marty
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As the cliche goes, the third time is the charmer. I had planned to do Carrigain for my 48th and final NH 4k in early January, with Bunchberry (Katie), Marie, Roadtripper (Greg), Ray and possibly Ridgewalker (Clarke). I had to cancel the night before due to mysterious chest pains, which turned out to be nothing serious. I was quite pleased that Katie, Marie and Greg did it anyway on a spectacular day!
Ray and I were contemplating doing it last weekend, but he canceled the night before due to a pesky chest cold.
I was closely watching the weather forecast and it kept changing and Weather.com and Wunderground were quite inconsistent on the matter. It was generally showing that there was a window of time between Friday's rain and a new system coming in on Saturday. Ray and I decided that we would check the weather at 4 am Saturday and make a game time decision. The forecasts were still a bit undecided, but we decided to go for it.
We got up to the Sawyer River Road parking lot to blue skies and mild weather and started hiking at 7:40. There was a Vermont Subaru there that I suspect belonged to a VFTT member. This hiker’s footprints were the only ones we saw on the road. We found the plowed road to be a breeze for walking. We used Stabilicers/Kahtoolas as it was icy, but it could have been barebootable. We got to the trailhead and then decided to forgo the bushwhack and the follow the footsteps of the hiker, who had taken the Signal Ridge Trail. We found the initial stream crossings to be quite challenging, but we made it and stayed dry.
The hike to Carrigain Notch was quite easy, particularly as this earlier hiker broke trail. We quickly shed all outer layers and were only wearing base layers and no gloves. We noticed that the aforementioned hiker took the Carrigain Notch trail. Beyond the Carrigain Notch trail junction, the Signal Ridge Trail was unbroken, with lots of soft snow. Breaking trail was quite strenuous, but onward we pushed! We stopped frequently, as there are so many gorgeous viewpoints along the way and snapped some photos (pix to come later). We also needed to catch our breaths on occasion. We also got quite soaked from melting snow dripping off the trees, but did not mind in the warm temps. We arrived at Signal Ridge around 1:00 with gorgeous views, but much cooler temps. As we were quite exhausted at this point, the final push up to the summit seemed to be especially strenuous. We reached the summit about 1:15 and were met with stiff winds and rime ice on the tower. The snow level at the summit reached the bottom of the Signal Ridge trail sign. We climbed the tower, took in unsurpassed 360 views and decided to head down as we saw clouds forming.
The walk down was much easier. We glided nicely in our snowshoes down the steeper sections, but we both took a few spectacular spills but no injuries. The clouds started to get more numerous, but still the rain had not started. We decided to do the bushwhack to avoid the stream crossing, which would be much more difficult due to melting snow. It was really easy as that same hiker did the bushwhack back, so we followed his/her tracks. We never saw this person, nor did we see anyone on the trail, but we would like to send thanks for breaking trail and leaving bushwhack tracks!
The road walk back was long and boring. We also had to frequently get way off on the side of the road due to several snowmobilers. We arrived back at parking lot about 5:10, making our round trip an exact 9 ½ hours. We were thinking food BIG TIME and we pounded down tons of food at Moose Tracks in Bartlett. Our trip back was long due to the rain moving in and a State Trooper stopping me for speeding in Ossipee, NH, but let me off with a warning. I had not gotten a ticket in 31 years of driving, so she apparently believed my contention that I did not see the Speed Limit 30 sign. We got home around 9:30 and were quite sore getting out of the truck…
Everyone is right about Carrigain. It is a remote and beautiful hike and a great way to finish the list. Do not underestimate the difficulty in doing this in the winter, however. This really taxed us, particularly having to break trail in deep, soft snow much of the way.
It feels great to have completed the NH 48 and would like to thank Clarke, Greg, Peakbagger and Ray for joining me on several of these hikes. Having completed my 48 in NH, my sights are set on finishing the New England 67 this year, where I have 8 to go. This includes the 5 Vermont peaks, which I hope to do in the winter/spring and three in BSP in Maine, which I hope to complete in summer or early fall. Hopefully I will get to do some of these with fellow VFTTers.
Ray, thanks again so much for doing this epic journey with me. You are a great friend and an amazing hiker. Congrats on completing #27!
Marty
Ray and I were contemplating doing it last weekend, but he canceled the night before due to a pesky chest cold.
I was closely watching the weather forecast and it kept changing and Weather.com and Wunderground were quite inconsistent on the matter. It was generally showing that there was a window of time between Friday's rain and a new system coming in on Saturday. Ray and I decided that we would check the weather at 4 am Saturday and make a game time decision. The forecasts were still a bit undecided, but we decided to go for it.
We got up to the Sawyer River Road parking lot to blue skies and mild weather and started hiking at 7:40. There was a Vermont Subaru there that I suspect belonged to a VFTT member. This hiker’s footprints were the only ones we saw on the road. We found the plowed road to be a breeze for walking. We used Stabilicers/Kahtoolas as it was icy, but it could have been barebootable. We got to the trailhead and then decided to forgo the bushwhack and the follow the footsteps of the hiker, who had taken the Signal Ridge Trail. We found the initial stream crossings to be quite challenging, but we made it and stayed dry.
The hike to Carrigain Notch was quite easy, particularly as this earlier hiker broke trail. We quickly shed all outer layers and were only wearing base layers and no gloves. We noticed that the aforementioned hiker took the Carrigain Notch trail. Beyond the Carrigain Notch trail junction, the Signal Ridge Trail was unbroken, with lots of soft snow. Breaking trail was quite strenuous, but onward we pushed! We stopped frequently, as there are so many gorgeous viewpoints along the way and snapped some photos (pix to come later). We also needed to catch our breaths on occasion. We also got quite soaked from melting snow dripping off the trees, but did not mind in the warm temps. We arrived at Signal Ridge around 1:00 with gorgeous views, but much cooler temps. As we were quite exhausted at this point, the final push up to the summit seemed to be especially strenuous. We reached the summit about 1:15 and were met with stiff winds and rime ice on the tower. The snow level at the summit reached the bottom of the Signal Ridge trail sign. We climbed the tower, took in unsurpassed 360 views and decided to head down as we saw clouds forming.
The walk down was much easier. We glided nicely in our snowshoes down the steeper sections, but we both took a few spectacular spills but no injuries. The clouds started to get more numerous, but still the rain had not started. We decided to do the bushwhack to avoid the stream crossing, which would be much more difficult due to melting snow. It was really easy as that same hiker did the bushwhack back, so we followed his/her tracks. We never saw this person, nor did we see anyone on the trail, but we would like to send thanks for breaking trail and leaving bushwhack tracks!
The road walk back was long and boring. We also had to frequently get way off on the side of the road due to several snowmobilers. We arrived back at parking lot about 5:10, making our round trip an exact 9 ½ hours. We were thinking food BIG TIME and we pounded down tons of food at Moose Tracks in Bartlett. Our trip back was long due to the rain moving in and a State Trooper stopping me for speeding in Ossipee, NH, but let me off with a warning. I had not gotten a ticket in 31 years of driving, so she apparently believed my contention that I did not see the Speed Limit 30 sign. We got home around 9:30 and were quite sore getting out of the truck…
Everyone is right about Carrigain. It is a remote and beautiful hike and a great way to finish the list. Do not underestimate the difficulty in doing this in the winter, however. This really taxed us, particularly having to break trail in deep, soft snow much of the way.
It feels great to have completed the NH 48 and would like to thank Clarke, Greg, Peakbagger and Ray for joining me on several of these hikes. Having completed my 48 in NH, my sights are set on finishing the New England 67 this year, where I have 8 to go. This includes the 5 Vermont peaks, which I hope to do in the winter/spring and three in BSP in Maine, which I hope to complete in summer or early fall. Hopefully I will get to do some of these with fellow VFTTers.
Ray, thanks again so much for doing this epic journey with me. You are a great friend and an amazing hiker. Congrats on completing #27!
Marty
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