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A map of the hike.
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My brother (who came along to both provide the car, and to give the hike a try himself) and I left the Gorham Mountain trailhead at 8:40AM, and summited Gorham Mountain (summit 1) no problem. We then continued on down to the Beehive, where I got side-tracked on a deer tail, but found my way back quick enough, and we climbed the iron works to the top of The Beehive (summit 2). We then continued on past the bowl and hiked along the ridge to the summit of Mount Champlain (summit 3). We then went over to Dorr Mountain, and tagged Huguenot Head (summit 4) on the way. While going up Dorr Mountain, my brother started to tire but we still summitted Dorr Mountain (summit 5) in good time. We then traversed the gorge and my brother really slowed down going up Cadillac Mountain, and we didn't summit Cadillac (summit 6) until 12:40PM, where we took our first break and bought some water.
Watching the surf from Cadillac Cliffs.
We then hiked down the South Ridge of Cadillac at 1:00PM, stopping by Eagle Crag on the way. My brother was slowing down, so I ran on ahead down to Route 3, and hiked along Route 3 to the Day Mountain trailhead. I then waited there 20 minutes for my brother, discussed alternate route plans he could use, and headed up Day Mountain at 2:30PM.
The view from Eagle Crag.
I quickly got to the top of Day Mountain (summit 7), and went straight on to The Traid (summit 8) at a good clip, knowing that I was behind schedule. I then descended into some absolutely beautiful verdant forests, before emerging on the summit of Pemetic Mountain (summit 9). I then descended towards The Bubbles via ledge ravine, where I got back in touch with my brother via radio and we decided to meet where the trails to North and South Bubble join (he had decided to not climb Pemetic, and took the Jordan Pond trail to The Bubbles). While waiting for him, I quickly tagged North Bubble (summit 10), and then met my brother at the trailhead. He decided he was done, so we climbed up South Bubble (summit 11) to get cell phone reception and called for a ride home. We also stopped and posed for the standard "pushing Bubble Rock off the mountain" pose.
Heading down Ledge Ravine.
While my brother headed back down to the parking lot for a ride home, I continued on down to the Jordan Pond Trail, and then started climbing Penobscot. Penobscot Mountain by far had the worst trail, consisting of nothing but gnarled roots and ankle twisting rocks, but I persevered and found my way to the summit (summit 12). Then, rather than going to Sargent, I continued along the ridge to Cedar Swamp Mountain. The hike to Cedar Swam Mountain was very cool in the sense that the trail looked hardly used, and many of the trail signs were heavily weathered, making it feel as though I was hiking in a long forgotten part of the Park. It took a bit of hunting (as there were no trail signs), but I was able to find the summit marker for Cedar Swamp Mountain (summit 13) at 5:30PM. By then it was getting dark, so I quickly headed back to the trail junction.
The trail up Penobscot Mountain.
At the trail junction I had a choice: I could either save some time and backtrack taking the easy ridge traverse over to Sargent Mountain, or I could stick to my minimal backtracking rule and hike down a saddle and then back up Sargent. Not wanting to short change myself this far in, I went for the more difficult backtracking-free option and took a trail heading back down to the highway, before linking up with a trail that then climbed back up Sargent Mountain. I pushed hard up Sargent, and was rewarded with a beautiful sunset at the summit (summit 14).
The summit of Sargent Mountain.
However, I was also equally unnerved by the sunset seeing both how little daylight I had left, and how far I had to go. I headed off the summit and half hiked, half ran to Gilmore Peak (summit 15). I then more or less ran over to the next ridge down and summitted Parkman Mountain (summit 16) before easily traversing across the ridge and summitting Bald Peak (summit 17) as well. By then the sun had more or less set, so I bolted down Bald Peak towards Route 3 in the twilight, constantly chanting "Norumbega" and pleading with the sun to stay up just a bit longer.
Sunset on Parkman Mountain.
When I was planning the route for the hike, I noticed that the trail going up Norumbega was called the "Goat Trail". Normally when hiking, this means you're in for a steep and slippery hand-over-hand climb, and the trail up Norumbega did not disappoint. After scrabbling up the trail, and passing a pathetically adorable little rabbit along the way, I crested the ridge where it was just an easy walk over to the summit (summit 18!). I then called for a ride home, snapped a few shot of the last hints of light in the sky, and then headed back down the ridge to the Goat Trail, where I was finally forced to pull-out my headlamp before making it back to the trailhead at 8:10PM, 11.5 hours, 23 miles and 18 summits from where I had started.
Looking at the lights down in the valley before heading down the goat trail.
I had originally set out to do the hike as a personal challenge, but it turned out to be a total blast (unlike most of my past challenges which are the source of many war stories). I have no complaints, and actually would highly recommend this to anyone as one of my all-time favorite hikes, and I would love to do this hike many more times. So, if anyone wants a hiking partner for this hike, or at least some beta, just let me know.
