A few cairns and a few blue paint marks helped with the last few yards.
The "summit" consisted of two rocky knobs about 100 yards apart, which appeared about equal in elevation to us, so of course we climbed both. My Suunto altimeter with it's 10 foot resolution, showed them to be the same height, but a man who showed up just after us insisted the western peak was 3 1/2 feet higher, based on his GPS. I thought this was dubious but didn't argue. The eastern peak did have an old piece of electronic equipment at the cairn - reportedly the radio transmitter from the plane that went down nearby some 40 years ago. We reached this peak at 12:21, so it had taken just under an hour for the bushwhack. My camera was acting up, so the teacher offered to take my picture. I gave her my email address so she could send it to me and when she saw "papabear ..." she said "Papa Bear, I think I met you, did you hike some of the Appalachian Trail last year?" Then I remembered when I had seen her: she was Loki and her husband was Pokey. I had met them last May in Pennsylvania on the AT. It's a small world.
Picture on the Fort summit
We had been the first on Fort that day, but by no means the last. Besides the man with the GPS, we met 5 hikers coming towards Fort as we went back, including the guy we had met in the parking lot, and finally when we got back to North Brother, there was Fred and Josef. They had showed up a while before and were taking a break before tackling the bushwhack. They had had a great day of hiking. The climb up the Coe Slide, although still a little dicey from yesterday's rain, was great, as were the views. I knew that Coe is a peak I must return to when it's not raining. We gave them some advice on doing the Fort bushwhack and I started down. The high school group was a little behind but soon got ahead of me. At the turn off to North Brother, they were debating whether or not to do South Brother. Pokey said he would go down with me while the 2 kids and Loki went over to South Brother. He generously offered to drive me back to the campground where they were also staying and then return for the others in his party. I readily agreed. The hike down was rather tiring. My legs were having a bit of trouble with the down hills. I was very glad there was a ride waiting me and that I would have a few extra hours to rest before the rest of my party returned from their hikes.
That night first Rambler and later Fred and Josef showed up. Rambler had been forced to hike to Hamlin from Katahdin Stream Campground instead of Roaring Brook due to an overcrowded parking lot, so his 4 hour round trip to Hamlin became an 8 hour round trip. Fred and Josef also had a problem. They had lost the herd path on the way back from Fort and this added at least a half hour to their trip, so they ended up with nearly a 12 hour day of hiking. But without exception everyone had had a great day.
After supper, Loki, Pokey and the high school kids showed up at our campfire and they took turns with Fred telling raunchy jokes, while Loki pretended not to notice. It was a fun night. I'm not sure the kids were acting more like us, or Fred was acting more like them, but a good time was had by all.
Total distance: 9.4 miles, elevation gain: 3870', time: 8:20.