September 1, 2008
Most of our group got an early start heading home today. Ed headed off to hike Mount Reddington in the Stratton area. Darcy and I decided to squeeze in another hike before we left. Thanks to Al dropping us off, we were able to do a traverse of Doubletop Mountain rather than an up and back. We started at the Slaughter Pond trailhead.
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There's Doubletop.
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A mile or so later we reached the Doubletop Mountain trail.
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Darcy scrambling up some rocks.
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Nearing the south summit
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Almost there
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View from the southern peak
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Darcy took my picture on the windy southern peak.
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For a 360° video clip click here
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Looking ahead to the northern summit, just .2 miles away.
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Looking back to the southern peak
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Memorial near the northern peak
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The 3488' northern summit is slightly higher than its' southern counterpart and has enough prominence to qualify as a New England 50 finest. This makes #29.
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Darcy took another photo of me. This time on the northern summit.
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Looking back to the southern summit
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Back in the woods for the descent.
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On the descent, I had a nice surprise by running into Meb, her sister, Rachel, and their friend Frank.
I was getting anxious to get home to Lynn. I found my feet going faster and faster and then began running down the trail. Darcy was behind me, but I knew she would have no trouble keeping up. We found ourselves at the northern terminus of the trail in no time.
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"Three and a half hours," said Darcy giving the time of the hike.
"We didn't break any records, but we were moving along pretty good," I said.
"Yes, it's safe to say we beat booktime," Darcy added.
We had spotted a car here, so I gave Darcy a ride back to the campground which was just a couple minutes away. Darcy had left her tent up to let the morning dew dry off. I should have done that. Duh! All the other tents were gone. It was the only sad part of this extra long weekend. Everyone was gone. Some I would see on the trails in the Whites, others I may not see until next year.
It's been a great 5 days. I took a few new trails up and down Katahdin, went across the Knife Edge for the 2nd time, and climbed 5 new 3000 footers (two of which were part of the New England 50 Finest list). Special thanks to Ed for hosting another great Baxter get together.
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