Baxter State Park - Day 1

North Brother

September 18, 2016

Yesterday, Deb, Krista, and I drove from a manky motel in Orford, QC to Baxter State Park and spent the night in a lean-to at Katahdin Stream campground. It poured rain for most of the night, but we stayed dry in the shelter and under a well erected tarp over the table during our breakfast. A short drive down the tote road brought us to the trailhead where we met one other fellow gearing up for a hike to North Brother as well. Our original plan was to hike a loop, climbing Mount Coe, South Brother, and finally North Brother for Deb's NE-111 finish. Due to the rain though, we decided to just make a bee line for the North Brother summit and return via the same route. Not much point in climbing bonus peaks on a viewless day. The going went quickly and even though it drizzled all day, the temperature was fairly warm as we scampered along in our t-shirts. We passed a pretty sub-alpine pond, which was our best view of the day, after which we plunged ourselves into cloud towards the Brother col where we stopped for a quick break to refuel before the final push to the summit. At the tree line we layered up in our shells as the wind was howling. We pushed on through the fog and wet, following the occasional paint blaze or cairn up the rocky talus slope until finally spying the summit sign. Debbie ran ahead while Krista and I inflated a few baloons. One of the balloons escaped me and blew away out into the mist, possibly never to be seen again. I felt bad about this. Hopefully someone else, somewhere, will find it and pick this litter up for me. Nevertheless, we celebrated on the top with a bunch of photos, a big sign courtesy of Krista, and some cans of beer, which we decided not to open while being blown around and battered by water droplets. Deb was now a NE-111er, and both Krista and I had another one ticked off our lists. We tied the balloons to Deb's pack and started picking our way down. We met the fellow from the parking lot almost immediately, and then another group of four, with one of the guys also climbing his 115th peak. After a round of congratulations, we continued down as they went for their own finish. Back at the col, we sat down for a short lunch and openned one of the beers to celebrate with, splitting it three ways. We decided not to carry one of the other cans down, so placed it on the junction cairn with a note to the other NE-111 finisher. I hope he enjoyed this bit of trail magic, and that I cannot be accused of littering twice in one day. The rest of the descent was fairly uneventful. I was on the lookout for trash that I could collect to make up for the balloon (and maybe a beer can), but alas, this mountain is very clean, a nice surprise after getting used to hiking in garbage heaps elsewhere. We arrived at the parking lot after a 5.5 hour day, somewhat damp, but happy we could be with Debbie as she completed her quest. A short drive brought us back to camp where we had a hot lunch and beverages as we spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Our accomodations for the first two nights.

Our best view of the day at a small pond along the way.

Deep discussions at the Brother col.

Climbing into the fog.

Congratulations Debbie! You are now an NE-111er.

Descending.

Mission accomplished.

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