Doubleop Area: August 27th-31st, 2023

Katahdin, August 27th

Last year I did Katahdin as my third-to-last hike in my round of the 115 I was doing, and it was one of the greatest hikes I've ever been on. I repeated that hike today, as the temperature, cloud cover, route, and start times were all about the same. The only main difference is I hopped over to North Howe Peak from Hamlin, something I strongly recommend to anyone in the area, as the sparsely-visited alpine plateau of Howe is my favorite part of the mountain. Fantastic times!!!

A pretty poor-lens shot
Views of the ridge!!!
The Knife's Edge!!!
Pamola
Katushka!!!
To the north along the Knife's Edge
Katushka!!!
The more gradual Ridgeline of the northern plateaus
Howe
Katushka!!!

Doubletop, August 28th

Doubletop was a wild hike for me, from the steep scrambly ascent up the southern-approach, to the breathtaking views of Katahdin and the Martson Trailhead, to nearly losing my phone on a crack in the rocks near the top (I had to fish it out with socks attached to hiking poles). A fantastic mountain that makes you feel like you're on top of the world

View of Doubletop from Deer Pond
Views of the Katahdin Range from the summit
Adirondack hikers may note, like I did, that the summit of Doubletop closely resembles the summit of Dix/Beck Horn in the High Peaks - in person, the resemblance is uncanny imo
Doubletop
Katushka!!!

South Turner Mountain, August 31st

After getting my van stuck on a dirt road the night after Doubletop and sleeping like shit, I took a day off to get more sleep. The next day was quite rainy. Finally on the 31st, I got enough of a push to go ahead and try another peak, and my goal was to hit North Turner. So I started from Roaring Brook and started up the Trail to South Turner, which was delightful. However, at the summit of South Turner I could see that my estimates for distance along the ridge were far too optimistic, and the thought of doing upwards of five miles of bushwhacking through dense spruce was too much for me. The summit of South Turner is still pretty great nonetheless, and I can now see that the best way to approach North Turner is to take the Twin Ponds Trail from the Katahdin Lake trailhead, which will take you to just below the summit, with a steep, albeit not-cliff-face-y bushwhack to the top. That hike is 16 miles round trip though, so be prepared. Anyhow, after South Turner I decided to return to the Hundred Mile Wilderness and take a stab at the bushwhack peaks there

View of North Turner
South Turner
Katushka!!!