Mount Moosilauke

Date of Hike: 11/29/09

Gorge Brook Trail: 3.7 miles
Glencliff Trail: .9 miles
Moosilauke Carriage Trail: 1.2 miles
Snapper Trail: 1.1.miles
Gorge Brook trail: .6 miles
Total Miles: 7.5 (elevation gain 2,600)


Trip Report:
- Left RI at 5am, trailhead at 8am, on trail at 8:30am, finished at 12:15pm
- Weather was great below 4,000 feet, no wind and great visibility.  Once above treeline it was a different world, 50 feet visibility, wind gusts up to 60 MPH, blowing surface snow, and thigh deep snow drifts in spots
- My camelbak leaked all over my backpack on the ride up, somehow I didn't close it properly and lost half my water soaking the back of my backpack.  To not soak myself and freeze to death I had to wear my winter rain/wind pullover, which worked...to well, I began to heat up and sweat so I couldn't stop that much or I'd run the chance of getting chilled, So i went up and down the mountain pretty quickly considering the conditions during the morning
- Gorge Brook trail had been broken out the day before by 1 brave person so I was able to place my boots in everyone of their steps until above treeline.  This saved me about an hour of hiking and having to break trail!
- I ran into people doing the loop in the opposite way on my way down so the trail past Glencliff trail (AT) was broken out very nicely
- Summit sign had frozen packed snow hanging 3 feet sideways off of it (see pic below), I tried to break it off but I could only get within a half foot of packed snow and the rest wouldn't budge
- Dartmouth Outing Club does a great job maintaining the trails and all the signs, however the road wasn't plowed to get to the trailhead which if you didn't have 4 wheel drive would be dicey
- Should have started hiking later in the day, the summit cleared off around 1pm, I would have been in clear skies with light wind above treeline with some great views all around

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Footbridge crossing the Gorge Brook

Gorge Brook Trail

Approaching treeline

Mount Moosilauke Summit

Views from Moosilauke Carriage Road

Snapper Trail

Mount Height, Carter Dome, Wildcat A - D

Date of Hike: 11/22/09

Nineteen-Mile Brook Trail: 1.9 miles
Carter Dome Trail: 1.9 miles
Carter-Moriah Trail: 2.6 miles
Nineteen-Mile Brook Trail: .4 miles
Wildcat Ridge Trail: 2.8 miles
Polecat Ski Trail: 2.6 miles
Route 16: 2.5 miles
Total Miles: 14.7 (elevation gain, around 5,000)

Trip Report:
- On trail at 7:45, finished at 3pm. Weather was in low 30's to low 40's, no wind, sunny, no clouds, fantastic 75+ miles views
- All trails in good shape, very little ice on ridges, no blow-downs anywhere
- Carter-Moriah trail to Mount Height becomes very steep
- Views on Mount Height are phenomenal!  You have a clear view of the northern Presidential range including up close views of Tuckerman and Huntington Ravine as well as the Great Gulf, and Madison Gulf, as well as terrific views to the north and east into Maine
- Big group of teenagers at Carter Notch Hut, they had good equipment and must have been part of a hiking club
- The buildings at Carter Notch seem to be newer, lots of improvements seem to have been made over the past few years
- Climb up to Wildcat A was excruciating, elevation gain over 1,000 feet in just .7 miles, the first .4 is up-up-up then comes very annoying switchbacks the last .3 miles
- Met a "hippie type" person on summit of A Peak, he was there with his dog, he and the dog smelled like weed!
- Caught second wind on the ridge over B, C, and A peak
- Killer views from the ski station of Washington, Adams, and Madison
- There was a trail runner there with a can of bear mace, kind of overkill
- Spent a good half-hour at summit stuffing my face with PB&J sandwiches and M&M's!
- Walk down Polecat ski trail was great, had the ravines of Washington in front of me the whole way!
- Walk back on route 16 was tiring, thought about hitching but I gutted it out, fat tourists driving by gave me the weirdest looks!
- Hiked at a quick pace, I did 5,000 feet elevation gain in 5 hours...I slept 11 hours when i got back to RI!

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Carter Dome from Mount Height

Mount Washington from Mount Height

Carters from Carter Dome

Carter Notch Hut and Wildcat A Peak

View from Wildcat Ski Station

Madison Gulf, Mount Adams & Madison from Polecat Ski Trail

Mount Avalon, Field, Tom, & Willey

Date of Hike: 11/21/09

Avalon Trail: 2.8 miles
Willey Range Trail: 2.5 miles
Ethan Pond Trail: 5.6 miles
A-Z Trail: 3.0 miles
Mount Tom Spur: 1.2 miles
A-Z Trail: 1.0 miles
Avalon Trail: 1.3 miles
Total Miles: 17.1 (4850 Elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- Left RI at 4am, on trail at 7:15am, finished at 3:30 pm
- Temps in the lows 30's to mid 40's, cloudy day, windy above 4,000 feet.  All trails were a wet mess from the previous days rain
- Avalon trail becomes very steep and rocky after A-Z trail junction.  Mount Avalon summit probably has some excellent views into Crawford Notch but visibility was at about 100 feet on this day
- Ethan Pond trail (AT) is in very good shape and between the Willey Range trail and Thoureau Pond trail is lined with bog bridges everywhere, probably over 200 of them!
- Ethan Pond is pretty big and the campsite is pretty cool, the shelter however is very old and crappy, the floor boards are at an angle. 
- Lots of cub-scouts heading up to Zealand Falls Hut, they were all soaked and jumped in every puddle they could find!
- A-Z trail between Zealand and Mount Tom is very boring and the ferns need to be trimmed back off the trail
- Added to summit cairns on Willey and Tom
- Everyone I run into pronounces Willey differently, some pronounce it as Why-lee others pronounce it Will-E like the penguin "Chilly Willy"...I looked it up and it's pronounced like the penguin!

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Mount Willey Summit

Ethan Pond Trail

Ethan Pond Shelter

Zealand Pond

Two Days in the Presidential Range

Date of Hikes: 11/7/09 & 11/8/09

Saturday Nov. 7th
Mount Madison, Adams, & Jefferson

Valley Way: 3.8 miles
Osgood Trail: 1.0 miles
Gulfside Trail: .3 miles
Air Line: .6 miles
Lowe's Path: .3 miles
Gulfside Trail: 1.4 miles
Jefferson Loop: .8 miles
Randolph Path: 1.2 miles
Perch Path: .2 miles
Randolph Path: 3.0 miles
Short Line: .5 miles
Air Line: .8 miles
Total Miles: 13.9 miles (6,500 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- On trail at 6am, finished around 2:45pm.  Temps in the low 20's, wind chills on summit cones around zero, winds up to 50 mph out of the NW, visibility 100 miles
- All trails had a few inches of snow above 3000 feet. Rime ice was consistant on rocks and there were  snow drifts up to a foot in places around Edmands Col
- Removed gloves on Jefferson summit and my fingers went numb within 50 seconds, took about 20 minutes to warm them back up before I could start hiking down
- First time on Randolph Path, trail wasn't broken past Gray Knob trail junction.  Great views into the Castle Ravine and the Castellated Ridge
- Checked out the RMC's (Randolph Mountain Club) The Perch, which has a pretty cool looking old lean-to and a couple of tent platforms.  It's near treeline and feels like it's out in the middle of nowhere even with all the RMC trails running near by

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Treeline on Valley Valley looking up to JQ Adams Summit

Mount Jefferson from Mount Adams Summit

Great Gulf Wilderness and Mount Washington

Mount Washinton from Mount Adams Summit

South on Gulfside Trail to Mount Jefferson

View from Mount Jefferson Summit

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Sunday Nov. 8th

Mount Monroe & Mount Washington

Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail: 3.1 miles

Mount Monroe Loop: .6 miles

Crawford Path: 1.5 miles

Gulfside Trail:  1.5 miles

Jewell Trail: 3.7 miles

Total Miles: 10.4 miles (4150 elevation gain)

Trip Report:

- On Trail at 8:15am, finished 2:45pm. Temps in the upper 20's to low 30's above treeline with winds up to 70 MPH out of the NW, wind chill around 0-10 on Washington Summit.  Snow above 3,500 feet, drifts up to a foot near Monroe Loop.  Below treeline on Jewell trail temps rose to around 50 degrees. Cloud cover above 5,000 feet until about 11:30 then clear skies and 75 miles visibility

- Used micro spikes on last mile of Ammonoosuc Ravine trail, ice blanketed majority of ledges.  Kept spikes on until Washington summit, although they weren't needed past Lakes of the Clouds hut.

- Checked out the "Dungeon" at Lakes hut, a couple was in there waiting for the clouds to blow over before they hiked up Camel Trail over to the Boot Spur down to PNVC

- On way up to Monroe summit ran into a guy who had blown out one of his micro spikes coming down Monroe Loop, he was heading down Ammo Ravine Trail, he seemed a little bit worried about how he was going to manage the icy ledges

- Ran into a few people on Washington summit, a couple with their very friendly and fun dog who were doing the opposite hike of me.  After they left three guys arrived coming from Lion Head after over-nighting at Hermit Lake Shelter.  Two of them were hiking down the Auto Road while the other was heading back down Lion Head to get their gear

- First mile down Washington was directly into the extreme wind, had to hold my hood pulled over my head so it would stay on protecting my hat from blowing off. I also could not walk up-right or I'd get blown backwords, it was pretty fun!  Once I got to Westside trail junction winds calmed down and it got warmer very fast.

- Majority of the snow on the northern peaks from Saturday had melted away from boulders

- Contemplated hiking along tracks back down to base station but don't know if I'd get in trouble

- Back at the Parking lot I noticed somone had stolen the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trailhead sign that was there in the morning

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Gem Pool

Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail

Iced over ledges

Mount Monroe from Crawford Path

It was her 42 - 4,000 Footer!