BIGEarl
Well-known member
August 4, 2012: Carrigain
Trails: Sawyer River Road, Signal Ridge Trail
Summits: Carrigain
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
We had only one choice for hiking this weekend. Carrigain was all that we had left on our Grid list for August. Instead of delaying it to later in the month we decided now was the best time to get it done.
Hot and humid – that was the forecast for the day. The day started comfortable but we both knew things would change. I loaded an extra liter in my pack along with my filter thinking four liters might not be enough for a fourteen mile hike under the expected conditions. I was also thinking we would probably run one to two hours longer than planned due to the conditions.
Sawyer River Road is still closed which meant we had a two mile warm-up road walk to the actual trailhead. Sue and I have done this hike together quite a few times and only once have we hiked from the “summer” trailhead lot on Sawyer River Road. Leaving from the lot on route 302 is normal, but being able to trim four miles from the day sure would have been nice.
We completed the early walk along Sawyer River Road and came to a big surprise. Signal Ridge Trail has a new entrance! We found the trailhead sign for Signal Ridge Trail moved to the west side of the bridge over Whiteface Brook. The section of trail along the east side of Whiteface Brook is closed and there is a new trail section along the west side. The early two crossings that are really tough with high water conditions have been eliminated. The new trail section follows the usual bushwhack route to bypass the first crossings. At the location where the relocated section re-joins the existing trail, the existing trail has been very well blocked with brush, etc. Even though the new section needs traffic to be fully established, there is no doubt as to which way the trail goes.
Past the relocated trail section a significant amount of work is being done regarding drainage and erosion control. A new section of erosion control is being built on a portion of trail and quite a few stone water bars are in process or their locations marked with flagging. Some of the mud pits are being addressed as well. Work has also been done on a couple of the very large blowdowns that dropped across the trail. It seems that the main focus is the section of trail between Sawyer River Road and Carrigain Notch Trail split. This will be a huge improvement!
We “cruised” to the Carrigain Notch Trail and observed we were both drenched with perspiration. Sue made the comment “we’re soaked and it’s been a flat hike so far”. The real climb and real sweating was about to start. We crossed Carrigain Brook and headed for Signal Ridge. I find the climb to the ridge is always a test and knew it would be more difficult than usual on this hike. Sue seemed to find a good pace and we hiked.
We were grabbing a couple hundred yards at a time with regular stops along the way; sometimes for a drink, sometimes to let the heart rate settle down, sometimes both. We stayed comfortable with our pace up the trail. The previous few hikes were under hot and humid conditions and we managed to stay reasonably close to our timing plan without staying focused on it. We were sure our approach to the day would have us back to the trailhead by early evening, but I expected to run over our timing plan for the day. Time didn’t really matter; we had plenty of day for the planned hike.
On the hike from Sawyer River Road to Signal Ridge we were passed by a few others and met several on their exit hike. It was a busy place. One of the final pair that we met commented on the breeze that waited for us on the ridge; nice motivation to have at the time.
We reached the ridge, and the breeze, and made a few stops on our way across to enjoy the views. With the high humidity the distance views were limited by haze but we still had pretty nice views. On our last visit we had no views, not even to the summit tower from Signal Ridge. This time we had a view hike.
We finished with the ridge and set off for the summit tower. From the ridge to the tower is a short walk with limited additional elevation to climb. Before long we were making our way up the final steep pitch to the summit. After climbing to the top of the tower I did a quick time check. With all of the stops along the way, and the seemingly slow hiking due to the conditions, we reached the tower only forty minutes over our plan, and our plan had no time allowance for stops at all – just hike time. I was happy.
We got the usual summit pictures from the Carrigain tower. Others were there when we arrived and they had the tower pretty well occupied so Sue and I returned to ground level for a summit energy treat. We shared candy bar and prepared to hike back out the way we came in.
Our exit hike went without any surprises. Roughly half way down to Carrigain Brook Sue decided a little more energy was needed and pulled out a package of cookies to share. We completed the descent from the ridge, crossed Carrigain Brook, and settled into the flat section leading back to the truck. Along the way we stopped beside Whiteface Brook for Sue to swap in a new liter of water. I checked my water supply and decided there was probably enough to make it out and didn’t bother pulling out my filter.
We made our way back through the construction zone and started the walk along Sawyer River Road. As we passed the cottage between the road and Sawyer River we found the place occupied. There were three vehicles in the yard and people at the cottage and more in the river. This is the first time I recall seeing any activity there.
From the cottage to the trailhead we enjoyed a cool-down lap, sort of. We made it back to the trailhead within one hour of plan, not bad at all. When we reached the trailhead lot it was full with vehicles parked on each side of the entrance. We saw quite a few people out there but not this many. Perhaps some of these vehicles were associated with the group at the cottage. We loaded our things into the truck, grabbed a couple cold drinks from the cooler, fired up the air conditioner, and took off to the Highland Center for a quick change into dry clothes.
Our exit from the area had a couple surprises. In the field below the trailhead lot on the end of Mt. Clinton Road a bear was wandering through. We stopped to watch for a few minutes. Then, after leaving Twin Mountain we came to flashing lights at Beaver Brook Wayside Area. There was a multi-vehicle accident up ahead and the road was closed. The police officer said the road would reopen within ~10 minutes and suggested we sit and wait since we were headed to I-93 south. Nearly an hour later the road re-opened and we were on our way.
We had tough conditions but enjoyed a very good day.
Thanks Sue.
Pictures will follow.
Trails: Sawyer River Road, Signal Ridge Trail
Summits: Carrigain
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
We had only one choice for hiking this weekend. Carrigain was all that we had left on our Grid list for August. Instead of delaying it to later in the month we decided now was the best time to get it done.
Hot and humid – that was the forecast for the day. The day started comfortable but we both knew things would change. I loaded an extra liter in my pack along with my filter thinking four liters might not be enough for a fourteen mile hike under the expected conditions. I was also thinking we would probably run one to two hours longer than planned due to the conditions.
Sawyer River Road is still closed which meant we had a two mile warm-up road walk to the actual trailhead. Sue and I have done this hike together quite a few times and only once have we hiked from the “summer” trailhead lot on Sawyer River Road. Leaving from the lot on route 302 is normal, but being able to trim four miles from the day sure would have been nice.
We completed the early walk along Sawyer River Road and came to a big surprise. Signal Ridge Trail has a new entrance! We found the trailhead sign for Signal Ridge Trail moved to the west side of the bridge over Whiteface Brook. The section of trail along the east side of Whiteface Brook is closed and there is a new trail section along the west side. The early two crossings that are really tough with high water conditions have been eliminated. The new trail section follows the usual bushwhack route to bypass the first crossings. At the location where the relocated section re-joins the existing trail, the existing trail has been very well blocked with brush, etc. Even though the new section needs traffic to be fully established, there is no doubt as to which way the trail goes.
Past the relocated trail section a significant amount of work is being done regarding drainage and erosion control. A new section of erosion control is being built on a portion of trail and quite a few stone water bars are in process or their locations marked with flagging. Some of the mud pits are being addressed as well. Work has also been done on a couple of the very large blowdowns that dropped across the trail. It seems that the main focus is the section of trail between Sawyer River Road and Carrigain Notch Trail split. This will be a huge improvement!
We “cruised” to the Carrigain Notch Trail and observed we were both drenched with perspiration. Sue made the comment “we’re soaked and it’s been a flat hike so far”. The real climb and real sweating was about to start. We crossed Carrigain Brook and headed for Signal Ridge. I find the climb to the ridge is always a test and knew it would be more difficult than usual on this hike. Sue seemed to find a good pace and we hiked.
We were grabbing a couple hundred yards at a time with regular stops along the way; sometimes for a drink, sometimes to let the heart rate settle down, sometimes both. We stayed comfortable with our pace up the trail. The previous few hikes were under hot and humid conditions and we managed to stay reasonably close to our timing plan without staying focused on it. We were sure our approach to the day would have us back to the trailhead by early evening, but I expected to run over our timing plan for the day. Time didn’t really matter; we had plenty of day for the planned hike.
On the hike from Sawyer River Road to Signal Ridge we were passed by a few others and met several on their exit hike. It was a busy place. One of the final pair that we met commented on the breeze that waited for us on the ridge; nice motivation to have at the time.
We reached the ridge, and the breeze, and made a few stops on our way across to enjoy the views. With the high humidity the distance views were limited by haze but we still had pretty nice views. On our last visit we had no views, not even to the summit tower from Signal Ridge. This time we had a view hike.
We finished with the ridge and set off for the summit tower. From the ridge to the tower is a short walk with limited additional elevation to climb. Before long we were making our way up the final steep pitch to the summit. After climbing to the top of the tower I did a quick time check. With all of the stops along the way, and the seemingly slow hiking due to the conditions, we reached the tower only forty minutes over our plan, and our plan had no time allowance for stops at all – just hike time. I was happy.
We got the usual summit pictures from the Carrigain tower. Others were there when we arrived and they had the tower pretty well occupied so Sue and I returned to ground level for a summit energy treat. We shared candy bar and prepared to hike back out the way we came in.
Our exit hike went without any surprises. Roughly half way down to Carrigain Brook Sue decided a little more energy was needed and pulled out a package of cookies to share. We completed the descent from the ridge, crossed Carrigain Brook, and settled into the flat section leading back to the truck. Along the way we stopped beside Whiteface Brook for Sue to swap in a new liter of water. I checked my water supply and decided there was probably enough to make it out and didn’t bother pulling out my filter.
We made our way back through the construction zone and started the walk along Sawyer River Road. As we passed the cottage between the road and Sawyer River we found the place occupied. There were three vehicles in the yard and people at the cottage and more in the river. This is the first time I recall seeing any activity there.
From the cottage to the trailhead we enjoyed a cool-down lap, sort of. We made it back to the trailhead within one hour of plan, not bad at all. When we reached the trailhead lot it was full with vehicles parked on each side of the entrance. We saw quite a few people out there but not this many. Perhaps some of these vehicles were associated with the group at the cottage. We loaded our things into the truck, grabbed a couple cold drinks from the cooler, fired up the air conditioner, and took off to the Highland Center for a quick change into dry clothes.
Our exit from the area had a couple surprises. In the field below the trailhead lot on the end of Mt. Clinton Road a bear was wandering through. We stopped to watch for a few minutes. Then, after leaving Twin Mountain we came to flashing lights at Beaver Brook Wayside Area. There was a multi-vehicle accident up ahead and the road was closed. The police officer said the road would reopen within ~10 minutes and suggested we sit and wait since we were headed to I-93 south. Nearly an hour later the road re-opened and we were on our way.
We had tough conditions but enjoyed a very good day.
Thanks Sue.
Pictures will follow.
