I finished all fourteen of the Maine 4,000 footers. It was a challenge I have been picking away at since I was little kid hiking around in the Bigelow Range. My intention was to get out and explore the Maine wilderness, hiking the trails to see what I could discover. Along the way I met some cool people and hiked parts of Maine I had never visited, exploring a state that I had lived in most of my life but had only just scratched the surface. The plan for this weekend was to camp for a few nights in Baxter State Park and spend two full days hiking Mount Katahdin and The Brothers.
Northern Brother was the last remaining summit I needed to hike in order to finish all the summits. The plan was to hike the 11 mile loop from North Brother over to South Brother and across to Mount Coe. The thing I love about the remote areas of Baxter State Park is that you can hike all day and hardly ever see anyone. We definitely had the place to ourselves.
About halfway up to the North Brother junction.
I’m slow, they were waiting for me.
Summit snoozin.
Arguably some of the best views of Knife Edge, Katahdin, and Hamlin Ridge inside the park. The next morning we would do exactly that loop.
45 minutes later and we were on the summit of South Brother.
25 minutes later and we were on the summit of Mt. Coe.
The decent down Mt. Coe Trail was a slab of rock. Crab walking was the only logical solution (obviously).
Nesowadnehunk Field
Day 2:
The next day we got up super early and made the one hour drive to the Chimney Pond Trail head at Roaring Brook Campground. The weather forecast was crap but we still planned on hiking up to Pamola, across Knife Edge to Katahdin, down to Hamlin Ridge and back up to the summit. It was a 13 mile loop that I had done once before about 10 years prior and completely out of shape (I was sore for a week after that one). A majority of the hike was above tree line which is great with high visibility but lackluster in dense fog.
About three quarters of the way up and the fog started to set in. It would stay that way for the rest of the hike.
Nothing to see here. Just whipping winds, low visibility and freezing weather.
Knife Edge isn’t so bad when you can’t see anything.
We made it. Soaked to the core but happy as hell.
Summit of Hamiln
As we descended down Hamlin Ridge the fog started to burn off and we got our first glimpse of the surrounding landscape.
Back at the campground the sun was in full force. It felt increbile.
Night two and that’s a wrap folks.
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