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View Full Version : 4000 foot peaks along Maine AT how many?



DavidNH
11-17-2005, 19:06
Hi,

If one thru hikes the Maine portion of the Appalachian trail, how many of the 12 of Maine's 4000 + foot peaks (including those summits on short side trails off of the AT) could one bag? For the purposes of this post..I am considering those summits reached by a short (mile or less) spur trail to be On the AT).

What I am wondering.. given that I have completed the Vermont and NH 4000 + foot peaks, could I get the New England 4000 foot patch by at the same time I complete an AT thru hike going northward through Maine? Is that realistic?

DavidNH

Moxie00
11-17-2005, 20:35
Old Spec is the first, memory tells me aroud 10-15 miles after you hit Maine heading north. Next you will hit Saddleback and The Horn the first two of a cluster of 4000 footers in the area. Now you will have to leave the AT three times for side trips. Mt Abraham is next, less than a mile off the AT and a beautiful mountain with an Alpine zone that rivals Katahdin. Spauldimg Mountain comes up in less than a mile amd memory tolls me the side trail is less than 100 yards to a wooded peak. In less than 2 hours you will come to the Sugarloaf side trail and it's a short hike to the summit off the AT. After you summit Sugarloaf you will drop down to the Caribou Valley Road. I've done Caribou Valley to Route 4 near Saddleback in an easy 3 days bagging all 5 peaks. From Caribou Valley you will immediatly climb both North and South Crocker but first you might want to walk to the end of the Caribou Valley Road and find the unmarked trail up Redington. I summited Redington by bushwacking from the summit of South Crocker but it was a bitch. After The Crockers you quickly reach Bigelow and West and Avery peak are on the 4000 footer list. Now all you have to do is cross the Kennebec and hike the 100 mile and you are at Katahdin. There is one more 4000 footer, North Brother that is about 10 miles north of the AT but in Baxter Park and a beautiful climb. All except North Brother are within a mile of the trail. The heights are as follows, Spec 4180, Saddleback 4120, Horn 4041, Abraham 4050, Spaulding 4010, Sugarloaf 4250, Reddington 4010, S Crocker 4050, n Crocker 4228, Bigelow West 4145, Avery 4058, Katahdin 5267 and N Brother 4151. :-? Opps, I count 13, not 12 but 12 are on or close to the trail.

Tramper Al
11-17-2005, 21:04
There are actually 14, as you need to add Katahdin's second peak - Hamlin. That's an easy walk over from Baxter Peak.

Me, I hiked all but 2 of my Maine 4Ks while on AT sections hikes - that's the way I like to do it. Hamlin I hiked by itself so I could finish my NE 4Ks on Baxter Peak. We opted against the Redington bushwhack in a hard rain, so I returned for that later.

Note that there is currently a pretty good 'path' from South Crocker to Redington, so that approach is probably as easy as or easier than the CVR route.

North Brother is the only real detour, and you could just plan a second day in the park for that one.

Realistic, yes, and a great plan!

The Old Fhart
11-17-2005, 22:06
Why stop at the NE4K peaks, go for the NE100 Highest! (me-#11, NE100H in winter)

Askus3
11-17-2005, 22:54
This past August I did a section hike of the AT southbound and included the ten peaks over 4,000 feet in that area. Abraham is 1.7 miles off the AT on a longer spur. Redington is a bushwack of approximately 1-1.5 miles one way. Sugarloaf is .6 mile one-way off the trail. The other peaks are relatively close or directly on the trail. The only 4,000 footer that is not approachable by hiking from the AT is North Brother. You can do it as a separate dayhike from the park road in Baxter. For more info about climbing the 4,000 footers, from the AT check out my Trip reports. The one with the ten peaks I just posted on my thread. See my trip report sub-forum (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=11203). You might find my tables of some value also.

Moxie00
11-18-2005, 00:03
[quote=Tramper Al]"There are actually 14, as you need to add Katahdin's second peak - Hamlin. That's an easy walk over from Baxter Peak."
This is true and I think it should count as a 4000 footer but the "experts" who decide such things say there isn't enough elevation gain/loss between Hamlin and Baxter for it to qualify as a seperate 4000 footer.

The Old Fhart
11-18-2005, 07:44
Mixie00-"but the "experts" who decide such things say there isn't enough elevation gain/loss between Hamlin and Baxter for it to qualify as a seperate 4000 footer." The experts have changed their minds once again. For the latest list, go to list (http://home.earthlink.net/~ellozy/ne-4000-footers.html). Tramper Al is correct, Hamlin is on the official list. I've done Hamlin 3 times and it is a nice quiet peak, far less crowded than Baxter Peak.

Peaks
11-18-2005, 08:56
Like Tramper Al, I bagged all but Redington and North Crocker while doing my AT thru-hike.

I tried to get Redington, but the spruces got too thick, so I went back and got it another time. Maybe it's an easier bushwack now.

Done the NE 4000, and 46'ers. 2 to go for the NE 111. I'm starting on the Fabulous fifty

TJ aka Teej
11-18-2005, 09:08
I've done Hamlin 3 times and it is a nice quiet peak, far less crowded than Baxter Peak.

Something like 80% of trail use in Baxter is on Katahdin heading to and from Baxter Peak. Hamlin, North Brother, Fort, Wassataquoik, Double Top, Rum, The Owl, OJI, Traveler - lots of super climbing all over the Park, 'listed' or not!
Super resource for Peak Bagging in the North East:
http://www.viewsfromthetop.com/

The Solemates
11-18-2005, 10:27
Hi,

If one thru hikes the Maine portion of the Appalachian trail, how many of the 12 of Maine's 4000 + foot peaks (including those summits on short side trails off of the AT) could one bag? For the purposes of this post..I am considering those summits reached by a short (mile or less) spur trail to be On the AT).

What I am wondering.. given that I have completed the Vermont and NH 4000 + foot peaks, could I get the New England 4000 foot patch by at the same time I complete an AT thru hike going northward through Maine? Is that realistic?

DavidNH

as we were approaching the end of our thru-hike in 04, we met two sobo hikers who were attempting this. they seemed to think it was relatively easy to do by just taking a few side trips. we met them around mt abraham, as they were about to head up.

Askus3
11-18-2005, 12:47
To add on to what Solemates have said. If these were southbounders and they were met at Abraham spur junction and they said it was easy to do, then there is another confirmation as the only peaks after Abraham that they had to do were the two Saddlebacks (summits right on the trail) and Old Speck (.5 mile flat spur trail along the ridge to the summit). The hardest one and requiring route finding skills is Redington and that could be fun or a bear depending on your mood, temperment and your approach (mentally as well as physically) to a bushwack. The details and photos of that specific bushwack is in the data on Wednesday, August 24 of that ME AT V Trip Report of mine.

TJ aka Teej
11-18-2005, 18:08
This past August I did a section hike of the AT southbound and included the ten peaks over 4,000 feet in that area. >snip<. See my trip report sub-forum (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=11203). You might find my tables of some value also.

Holy smokes, Arron! I'm only half way through your write up, and about 10% of the way through your photos, but I gotta say you write great trip reports! My knees are hurtin' from those pics of the Wardens Trail stone stairs - still a work in progress as of this August.