Carrigain the hard way

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Doing Carrigain by the Desolation Trail has been on my TODO list for much too long, so today I decided to finally do it. As expected it was hard, but well worth the effort.

I did the loop going up the Desolation Trail and down Signal Ridge Trail, as I intensely dislike steep downhills. The first 1.7 miles are on the Signal Ridge Trail, so were very familiar. I then took the Carrigain Notch Trail, which I have only done once long ago, on a backpacking trip to Vose Spur and Nancy. The section that ascends to the notch from the south starts at a very gentle grade, and then abruptly becomes steeper and rougher. The trail stays above the valley floor, as the valley floor appears to be very narrow. The Wilderness boundary is at the notch. The descent is very gentle, and the footing excellent almost all the time.

But when all is said and done, it is 6.6 miles with 1,150 feet of elevation gain from the trailhead to the start of the Desolation Trail. The Desolation Trail has two very different sections. The first 1.3 miles are on old logging roads, and climb 1,350 feet. This is moderately steep, but with generally good footing it is not too difficult. The next 0.6 miles are the "fun" part. The trail climbs 1,150 feet feet in those 0.6 miles, with generally bad footing Steve Smith and Mike Dickerman, in their 4000-Thousand Footers of the White Mountains book say that the upper part is virgin spruce but warn:

Watch footing carefully through this steep, rugged section, where even J. E. Henry's bold loggers decided not to cut.

I was too busy watching my footing, and catching my breath, to see much of this virgin spruce. Finally I heard voices, saw the tower, and was on the summit.

It was a cold and windy day; at 2 PM (when I was on the summit) Mt. Washington reported a temperature of 28 degrees and winds of 52 mph. It was almost certainly warmer and less windy on Carrigain, but the observation tower was unpleasant, and my stay there was brief.

Nothing much to say about the descent by the classic Signal Ridge Trail, but the ridge was partly sheltered by the summit cone, and I was able to sit and enjoy most of the views.

I found the trip very challenging, but also enjoyed it a lot. I hope to redo it some day!

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

Nice TR.

That's a loop I haven't done yet, but I hope to this winter.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Nice TR.

That's a loop I haven't done yet, but I hope to this winter.

Plan on lots of trailbreaking; this is a very lightly used trail even in summer.

 

[Hillwalker]

Telegraph wire

Ever wonder why they ran the telegraph wire up Desolation trail rather than up the fire wardens' road? It's hard to miss going up.

 

[DougPaul]

Plan on lots of trailbreaking; this is a very lightly used trail even in summer.

The trail though the notch is a ski route--up via Nancy Pond and return via the notch.


Went up Signal Ridge, down Desolation, and out via Nancy Pond many years ago. Upper Desolation Tr was very badly eroded--I remember walking on roots ~2 ft above the dirt/rock. Is it any better now?

Doug

 

[TMax]

Nice TR Mohamed, thanks for the post.

Upper Desolation Tr was very badly eroded--I remember walking on roots ~2 ft above the dirt/rock. Is it any better now?
Doug

I did this loop (opposite direction) two weekends ago. (trip report) It was a very nice and interesting loop. Clearly there has been trail work done since you were there DougPaul, but it's still pretty rough and rugged making for a slow trek down.

 

[audrey]

Last time I was there, Desolation Shelter still existed, there were lots of tents around, and we camped (legally) near the foot of the Desolation Trail. Is the area recovering nicely?

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Last time I was there, Desolation Shelter still existed, there were lots of tents around, and we camped (legally) near the foot of the Desolation Trail. Is the area recovering nicely?

The Desolation Trail starts about 0.2 miles before the Carrigain Notch trail joins the Wilderness Trail at the site of the old Desolation Shelter, so I did not get there.

All I can say is that there was very little evidence of human presence in the area. Lots of moose tracks along the trail, but only one set of human footprints. I believe that, to a large extent, peakbagging (on day trips) has replaced backpacking as the major recreational use of the forests. Certainly much lower impact!

 

[RoySwkr]

Ever wonder why they ran the telegraph wire up Desolation trail rather than up the fire wardens' road? It's hard to miss going up.

The first time I hiked Desolation Trail (downhill) the toughest part was avoiding tripping over the phone wire that ran along the trail. It seemed mostly gone the second time.

Actually there were phone lines in both directions from Carrigain, one down Desolation Trail to the Pemi and another down to Sawyer River - the swath used to be very visible on the back side of Signal Ridge. Remember that in the early 1900's long distance phone service was not that reliable - if you saw a fire in the Pemi and had to go through operators in Livermore, Bartlett, Conway, Ossipee, ..., Lincoln to reach somebody who could put out the fire it could be several hours. Better to call them direct. Several peaks had dual lines.

 

[Frodo]

I went thru that area about a month ago while doing a Carrigain/Tom/Field/Willey Loop and at the junction where the Desolation Trail meets the Carrigain Notch Trail, I missed the turnoff to head over to Stillwater Junction and wandered into a well worn camping area.

I thought I was still on the trail because the path was so wide and I was cursing under my breath as I passed 2 abandoned campfires (which I thought were right on the trail) . I soon realized that this was a camping area and not the trail because it soon fizzled out...

I am not surprised that Mohamed missed this because he was coming in the opposite direction and was not looking to head over to Stillwater Junction.

I believe that this area is where many people now camp in place of the Desolation Shelter.

 

[HighHorse]

That's a loop I haven't done yet, but I hope to this winter.

Holla @ a dude if you decide to do it...

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

I went thru that area about a month ago while doing a Carrigain/Tom/Field/Willey Loop and at the junction where the Desolation Trail meets the Carrigain Notch Trail, I missed the turnoff to head over to Stillwater Junction ...

Never heard of a Carrigain/Tom/Field/Willey loop. I guess that from Stillwater Junction you took the Shoal Pond Trail. What next? Did you go north (Ethan Pond to A-Z) or east (Ethan Pond to Willey Range)? Since I have no interest in doing it I will not even try to add up the distance and elevation gain!

If you did the Willey Range from north to south that would be two very steep descents in one trip

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Nice report, Mohamed. Indeed, this is a fine loop, and the one chosen by Steve Smith and Mike Dickerman for our Annual White Mountain charity CROP Walk to feed the hungry a few autumns ago. While we were soaking in the bennies (beneficial Sun rays) for over two hours on Carrigain's summit on said CROP Walk, we met two AMC caretakers who had run over from Zealand Hut, leaving after breakfast and planning to return in time for supper. Without looking at a map, my guess is that Frodo's loop over Carrigain and the Willey Range would be longer in distance than the classic Pemi loop, which is 31.5 miles, but that is just a wild guess.