albee
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- Jan 14, 2005
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After too many weekends of rain, I felt like I needed to get up to the Whites and breathe some of that rarified high-altitude air. I couldn't find any hiking partners for this trip, but I must confess that I didn't look too hard because it was one of those days where I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts and experience nature. I've always been comfortable hiking solo, so off I went.
Part of the reason for this trip was to make sure I had done all of the 48 4000 footers in NH before I submitted the paperwork. This was the only one I didn't have an exact date for since I vaguely remember hiking it with an ex-girlfriend back around 1993 or 1994. Can't remember if we made it to the top, so Carrigain is now either my first or my last. When I got to the junction of the Carrigain Notch Trail and Signal Ridge Trails, I remembered the brook crossing there immediately. I had hiked here before. So, just like 11 years before, I took off my boots and waded across. Only this time without female accompanyment.
Anyway, I had gotten a late start on this trip - 9:50 AM - and ended up passing 18 people on the way up. I made it to the summit and shared the views from the fire tower with a nice couple that seemed to be pretty experienced hikers. I snapped a picture for them and off I went poking around and trying my hand at some real bushwhacking. The second reason for doing this trip was to try and nab Vose Spur. I tried to navigate along the ridge from the summit but the trees were pretty dense (only made it about 100 yards before it got steep AND gnarly). I also tried descending the CNT to the North of the summit and following a contour to the East, but there was quite a bit of snow there still and I didn't see any old tracks or makings of a herd path. I was also kicking myself for not recording the GPS coordinates of the Vose Spur summit before I left, but I wasn't getting very good reception up there anyway. As some dark clouds and a brief hail storm rolled in, I decided to let it wait for another day and headed back for the car.
(Note: has anyone out there done Vose? What route did you take? I'm thinking of trying to bushwhack it from the CNT to the North, starting at 2700' next time.)
I scurried back over the summit, passing a scout troop that was huddling under the fire tower as a thunderstorm was approaching when as I left (I hope they made it out of there on time) and various other folks, including a polite Brit and his son, and headed down for home with little problems. It was a bit disconcerting to hear long rumbles of thunder coming from the sky behind me, so I admit to jogging a little on the flat parts on the last couple miles of the trail. The brook crossing that I had to wade through on the way in wasn't so bad because I found that it can be bypassed by following a herd path about 30 yards upstream where the CNT crosses it at a better spot. I felt a few raindrops as I crossed Sawyer River road and got back to my car in time to change into dry clothes before it really started raining. I couldn't help but think of all those people back on the trail when it really started pouring as I drove down 302. Sometimes I think the man upstairs is watching out for me since I couldn't have gotten out of there at a better time.
Part of the reason for this trip was to make sure I had done all of the 48 4000 footers in NH before I submitted the paperwork. This was the only one I didn't have an exact date for since I vaguely remember hiking it with an ex-girlfriend back around 1993 or 1994. Can't remember if we made it to the top, so Carrigain is now either my first or my last. When I got to the junction of the Carrigain Notch Trail and Signal Ridge Trails, I remembered the brook crossing there immediately. I had hiked here before. So, just like 11 years before, I took off my boots and waded across. Only this time without female accompanyment.
Anyway, I had gotten a late start on this trip - 9:50 AM - and ended up passing 18 people on the way up. I made it to the summit and shared the views from the fire tower with a nice couple that seemed to be pretty experienced hikers. I snapped a picture for them and off I went poking around and trying my hand at some real bushwhacking. The second reason for doing this trip was to try and nab Vose Spur. I tried to navigate along the ridge from the summit but the trees were pretty dense (only made it about 100 yards before it got steep AND gnarly). I also tried descending the CNT to the North of the summit and following a contour to the East, but there was quite a bit of snow there still and I didn't see any old tracks or makings of a herd path. I was also kicking myself for not recording the GPS coordinates of the Vose Spur summit before I left, but I wasn't getting very good reception up there anyway. As some dark clouds and a brief hail storm rolled in, I decided to let it wait for another day and headed back for the car.
(Note: has anyone out there done Vose? What route did you take? I'm thinking of trying to bushwhack it from the CNT to the North, starting at 2700' next time.)
I scurried back over the summit, passing a scout troop that was huddling under the fire tower as a thunderstorm was approaching when as I left (I hope they made it out of there on time) and various other folks, including a polite Brit and his son, and headed down for home with little problems. It was a bit disconcerting to hear long rumbles of thunder coming from the sky behind me, so I admit to jogging a little on the flat parts on the last couple miles of the trail. The brook crossing that I had to wade through on the way in wasn't so bad because I found that it can be bypassed by following a herd path about 30 yards upstream where the CNT crosses it at a better spot. I felt a few raindrops as I crossed Sawyer River road and got back to my car in time to change into dry clothes before it really started raining. I couldn't help but think of all those people back on the trail when it really started pouring as I drove down 302. Sometimes I think the man upstairs is watching out for me since I couldn't have gotten out of there at a better time.
