Holt Trail: Mount Cardigan

Date of Hike: 5/3/14

Holt Trail / Mowglis Trail / Manning Trail: 5.5 Miles (1,950 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- For years I've been hearing about the Holt Trail on Mount Cardigan and how it has one of the most difficult sections of steep scrambling around. On Saturday I headed to Mount Cardigan to enjoy mostly snow and ice free trails and beautiful views from the summit and the ridge over to the Firescrew as I made a nice loop hike.
- The Holt Trail travels through the woods next to Bailey Brook as it heads up the eastern side of the Mountain.  The trail has rough footing in places and becomes steeper as it heads into the open where the hiking turns from rocks, roots, and mud to slab.
- The lower slab section made for terrific hiking and was not too steep. I turned around every couple of minutes to take in the great views down into the town of Alexandria and Newfound Lake.
- There were still remnants of snow here and there that I had to walk over and skirt around but with the warm temperatures it should all be gone in a week.  The majority of the slab was dry making the hiking up with our trail runners pretty simple.  I was wearing our LaSportiva trail runners which grip the rock slab extremely well.
- The real fun part of the Holt Trail is the last section below the summit where it is at its steepest.  There are two pieces of slab, side by side, one over-hangs the other creating a 'crack-wedge' if you will.  It's sort of like a mini version of the first rock scramble on the Huntington Ravine Trail. The Holt Trail was a lot of fun, especially that last steep section, I didn't find it difficult as there are many handholds and the slab is grippy.  If you like Huntington Ravine, North Slide Tripyramid, Flume Slide, etc. you will enjoy this.  
- From the summit I headed over to the Firescrew then dropped down the Manning Trail.  For very little effort it has some of the most rewarding views and was a real pleasant hike.  I really enjoyed all the open out of the woods hiking that Mount Cardigan provides.  for new hikers wanted to test themselves on something small before tackling a bigger peak this is a perfect mountain to gain experience on!
- Once back in the woods I navigated around some snow and ice and then booked it down the mountain.  The trail crews were out and about getting the Manning Trail in shape for the upcoming hiker traffic during the snow free months.
- I finished really early so I then headed over to Newfound Lake and hiked up Little and Big Sugarloaf where I relaxed and enjoyed the warm weather and nice views from above the lake.

 Our route for the hike, click here for more details

 Short steep scramble in the woods
 Some snow and ice remains where the sun doesn't shine

 First scramble up the open ledges

 Hiking over the middle section of the rock slab

 Town of Alexandria

 Heading over to the Firescrew

 Looking back up to Mount Cardigan's summit

 The summit outlook tower

 A.T. / Manning Trail junction

 Zoon in of the upper section of the Holt Trail, our route in yellow

 Mount Cardigan summit cone

 Rock...Garden!

 Big Sugarloaf Summit

View of Newfound Lake from the Sugarloafs

1 comment:

  1. We absolutely loved hiking Mount Cardigan too!!! http://traveltheeast.blogspot.com/2014/11/mount-cardigan-orange-nh-travel-east.html

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