"I've heard a lot of harrowing tales about the Coe Slide and how it's best attempted when it has been dry for an extended period of time. I had a 3 day stint planned in the park and lucked into an extended window of dry weather over the last week. I felt like if it was ever going to get knocked off my list, this was the time. I was sort of ignoring the fact that there was a heat advisory and temps were going to be in the 90s. I've hiked a lot in hot weather this year. I wasn't too concerned. I probably should have been smarter, but I went for it. Coe was everything I had heard. Plenty of elevation gain (as with anything in BSP) and a slide area that is long, steep, and grueling, and fully exposed to the sun. It took me about 3 hours to summit. I stopped a lot, especially to dip into the shade at any opportunity. I didn't stay long at the top, because I really just wanted to get away from the sun . I had the choice of descending the slide or going forward towards South Brother, which was a longer route. I was not enthused at the thought of going back down that thing. I wasn't sure at this point if I did go forward that I even had the juice to summit South. I was pretty dead. But eve..." — mikewilliamsjr • Aug 11, 2025

"Headed up to Baxter right after work on Friday knowing that this loop was my agenda for Saturday morning. Got to the park around 6:45am and headed to the Martson trailhead. Decided to go counterclockwise in order to ascend the Mt. Coe slide. There was rain in the forecast, so I kept a steady pace to the top of Mt. Coe in order to not be on the slide when it was wet. It started raining on the way to S.Brother. It rained steady all the way to N.Brother. Luckily, the rain stopped for about an hour and a half. Just long enough to make the bushwhack out to Fort and back to N.Brother. The herdpath to Fort was easy to follow, but very narrow. It rained pretty steady until 30 minutes before I got back to the car. Overall, a really good day minus the rain. " — LGH-Tom • Aug 14, 2021

"The trail was very wet. North Brother was like a river even with the dry summer we have had. Mount Coe was like a rock slide on the way up and then we hit south brother and headed over to north. Beautiful blue sky!" — Joleneahikez • Aug 2, 2020

"The Baxter State Park trip. Our group of 6 woke up at 4am at the cabin and headed out at 6am. We hiked up North Brother. We were socked in and the wind was bad. We opted to not go for Fort. We went to the junction and 3 of our group opted to head back to the cabin. The other 3 of us decided to attempt for South Brother and Coe. It was a slog to get them both, but we made it. We made it back to the cabin around 8 pm. " — newenglandwarrior • Feb 16, 2020

"Looping the Marston and Coe Trails with a detour up to OJI. A thunderstorm stopped us on the way up, dropping small hail on us for a few minutes. Boogied across the summit as the thunder started clapping again." — JASTA11 • Jun 23, 2019

"Oh What a day.... After hiking Pamola, Baxter and Hamlin yesterday...I had to grab North Brother for the NE67. I decided that I would snag others along the way towards the 100 highest....I was solo... It had rained a bit the day before and I knew it was steep...but I didnt realize it was that steep. With the rain it was slippery and a lot of loose rocks and dirt were falling around me. It was definitely a treacherous hike and I don't recommend it for solo hikers or anyone who is not a strong hiker. Once I summited, I then headed for South Brother. Large boulders and quite a bit of work to get up there. The Maine mountains are definitely tougher than NH! After South Brother, I went to the meeting spot where I was supposed to meet my hiking friends but they didnt show and after waiting close to an hour I decided to summit North Brother solo as well since the rain was soon to come. North Brother was very eroded for the last mile of the trail. Lots of water! After summiting, I finally returned to the meeting spot that my friends were just now reaching. They were under 1mph pace for the day and I was glad I didnt wait for them." — shay-shay • Sep 2, 2017