Spring is Not Here . . . The Carters

Date of Hike: 3/28/15

19-Mile Brook Trail: 1.8 miles  /  Cater Dome Trail: 3.2 miles  /  Carter Moriah Trail: 2.7 miles  /  North Carter Trail: 1.2 miles  /  Imp Trail: 2.0 miles  /  Camp Dodge Cutoff & Route 16: 0.8 miles
Total Miles: 12.6 (4,420 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- For those of us who wish the snow would melt, the flowers would bloom, and the forest would be lush with vivid green colors...we're going to have to wait another six weeks or so!
- The original plan was to hike Mount Hale with Whitney, but she worked late on Friday night and didn't get much sleep so I had a solo day and decided to head to the Carters.  There were absolutely no views to speak of along the Carter Range.  There were a few semi-fluffy inches of snow above 3,500 feet that made for a nice cushiony hike.  I put on my snowshoes at Zeta Pass and kept them on until just before the Dodge Cutoff.
- Half of the trail along the ridge was drifted in, the other had had faint tracks.  The section of trail below Mount Hight to Carter Dome is narrow and scratchy, same goes for the section between Middle Carter and North Carter.  The tree branches snag your pants, coat, pack, and want to claw your eyeballs out.  It reminded me of the the herd path heading north along the Santanoni Ridge in the Adirondacks where my pants got shredded during the summer of 2011.
- It was snowing throughout the day but there was barely any wind so it wasn't too difficult to stay warm even when descending.  I pretty much had the trails to myself, I passed six people in the first quarter of a mile and then ran into a guy ascending the North Carter Trail as I was jetting down.  Even though there were no views today I still had a fun hike in the Saturday morning snow :)

 Route for the day, click here for details

 Heading up the 19-Mile Brook Trail

 Hooking onto the Carter Dome Trail

 Reaching Zeta Pass and heading to Carter Dome

 The sun tried to poke through but it didn't happen until after I finished

 Just below Carter Dome's summit.  The top pic looks like it just heads into an abyss

 Carter Dome summit

 Heading back down from the dome

 Hooking onto the Carter-Moriah Trail at Zeta Pass over to South Carter's summit

 Making my way to Middle Carter

 Middle Carter and it's summit

 Heading north along the Carter-Moriah Trail

 North Carter junction had the deepest new snow of the day.  The top of North carter Trail is pictured on the right.

 Camp Dodge

Signage spotted along the way.  Carter-Moriah Trail over Mount Hight on the bottom right, above it is the Black Angel Trail junction.

2 comments:

  1. Awesome pics. I was up there last weekend and certainly know spring isn't there! Frigid temps and your pics show new snow...

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  2. Hope you had a fun hike in the snow too, anonymous :)

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