My wife gets home late, so I didnt get to sleep last night until around 11:45 or so. I had the alarm clock set for one. Four min before it went off, I woke up. Nice. Minimal sleep, and a four hour drive at night to Baxter.
The plan was to hike N. Brother and Fort, and if the weather and morale was good, then possibly hit Coe and S. Brother.
We arrived about five or ten min before the gate opened, which gave me and the kiddos time for breakfast. The Marston trail head was 13.2 miles down the dirt road, which took about 45 min.
Once out of the car, I looked over at Doubletop, which was submerged in clouds. First bad sign of the day. After a break and a stretch, we began at aprox 6:15.
The trail starts out quite flat in a forest of tall but thinned out hard woods. Once in the pines, it slowly begins to climb. At 1.3 miles, the Mt. Coe Trail branches off as the Marston Trail veers to the left. Id gradually descends, crosses a brook, then slowly climbs until the trail reaches the small pond. The trail comes probably too close to the pond.
With all the recent rains, you can tell that the water level of the pond is higher than normal, and the pond spills into the trail. The trail slowly descends until it crosses a brook that drains from the pond, than begins to slowly climb. It than begins climbing the steepest portion of the trail, which honestly wasn't all that steep, especially since the trail had tight switch backs. As the trail approached the col between the Brothers, it leveled off for quite a long distance. There are quite a few recently built rugged bog bridges along this stretch, and more are to come. There is a stack of bog bridge lumber beyond the Mt. Coe Trail junction. At the col, left takes you to N. Brother, and right takes you to S. Brother and Coe.
The trail, which overall was maintained quite well, now became incredibly narrow. In many places, it resembled a herd path. All of the vegetation was soaking wet, and being as narrow as it is, it was impossible not to get wet. Of this .8 mile portion of the trail, about half of it was flat. In many areas, the trail became a brook. Once it begins to climb, the trail is quite erroded and needs much of the attention that that Marston Trial received.
Once above the treeline, the wind became quite fierce. The summit itself, being of course well into the clouds, would have had incredible views on a better day. We chose to hike this peak today due to our all knowing weatherman's forecast. The summit had that northern Presidential feel.
After hiding behind some boulders for a snack break, we decided to hit Fort on a better day. I normally have the kids stay in a known spot while I scout around. Being that the Fort trail is a herd path, and visibility was minimal and the wind was intense, I'm not sure if this would have worked, and we would have had to plow through a soaking wet herd path. BAH!
We were down by 11:30. We only saw one pair of hikers on the way down, just before we got our first glimpse of the now visible Doubletop. After reading Papa Bear's 04 report (thanks again man), I was hoping to get some views of it. Finally got it....
A few times on the descent, the sun peaked through, almost as if it were a tease.
The hike was actually quite easy, and I think today was a prime example of how weather conditions in the mountains can differ greatly from those at normal elevations. This peak, which was actually quite awesome, is unfortunately overshadowed by its great neighbor, Katahdin. I believe if this peak was in the Whites, it would be highly sought after. By not bagging Fort, if we decide to do the 100 Highest, this will give us an excuse to hopefully visit it on a much finer day and hopefully we can enjoy the views....
The plan was to hike N. Brother and Fort, and if the weather and morale was good, then possibly hit Coe and S. Brother.
We arrived about five or ten min before the gate opened, which gave me and the kiddos time for breakfast. The Marston trail head was 13.2 miles down the dirt road, which took about 45 min.
Once out of the car, I looked over at Doubletop, which was submerged in clouds. First bad sign of the day. After a break and a stretch, we began at aprox 6:15.
The trail starts out quite flat in a forest of tall but thinned out hard woods. Once in the pines, it slowly begins to climb. At 1.3 miles, the Mt. Coe Trail branches off as the Marston Trail veers to the left. Id gradually descends, crosses a brook, then slowly climbs until the trail reaches the small pond. The trail comes probably too close to the pond.
With all the recent rains, you can tell that the water level of the pond is higher than normal, and the pond spills into the trail. The trail slowly descends until it crosses a brook that drains from the pond, than begins to slowly climb. It than begins climbing the steepest portion of the trail, which honestly wasn't all that steep, especially since the trail had tight switch backs. As the trail approached the col between the Brothers, it leveled off for quite a long distance. There are quite a few recently built rugged bog bridges along this stretch, and more are to come. There is a stack of bog bridge lumber beyond the Mt. Coe Trail junction. At the col, left takes you to N. Brother, and right takes you to S. Brother and Coe.
The trail, which overall was maintained quite well, now became incredibly narrow. In many places, it resembled a herd path. All of the vegetation was soaking wet, and being as narrow as it is, it was impossible not to get wet. Of this .8 mile portion of the trail, about half of it was flat. In many areas, the trail became a brook. Once it begins to climb, the trail is quite erroded and needs much of the attention that that Marston Trial received.
Once above the treeline, the wind became quite fierce. The summit itself, being of course well into the clouds, would have had incredible views on a better day. We chose to hike this peak today due to our all knowing weatherman's forecast. The summit had that northern Presidential feel.
After hiding behind some boulders for a snack break, we decided to hit Fort on a better day. I normally have the kids stay in a known spot while I scout around. Being that the Fort trail is a herd path, and visibility was minimal and the wind was intense, I'm not sure if this would have worked, and we would have had to plow through a soaking wet herd path. BAH!
We were down by 11:30. We only saw one pair of hikers on the way down, just before we got our first glimpse of the now visible Doubletop. After reading Papa Bear's 04 report (thanks again man), I was hoping to get some views of it. Finally got it....
A few times on the descent, the sun peaked through, almost as if it were a tease.
The hike was actually quite easy, and I think today was a prime example of how weather conditions in the mountains can differ greatly from those at normal elevations. This peak, which was actually quite awesome, is unfortunately overshadowed by its great neighbor, Katahdin. I believe if this peak was in the Whites, it would be highly sought after. By not bagging Fort, if we decide to do the 100 Highest, this will give us an excuse to hopefully visit it on a much finer day and hopefully we can enjoy the views....
