Bobby
Active member
LarryD, Marty and I met up in Conway at about 7:00 AM and piled into my car, with a brief stop at Dunkins for coffee, tea and hot chocolate, with whipped cream. The weather reports were for temps in the teens, with high winds throughout the day. It seemed to us that staying below tree line was the way to go.
We parked at the south end of the Imp trailhead and took a few minutes to gear up and were on our way at about 8:00 AM. The trail was already broken out so we bare-booted at the start. The trail was packed down well and we moved along at a good pace. It looked like one person was ahead of us in snowshoes. Down low, the trail wanders a little with elevation gains here and there. At one point I stopped for a minute and Larry said, “Look at the tree.” I looked up, right over my head, and saw a blown over tree barely being held up by another tree. Needless to say, I moved. Quickly. A few bad jokes later, we were at the Imp/North Carter Trail junction.
We moved along pretty well, with stops here and there to add or remove layers. At about 4,000 feet, a few inches of new powder appeared and we stopped to put on snowshoes. The bare-booting wasn’t bad, but the ‘shoes made walking that much easier. The last push to the Carter-Moriah Trail was pretty steep, so I used my “heels”, or televators. What a difference that made. No more screaming calf muscles.
Along the walk up we could hear the wind blowing up high. We caught a few gusts in the trees, but nothing bad. We stopped at the CM junction and layered up with balaclavas and shells. We sort of skied down on pretty good downhill and soon enough reached the summit of Middle Carter, #30, I think for Larry’s winter list and #44 overall for me. The winds were gusting to 40+ mph, kicking up the powder. We had clear views at the summit, and looking across to Mt. Washington, it was clear that the high winds that were predicted had arrived. After the briefest of stops at the summit, we got out of the wind and headed back down.
The trip down was uneventful, except for a spill by Marty. He was ahead of us and wiped out, snow angel fashion. We fined him and made him walk 15 yards back up the trail for the snow angel (any Patriot fans here?).
We made it down the trail in about two hours and fifteen minutes. We stopped quickly at Pinkham to change, then stopped for lunch at the Moat Mountain Smokehouse. I wish I had a video of Larry trying to find his wallet in his pack. Every time he moved it, something would fall out. As he picked up each item, another would fall out. This went on for a few minutes until Marty and I took the pack away from him.
It was another great day of hiking with two good friends. I look forward to many more.
A few pictures from the day http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0IZNnDNozasWMz&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5&cid=EMsharshar
We parked at the south end of the Imp trailhead and took a few minutes to gear up and were on our way at about 8:00 AM. The trail was already broken out so we bare-booted at the start. The trail was packed down well and we moved along at a good pace. It looked like one person was ahead of us in snowshoes. Down low, the trail wanders a little with elevation gains here and there. At one point I stopped for a minute and Larry said, “Look at the tree.” I looked up, right over my head, and saw a blown over tree barely being held up by another tree. Needless to say, I moved. Quickly. A few bad jokes later, we were at the Imp/North Carter Trail junction.
We moved along pretty well, with stops here and there to add or remove layers. At about 4,000 feet, a few inches of new powder appeared and we stopped to put on snowshoes. The bare-booting wasn’t bad, but the ‘shoes made walking that much easier. The last push to the Carter-Moriah Trail was pretty steep, so I used my “heels”, or televators. What a difference that made. No more screaming calf muscles.
Along the walk up we could hear the wind blowing up high. We caught a few gusts in the trees, but nothing bad. We stopped at the CM junction and layered up with balaclavas and shells. We sort of skied down on pretty good downhill and soon enough reached the summit of Middle Carter, #30, I think for Larry’s winter list and #44 overall for me. The winds were gusting to 40+ mph, kicking up the powder. We had clear views at the summit, and looking across to Mt. Washington, it was clear that the high winds that were predicted had arrived. After the briefest of stops at the summit, we got out of the wind and headed back down.
The trip down was uneventful, except for a spill by Marty. He was ahead of us and wiped out, snow angel fashion. We fined him and made him walk 15 yards back up the trail for the snow angel (any Patriot fans here?).
We made it down the trail in about two hours and fifteen minutes. We stopped quickly at Pinkham to change, then stopped for lunch at the Moat Mountain Smokehouse. I wish I had a video of Larry trying to find his wallet in his pack. Every time he moved it, something would fall out. As he picked up each item, another would fall out. This went on for a few minutes until Marty and I took the pack away from him.
It was another great day of hiking with two good friends. I look forward to many more.
A few pictures from the day http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0IZNnDNozasWMz&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5&cid=EMsharshar
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