Mount Carrigain (#41)

Date of Hike: 1/31/11

Sawyer River Road: 2.0 miles
Signal Ridge Trail: 10.0 miles
Sawyer River Road: 2.0 miles
Total Miles: 14.0 (3,900 elevation gain)
Click here for trail descriptions

Trip Report:
- Sawyer River Road 7am, Signal Ridge Trailhead 7:45am, Carrigain summit 10:05am, finished 12:30pm. Temperatures in single digits, 100 miles visibility!
- This hike completed my second round of any season 48 - 4,000 footers (this time it only took 19 1/2 years!)
- As far as a detailed trip report goes the views tell a far better story than any words, enjoy the pics!
- Click here for all pictures.....Click here for video from observation tower.

Signal Risdge up to Mount Carrigain

Looking north towards the Presidential Range

 Pemigewasset Wilderness

 Osceola's and the Scar Ridge

 Bondcliff, Bond, West Bond

 Owl's Head and the Franconia Ridge

 Dry River Wilderness and the Oakes Gulf

with Mount Monroe, Washington

 Vose Spur and the cliffs of Mount Lowell

 Presidential Range

 Snowed over Whiteface Brook

Garfield, Galehead, South Twin, and North Twin (#37, #38, #39, #40)

Date of Hike: 1/30/11

US 3 / Gale River Road: 1.4 miles
Garfield Trail: 4.8 miles
Garfield Ridge Trail: 3.3 miles
Frost Trail: 1.0 miles
Twinway / North Twin Spur: 4.2 miles
Garfield Ridge: .6 miles
Gale River Trail: 4.0 miles
Gale River Road / US 3: 3.0 miles
Total Miles: 22.3 (6,000 elevation gain)
Click here for trail descriptions

Trip Report:
- After a great week of training I figured Sunday would be a good day for a challenging hike over Garfield, Galehead, South Twin, and North Twin.
- On trail at 6:15am, Garfield 9am, Galehead 10:45am, South Twin 11:45am, North Twin 12:20pm, Gale River Trailhead 3pm, finished 4:15pm. Temps 5-15 degrees, good views of Pemi Wilderness from Garfield, socked in the rest of the day, breezy on South Twin summit and very cold!
- The Gale River Road is closed in the winter so I started the hike out at "Five Corners" off US-3 in the dark. I'm not a big fan of road walks but it was a pretty short and quick 1.5 miles over the newly constructed bridges on the Gale River Road to the Garfield trailhead.
- The Garfield Trail was well broken out and the trail ascends gradually with no steep spots but no views either, the downside to this trail is the semi-annoying switchbacks as the trail gains the ridge.
- Views from Garfield's summit were pretty cool but I didn't hang around for long because of the frigid temps and what might lay ahead of me on the "Dreaded" Garfield Ridge Trail!
- Going into this hike I had psyched myself up for a trail-breaking sufferfest along the ridge to the Gale River Trail junction. Luckily by some miracle for the first time in weeks there would be no major trail-breaking today!
- The previous day a brave soul broke trail to the Gale River junction and what's even more impressive is he/she stayed exactly on trail the entire time which takes some super skills.
- However the hike to the Galehead Hut was still annoying as ever with more than ten up and downs, high snow levels, and heavy snow bombs falling from every branch along the way.
- Once past the Gale River Trail junction I was thrilled because the trails would be all broken and packed the rest of the day.
- When I reached the Galehead Hut it was off to the awesomely boring summit of Galehead, carefully avoiding dead end bushwhacks I made my way to and then up the frost trail where most branches were at face level because of the snow depths. I avoided getting my eyes poked out but got whacked in the face a few times.
- At the summit I put on some dry layers, refueled, and took a picture of the buried summit cairn and got the he'll out of there!
- Next was the steep ascent up the Twinway to South Twin, usually I book it to see how fast I can hike the 0.8 miles but today I played it safe and just went at a steady pace all the way up to the breezy low visibility summit of South Twin were I hurried over to the North Twin Spur Trail and quickly descended back into the woods and out of the wind.
- I finally ran into the first hiker of the day just before reaching the North Twin summit where of course there were no views.
- The hike back over to South Twin wasn't to exciting but the descent down the Twinway to the hut sure was as it was a slip-slide-speedfest complete with controlled and uncontrolled "white-washes."
- The highlight along the 4.0 miles down the Gale River Trail was the first snowbridge over the Gale River, which If you're zoning out you'd never know your walking over the river.
- Now came the final 3 miles on the Gale River Road back to the car, I was pretty beat up and cold but it was time to suck it up! I passed a ranger on a snowmobile and got passed by a dozen snowmobilers including a few that pretty much ran me off the road!
- I made it back to the car a little before dark and immediately stuffed thousands of calories of yummy in my face!

Pictures: Click here for all pictures

Mount Lafayette

 Pemigewasset Wilderness

 Owl's Head

 Mount Garfield Summit



"Strength in Numbers" (Owl's Head #36)

Date of Hike: 1/22/11

Lincoln Woods Trail: 2.6 miles
Black Pond Trail / Bushwhack: 2.4 miles
Lincoln Brook Trail (backtrack/retrack!): 3.5 miles
Brutus Bushwhack / Owl's Head Path: 3.0 miles
Lincoln Brook Trail: 2.0 miles
Black Pond Trail / Bushwhack: 2.4 miles
Lincoln Woods Trail: 2.6 miles
Total miles: around 18.5 (3,310 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- With frigid temps forecast for Saturday I thought I'd play it safe and stay below treeline and out of the wind and hike everyone's favorite mountain Owl's Head!
- I was excited to get back to Owl's Head, having only been there once before in the summer and this time I'd get to hike the Black Pond Bushwhack and Brutus "Brutie" Bushwhack (named after a newfie dog! Click here for more about Brutus) to the summit of "Owlie."
- On Trail at 7:30am, ditched hike 11ish, unditched hike 11:30ish, summited no idea!  Finished 7:15pm. Temps in low single digits maybe even zero or below at 4,000 feet. No wind in the woods lots and lots of new snow.
- The first 2.6 miles along the Lincoln Woods Trail wasn't as smooth as I had hoped for, there was a XC ski track but no snowshoe track, so eventhough I really wanted to walk on the ski tracks I broke some minor snow of about 6 inches or snow in the middle of the trail until I had had enough and walked on the ski tracks for the last few hundred feet to the Black Pond Trail junction.
- Luckily the black Pond Trail and the bushwhack were easy to follow and it was broken out pretty good. The Black Pond Bushwhack was more annoying and went a little higher than I thought it would be but I was happy because it was broken out.
- When I reached the Lincoln Brook Trail things got interesting, within ten minutes the snowshoe tracks came to an abrupt end. Ahead of me lay an unbroken faint trail (except for the moose who post-holed for a half mile). It was very very slow going but I continued along the banks of the Lincoln Brook for a while and crossing it twice over snow-bridges that made for and amazing site hiking across a river six feet above it on snow!
- Once past the last crossing it was time to start the Brutus Bushwhack...this ended badly as wherever I went it was just to steep and the snow was brutal as I kept sliding back and falling up to my waist in drifts. I made it about twenty-five feet up and realized I had no idea where I was supposed to go and that this was a stupid idea.
- Next I went back to the Lincoln Brook Trail and tried to head to the Owl's head Path to try my luck up the slide (another brain-dead idea). I made it about one hundred feet before snow-depths increased to 3 feet and I decided I had to turn around and go home.
- I started hiking back out for a half hour or so and I kept looking up at the bright "Bluebird" skies and started cursing myself..."Look up at the blue sky, what the hell were you thinking? Who the hell hikes this stupid no-views mountain when you have a clear 100 miles of visibility, I don't care how cold it is you could have hiked up Garfield or Jackson in no time and got kick ass views BUT NO you're here freezing your ass off in the middle of nowhere...way to go IDIOT!"...I could also hear my dad saying "You're a sh!thead"
- So I was bummed out beaten up and pretty upset when out of nowhere a miracle in the form of eight strong hikers came heading my way to salvage the day!  Among them were Bob & Gerri who I had hiked with this past summer! So to the end of the line I went and joined in with them to knock off Owl's Head no matter how exhausted I was.
- With nine people packing down the trail to the Brutus Bushwhack it made things much smoother until it was time to head up the steep western slopes off Owl's Head. Eventhough there were nine of us it still was a slog to break trail up to the top and I was in rough shape from my earlier hiking but I was warm so I knew I could make it.
- Two other hikers caught up to us and we now had eleven breaking trail as we gained the ridge and made our way past the old summit and over to the new summit. We stoped to refuel and warm up for a couple of minutes, I put on some dry clothes but froze my fingers up worse than I ever had before.
- Luckily about twenty minutes into our descent I was in the clear and knew my fingers would be fine, but what a strange and unpleasant feeling especially in my pinky's, it felt as if they weren't there for ten minutes!
- The hike back down to the Lincoln Brook Trail was fast as we all slipped and slided our way back down taking some gnarly falls in the snow enjoying the quick descent.
- We ran into one of the friendliest dogs ever (Thor) who was running up and down the trail and jumping into snow drifts and having a blast!
- Once back on the Lincoln Brook Trail it was time to start the long hike out over pretty boring terrain, night was quickly falling upon us as we donned headlamps for the Black Pond Bushwhack and the Black Pond Trail, the mile along the Black Pond Trail was the worst stretch for me, I had just had it and was out of gas.
- Now came time for the 2.6 miles Lincoln WoodsTrail sufferfest. It was the same as it ever was but the good news is when you're with eight others sharing in the misery it makes it go a little better and faster!
- Back at the car I changed out of my frozen clothes and started the long drive back to RI finally warming up 100% when I hit Boston!
- It was such a wild day and I was thankful that I ran into everyone when I did, they saved the day for me and made this a hike I'll never forget, thanks everyone!

Pictures: Click here for all pictures

Lincoln Brook Snowbridge

 Brutus Bushwhack

 Breaking out the Brutus Bushwhack

 Black Pond Trail



Breaking Trail to Whiteface and Passaconaway (#34 & #35)

Date of Hike: 1/15/11

Blueberry Ledge Trail: 3.9 miles
Rollins Trail: 2.5 miles
Dicey's Mill Trail: 5.5 miles
Total Miles: 11.9 (3,850 elevation gain)
Click here for trail descriptions

 Trip Report:
- If you had asked me about the hardest hike I'd have ever done I would probably not be able to come up with one. I'd list parts of trails which are difficult (Huntington), steep (Wildcat Ridge), or just a pain in the A$$ (the dreaded Garfield Ridge). Maybe I would have come up with a long hike in the Presidential Range but definitely nothing in the Sandwich Wilderness...That is until after Saturday's hike over the usually boring Whiteface and Passaconaway!
- On trail at 7:40am, Whiteface summit 10:10am, Passaconaway summit 12:30pm, finished 2:20pm. Temps in the single digits, no wind, great visibility.
- When I arrived at the parking lot I was happy to see a bunch of hikers, I always feel more comfortable knowing there are other hiker out and about on the trail. It was an A.M.C. lead group hiking up to Passaconaway but no one heading to Whiteface.
- So I was on my own as I started up the road to the actual beginning of the Blueberry Ledge Trail. I was excited to see snowshoe tracks and thrilled that the trail might be broken out, unfortunately it was broken out about a tenth of a mile to the Sandwich Wilderness sign. From here I'd be breaking trail over the next seven miles.
- At first I didn't mind breaking the fresh powder (6 to 8 inches) albeit over some annoying hidden rocks. Of course as one gains elevation the unbroken powder becomes deeper and deeper, it was close to a foot when I got to the first open ledges, and by the time I reached the steep ledges below the summit it was well over a foot with some pretty deep drifts over two feet.
- The steep ledges on the Blueberry Ledge Trail is my favorite part of the hike. I brought my ice axe along specifically for this section, not for self-arrest (it would have been useless because the snow was just deep fluffy powder on rock and wouldn't bite), I needed it swipe all the snow away to find handholds. It was very slow going but I pulled myself up then crawled on all fours above the ledge like my dog (Mr. Smackers!)
- The other steep parts aren't as difficult but the snow drifts were so deep which made them tougher having to kick out steps, push away snow, find cracks, and claw and pull myself up.
- Along the way views from the outlooks were incredible, I could see the Presidential Range rising high above all the other peaks, and a close up view over to Mount Passaconaway, Paugus, and Chocurua .
- I took a short break to refuel at the viewpoint just below the official Whiteface summit and then started breaking the 2.5 miles of the Rollins Trail.
- Breaking out the Rollins Trail was painful, I was drained and the trail sneaks a few minor ups in that kicked my butt. The snow was now a foot and a half to two feet of fresh powder with higher drifts in most spots. The only good news about the deep snow was 95% of the rocks below the snow didn't clip my snowshoes.
- I was tired but knew everything would pick up once at the Dicey's Mill Trail junction, with the large A.M.C grew heading up to Passaconaway the trail would be broken out perfectly and built for speed.
- However when I arrived at the trail junction I saw that the trail had yet to be touched heading up to Passaconaway, I was bummed knowing that the final .9 mile would be an absolute suffer-fest.
- After refueling, changing layers, shedding my frozen gloves, and then warming up my frozen fingers I began the slog up to the summit.
- It was probably the slowest .9 of a mile I have ever done, snow depths weren't as bad as on the Rollins Trail but as the trail steepens I began losing energy by the minute.
- Luckily my snowshoes have a heel lift which come in handy on steep sections, today on the unbroken steep sections they saved the second part of this hike for me. If I didn't have this I would have had to bail at the Dicey's Mill Trail junction.
- As I made my way closer to the summit I passed and outlook with awesome views off to the Pemi Wilderness with Mount Lincoln, Lafayette, Garfield, Bonds over to Carrigain in the clear and made all the pain of a long hike worth it.
- Mount Passaconaway's summit is wooded so I beat feet out of there and started the descent.
- I ran into the A.M.C. grew at the second to last steep section before Passaconaway's summit, they were all having a great hike and enjoying the cold but great weather. They thanked me for breaking trail which was very nice of them.
- From here I plodded down the mountain back to my car, ran into about another ten people, one guy even bare-booting! Everyone was having a fun hike.
- Back at the car I was finally able to warm myself up good and stuffed my face full of food before heading all the way back to RI.
- It was a crazy, fun, and hard hike, one I will never forget, this winter has already surpassed last winter in terms of difficult hikes...no one ever said attempting the Winter 48 - 4,000 footers was going to be easy!

Pictures: Click here to view all pictures

Blueberry Ledge Trail

 Above the Steep Ledges on the
Blueberry Ledge Trail

 Mount Passaconaway

Southern Presidential Range
(Eisenhower, Monroe, Washington)

 Carrigain Notch



Mount Moosilauke (#33)

Date of Hike: 1/3/10

Glencliff Trail: 3.0 miles
Moosilauke Carriage Road: 1.8 miles
Glencliff Trail: 3.0 miles
Total Miles: 7.8 miles (3,300 feet)
click here for trail descriptions

Trip Report:
- After a few days of unseasonably warm weather making for spring-like hiking conditions temperatures dropped sharply freezing trails overnight resulting in the return of winter as I headed to the western most White Mountain 4,000 footer, Mount Moosilauke.
- On trail 7:55am, Moosilauke summit 9:55am, finished 11:15pm. Temps at trailhead low 20's, low teens above 4,000 feet, 50 plus mph wind above treeline with gusts above 60mph, summit clouded in but good views to the south and west below summit mass.
- I was pretty pumped up that the temps plummeted and the trails froze up turning all the slush and heavy snow on trails into ice and frozen snow and I was able to hike in microspikes the whole day as the snowshoes stayed on my pack.
- The Glencliff Trail has moderate grades and only gets semi steep before gaining the ridge just below Moosilauke's south summit where the trail ends at the Moosilauke Carriage Road Trail.
- Before heading up the final 0.9 miles to the summit I put on dry layers and my winter windbreaker in preparation for the last section of above treeline hiking where the wind would be waiting for me.
- Once I left the protection of the scrub filled trail the wind came at me with full force out of the west constantly knocking me off the trail to my right, I had to hike with my body angled into the wind so I wouldn't be lead by the wind away from the trail.  At one point I crouched down until the wind let up and toughed it out to the summit.  I took some pics and shielded myself from the wind behind the stone foundation left from the old summit house.  My original plan was to relax at the summit until the skies cleared but after about five minutes I got out of dodge as the wind and the cold temps made it pretty unforgiving to stay around.
- As I descended the Carriage Road I was going to hike up to the South summit but there was a big cloud hanging around up there and just didn't want to leave so I decided not to take the spur path and just head back down to the car.
- On the way down I ran into two hikers who were happy that winter had returned for their hike up the "Moose."  It looked as if the skies might be clearing enough for them to enjoy better views from the summit than I did.
- Back at the car I packed up and headed back to RI after a pretty interesting and fun three days in the White's!

Pictures: Click here for all pictures

Mount Moosilauke Summit

 Looking to Moosilauke's South Summit

 Moosilauke Carriage Road (A.T.)



Mount Cabot (#32)

Date of Hike: 1/2/10

Bunnell Notch Trail: 3.0 miles
Kilkenny Ridge Trail: 3.6 miles
Bunnell Notch Trail: 3.0 miles
Total Miles: 9.6 (3,000 elevation gain)
Click here for Trail descriptions

Trip Report:
- With sub-par weather and no views in the forecast I figured it was time to knock off one of my least favorite mountains...Mount Cabot
- On trail at 9:40am, Mount Cabot summit 12:15pm, finished 2pm. Temps in the high 30's to mid 40's, no wind, no good views.
- The highlight of the whole day was the ice covered untreated York Pond Road past the fish hatchery. I came across a sedan that could not turn around on the ice so I got out of my car and helped push it until it was able to grip the road and get out of trouble.
- As for the hike itself it was very uneventful, Bunnell Notch Trail is boring and has moderate grades so it takes forever. Once on the Kilkenny Ridge Trail things get steeper until it reaches Cabot Cabin so the hike goes more quickly eventhough it's harder. Once at the wooded summit I turned right around and started booking it off Mount Cabot-Patch.
- On the descent I ran into a bunch of hikers ascending, one of which (Bob) decided to turn around and hike with me for about 20 minutes or so as we talked about the White Mountains.
- Back at the car I packed my stuff up and navigated safely back out over the icy York Pond Road.

Pictures:

Bunnell Notch Trail

 Mount Cabot Summit

 Cabot Cabin

 Trailhead on York Pond Road



Moriah and Cannon (#30 & #31)

Date of Hike: 1/1/10

Mount Moriah
Carter-Moriah Trail: 9.0 miles (3,550 elevation gain)

Cannon Mountain
Kinsman Ridge Trail: 4.4 (2,200 elevation gain)

Total Miles: 13.4 (5,750 elevation gain)
Click here for trail descriptions

Trip Report:
- With unseasonably warm temps and an imprecise weather forecast predicted I decided to head up Mount Moriah hoping to maybe luck out and steal some views along the way, unfortunately it ended up one of those hikes where the higher you get the more socked in it becomes.
- The drive up from RI went pretty fast, I left at 4am and pretty much cruised controlled through all of NH making a pit stop at Dunkin D's in Gorham, where I ran into Steven (hope I remembered your name correctly!) who recognized me from my blog, nice meeting you!
- On trail 7:45am, summit 10:05am, finished 11:30am. Temps in high 30's to low 40's winds under 15mph, no views above 3,500 feet.
- The White Mountains got hammered with snow just after Christmas but luckily enough the Carter-Moriah trail had been broken out extremely well which was great news because after the first 2.5 miles the trail can become very hard to follow in unbroken snowy conditions.
- I made good time up to Mount Surprise and took in some minor views below to Gorham and into Maine but after that the hike became a slog.
- The warm temps have made the snow heavy, wet, and slippery in spots. luckily I didn't posthole or fall and continued on my way up to the summit, unluckily the last 1.0 miles of this hike dragged and took for what seemed forever.
- Once at the summit I took a picture of the summit ledge rock engulfed in a grey fog turned around and booked it back down the mountain.
- I figured I'd start running into a few hikers on descent but never did. The only highlight was the two big wipeouts I took into the snow!
- Once back at the car I packed my gear and headed south figuring I was done hiking for the day.
- However when I came around the bend on Route 3 into Franconia Notch I noticed the skies were opening up above Cannon and decided to hike up the steep 2.2 miles to the summit. To be safe before I started hiking I gave myself a turnaround time of 3pm.
- On trail at 12:55pm, summit 2:10pm, finished 2:55pm. Very warm temps in the high 40's with very little wind, decent views of Franconia Notch.
- The Kinsman Ridge Trail from the Tramway parking area is steep and pretty unforgiving in the summer. However with the heavy wet snow I figured it be easier with all the rough and rocky footing covered up.
- I was a little bit tired from the Moriah hike so I just tried to keep a good pace and drink lots of water. Luckily to help battle against the steep trail I was able to enjoy pretty awesome views down to Echo Lake and across to Lafayette and Lincoln once in the scrub.
- I thought for sure I'd run into people descending as I hiked up but again I ran into no one!
- Once I got within a half mile of the Observation Tower I was pretty beat up and I could feel my quads weakening. Luckily from here on out it's not as steep and I was able to make my way to the summit observation tower where I took some pics of the cool cloud cover and shot a video (Click here for video).
- The descent was fast and furious! I knew I was going to be able to speed down the trail because of the heavy-wet-padded snow. I took two gnarly slips along the way which were pretty fun and I beat the leaving crap out of my snowshoes (Tubbs Flex Alps) which after 35 miles of hiking this winter I have never had to adjust them or anything, they are kick ass!

Pictures: Click here for all pictures

Carter-Moriah Trail

 Echo Lake

 Franconia Ridge