sapblatt
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Carter’s – 7/6/2005 - PICTURES ARE UP
PICTURES ARE UP!! - Yes you read it right...I actually am posting images from my trip...they are here:
Pictures
The list is getting pretty short for me…I am excited and sad – kind of hard to explain. There is something neat about doing all of the summits for the first time and I have really enjoyed it. I am sure I will enjoy doing them all over again many more times in different seasons and in different weather and from different trails. It dawned on me today that of the twenty plus peaks I have summited this year, seventeen of them have been in the rain! The ironic thing is that I had never seen any rain during any of my first eighteen 4ks. Things sure have a way of evening out over the long haul.
Enough of the prologue…
I left Peabody, MA at 3:15AM on Wednesday to head for the Imp Trailhead for my attempt at Middle and South Carter. After hearing about a possibility of thunderstorms in the afternoon I decided I wanted to get a real early start. A nice addition to this hike is going to be the meeting up with my cousin Richard and his seven-year old daughter, Anna at the Carter Notch Hut. This was to be her first hike (coming up the 19 Mile Brook Trail.) I was on the trail heading up the North loop by 6:20Am and as per usual I was hiking too fast and was stopping for a lot of quick breaks to catch my breath. This stupid method of hiking uphill usually gets me where I am going in book time, but it should be easier…I eventually made it to the Imp outlook for a tremendous view of about 50 feet, straight into a cloud bank. I ate half of a bagel and proceeded up towards the North Carter Trail.
All of my concerns about water on the trail were pretty lame. There were about five large brook crossings along this section and I was able to easily filter a couple of liters of water to refill my supply. I made it to the North Carter Trail in the late morning and headed up towards Carter Moriah. The North Carter Trail gains about 1200 feet in 1.2 miles. This ratio (100 feet up per tenth of a mile) usually signals to me a tough climb. This trail is so even the entire way that I did not find this to be the case. It was a rather pleasant ramble up to the ridge.
Shortly after hitting the Carter Moriah Trail I ran into a couple of northbound section hikers who were having lunch. These would be the only people I saw all day until I got to the hut. Middle Carter was reached quickly as the mist turned to rain and the wind whipped up. All the elements of hypothermia were in place and being well aware of this I pretty much kept moving for the rest of the day as I knew a chill would set in quickly if I stopped for long in the wind. I made it over to the second wooded summit in short order and did not even stop as I descended down to Zeta Pass. Zeta is a very cool spot and I can see why they do not allow camping near there…everyone would be there! I moved on towards Carter Dome and I decided to bypass Hight as there were no views of any sort on this day. The hike up to the dome was nice and gradual and this became my first repeat peak! The descent on slick rocks to the hut was rather harrowing. I slipped and fell once on the steep section and a second time in between the two Carter Lakes. No major injuries…just some loud swearing. Made it to the hut at 2:30 PM and my cousin and his daughter arrived smiling in the rain about twenty minutes later. I now have 39/48 done...nine to go.
On Thursday morning, contrary to the weatherman’s reports, the weather was beautiful. After I finished crying about my sore quads I decided to accompany Richard and Anna up to Carter Dome (now my first three-peat, well technically going up from the hut does not count…). We stopped at the viewpoint for a couple of minutes and noticed the snow is still in Tuckerman’s and is still on Jefferson. There was also a pretty cool snake sunning itself on the rocks. It was very cool to watch a seven year old summit her first mountain, and even more impressive to watch her summit a rather large 4k with a rather steep climb. She did not even breaks a sweat…hanging around with a triathlete dad has its benefits!
After a brief break at the summit and the viewpoint on the north end we headed north on the Carter Moriah Trail. We decided that the extra distance and steeper descent would make Mount Hight a poor decision for Anna, so we simply head down the Carter Dome Trail to 19 Mile Brook and out.
These two days were a lot of fun, including the rain. Anna already wants to hike again and we will get her out soon.
PICTURES ARE UP!! - Yes you read it right...I actually am posting images from my trip...they are here:
Pictures
The list is getting pretty short for me…I am excited and sad – kind of hard to explain. There is something neat about doing all of the summits for the first time and I have really enjoyed it. I am sure I will enjoy doing them all over again many more times in different seasons and in different weather and from different trails. It dawned on me today that of the twenty plus peaks I have summited this year, seventeen of them have been in the rain! The ironic thing is that I had never seen any rain during any of my first eighteen 4ks. Things sure have a way of evening out over the long haul.
Enough of the prologue…
I left Peabody, MA at 3:15AM on Wednesday to head for the Imp Trailhead for my attempt at Middle and South Carter. After hearing about a possibility of thunderstorms in the afternoon I decided I wanted to get a real early start. A nice addition to this hike is going to be the meeting up with my cousin Richard and his seven-year old daughter, Anna at the Carter Notch Hut. This was to be her first hike (coming up the 19 Mile Brook Trail.) I was on the trail heading up the North loop by 6:20Am and as per usual I was hiking too fast and was stopping for a lot of quick breaks to catch my breath. This stupid method of hiking uphill usually gets me where I am going in book time, but it should be easier…I eventually made it to the Imp outlook for a tremendous view of about 50 feet, straight into a cloud bank. I ate half of a bagel and proceeded up towards the North Carter Trail.
All of my concerns about water on the trail were pretty lame. There were about five large brook crossings along this section and I was able to easily filter a couple of liters of water to refill my supply. I made it to the North Carter Trail in the late morning and headed up towards Carter Moriah. The North Carter Trail gains about 1200 feet in 1.2 miles. This ratio (100 feet up per tenth of a mile) usually signals to me a tough climb. This trail is so even the entire way that I did not find this to be the case. It was a rather pleasant ramble up to the ridge.
Shortly after hitting the Carter Moriah Trail I ran into a couple of northbound section hikers who were having lunch. These would be the only people I saw all day until I got to the hut. Middle Carter was reached quickly as the mist turned to rain and the wind whipped up. All the elements of hypothermia were in place and being well aware of this I pretty much kept moving for the rest of the day as I knew a chill would set in quickly if I stopped for long in the wind. I made it over to the second wooded summit in short order and did not even stop as I descended down to Zeta Pass. Zeta is a very cool spot and I can see why they do not allow camping near there…everyone would be there! I moved on towards Carter Dome and I decided to bypass Hight as there were no views of any sort on this day. The hike up to the dome was nice and gradual and this became my first repeat peak! The descent on slick rocks to the hut was rather harrowing. I slipped and fell once on the steep section and a second time in between the two Carter Lakes. No major injuries…just some loud swearing. Made it to the hut at 2:30 PM and my cousin and his daughter arrived smiling in the rain about twenty minutes later. I now have 39/48 done...nine to go.
On Thursday morning, contrary to the weatherman’s reports, the weather was beautiful. After I finished crying about my sore quads I decided to accompany Richard and Anna up to Carter Dome (now my first three-peat, well technically going up from the hut does not count…). We stopped at the viewpoint for a couple of minutes and noticed the snow is still in Tuckerman’s and is still on Jefferson. There was also a pretty cool snake sunning itself on the rocks. It was very cool to watch a seven year old summit her first mountain, and even more impressive to watch her summit a rather large 4k with a rather steep climb. She did not even breaks a sweat…hanging around with a triathlete dad has its benefits!
After a brief break at the summit and the viewpoint on the north end we headed north on the Carter Moriah Trail. We decided that the extra distance and steeper descent would make Mount Hight a poor decision for Anna, so we simply head down the Carter Dome Trail to 19 Mile Brook and out.
These two days were a lot of fun, including the rain. Anna already wants to hike again and we will get her out soon.
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