Trails Used

Access road

Trail Conditions

Notes

Access road was dry, but a lot eroded in parts than I recall. Some fall foliage colors emerging. Crisp fall afternoon with sunny skies, a breeze, and temperatures in the 50s.

Parking

Room for a few cars on the side of the access road near the first gate.

Wildlife

None

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Marston Trail, Bushwhack

Trail Conditions

Notes

When you get up at 1:30am to head to Baxter, you know it's going to be an amazing day and it was. Our crew met up and headed into the park at 7am. The Marston trail is beautiful and the footing is soft and so nice. There were some wet areas along the way but it wasn't really wet until that last .8 miles to the summit of North Brother. There was water running down the trail there with some areas of mud and slick rocks. Once we were above that stretch, the rocks were dry and grippy. The bushwhack to Fort is tight in many places but if you can push through the trees you can usually find a footbed. There were slick roots and holes along the way which Steve called out as we moved along. Every so often we would reach an area that was less dense and there was great cheering. The climb up to Fort has one rock that is tricky to get up. We approached it from the left and used a tree for assistance. The quote of the day came from that spot and we laughed over that for the rest of the hike. This was another episode in the Thag and Uki show and we loved having Rachel join us. Huge thanks to Steve for agreeing to join me for this one and driving and supplying us all with snacks and entertainment. We will be back again this winter. Or so he keeps telling me.

Parking

Steve drove and his truck was great on the tote road. The road is rough in spots but not bad at all. We were the first vehicles in the lot and when we returned there were only 2 others. It's a large lot so there is plenty of room. There is an outhouse on site.

Water Crossings

All were easy rock hops

Wildlife

Nonexistent in the morning down low. They were bad and biting at both summits and lingered as we descended. We were surprised that they were hanging around so late.