IQuest
New member
Having the week off from work I had ample time to squeeze in another hike, this time midweek. I also had the luxury of choosing the best weather day. For various reasons I decided on the Wildcats and Carter Dome. This would not be the standard approach from 19 Mile Brook Tr or Pinkham Notch. This would be a 17 mile loop from the south, alowing me to check out the Rainbow Tr on the return.
Marlie and I arrived at the Bog Brook TH at the end of Carter Notch Rd, and had boots/paws on trail at 6:30am. We were soon on the Wildcat River Tr and I was delighted to see that there were newer bog bridges and some flagging showing future trail work. This approach to Carter Notch is much better IMO than 19MB, at least in summer. We passed the Carter Notch Hut at 8:30, meeting our first person of the day, a Croo member. He asked if I was just out for the day and was impressed with my plan. He also offered me water although the mornings breakfast smelled much better.
We then passed by the lakes and took a quick snack break at the Wildcat Ridge Tr, then began the climb. The .7 miles went better than expected as the trail is similar to a long rock staircase. All of the previous blowdowns have been removed and the trail has been opened up quite nicely. We stopped at A Peak first then headed over to D Peak. Along the way I met three lightly equipped hikers thinking about going all of the way to Moriah and 2 nice ladies with a clipboard observing birds. After some pics and another snack we headed back over to A Peak. This time there were two groups of trail workers, about 9 people total, ditching and repairing bog bridges. I told them to keep up the good work and passed quickly. I had made it back to A Peak in about 2 hours and standing back at the outlook I could see Carter Dome and the steep climb that awaited me. :twisted:
Leaving A Peak I met another hiker on the way up. He had just come from Carter Dome. I guess visiting both sides of the notch was the thing to do that day. Back near the hut I contemplated on filling up my water or not. I had my filter so if I ran out later it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I decided to skip on the fill up and save on the extra weight for the climb. As many of you know the climb up from Carter Notch along The Carter-Moriah Tr is steep. Even more so after 10 miles and 4000' of elev+. I swear that it is further than .3 miles to the view. This climb seemed to take forever but after that the grade began to lessen and it almost felt easy (relatively speaking). At 12:25pm we were sitting atop of Carter Dome in complete solitude. I love midweek hiking!
From here the red marker could come out as all but the last .7 miles would be new for me. We began the descent of the Rainbow Tr. This trail is lightly used but easy to follow from the summit.
One of the main reason I was interested in this trail was to see the views from the southern shoulder of Carter Dome and they did not disappoint.
Eventually we dropped down into some beautiful birch glades before joining the Wild River Tr and eventually following the entire length of the Bog Brook Tr out.
We returned to my truck at 3:05pm and while the bugs were not noticeable all day, we were swarmed by mosquitoes at the parking lot. :?
Thanks for reading, now it's back to digging post holes for me. Not the kind that we see on the trail either.
NETC: http://www.newenglandtrailconditions.com/nh/viewreport.php?entryid=13094
Marlie and I arrived at the Bog Brook TH at the end of Carter Notch Rd, and had boots/paws on trail at 6:30am. We were soon on the Wildcat River Tr and I was delighted to see that there were newer bog bridges and some flagging showing future trail work. This approach to Carter Notch is much better IMO than 19MB, at least in summer. We passed the Carter Notch Hut at 8:30, meeting our first person of the day, a Croo member. He asked if I was just out for the day and was impressed with my plan. He also offered me water although the mornings breakfast smelled much better.
We then passed by the lakes and took a quick snack break at the Wildcat Ridge Tr, then began the climb. The .7 miles went better than expected as the trail is similar to a long rock staircase. All of the previous blowdowns have been removed and the trail has been opened up quite nicely. We stopped at A Peak first then headed over to D Peak. Along the way I met three lightly equipped hikers thinking about going all of the way to Moriah and 2 nice ladies with a clipboard observing birds. After some pics and another snack we headed back over to A Peak. This time there were two groups of trail workers, about 9 people total, ditching and repairing bog bridges. I told them to keep up the good work and passed quickly. I had made it back to A Peak in about 2 hours and standing back at the outlook I could see Carter Dome and the steep climb that awaited me. :twisted:
Leaving A Peak I met another hiker on the way up. He had just come from Carter Dome. I guess visiting both sides of the notch was the thing to do that day. Back near the hut I contemplated on filling up my water or not. I had my filter so if I ran out later it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I decided to skip on the fill up and save on the extra weight for the climb. As many of you know the climb up from Carter Notch along The Carter-Moriah Tr is steep. Even more so after 10 miles and 4000' of elev+. I swear that it is further than .3 miles to the view. This climb seemed to take forever but after that the grade began to lessen and it almost felt easy (relatively speaking). At 12:25pm we were sitting atop of Carter Dome in complete solitude. I love midweek hiking!
From here the red marker could come out as all but the last .7 miles would be new for me. We began the descent of the Rainbow Tr. This trail is lightly used but easy to follow from the summit.
One of the main reason I was interested in this trail was to see the views from the southern shoulder of Carter Dome and they did not disappoint.
Eventually we dropped down into some beautiful birch glades before joining the Wild River Tr and eventually following the entire length of the Bog Brook Tr out.
We returned to my truck at 3:05pm and while the bugs were not noticeable all day, we were swarmed by mosquitoes at the parking lot. :?
Thanks for reading, now it's back to digging post holes for me.
Not the kind that we see on the trail either.NETC: http://www.newenglandtrailconditions.com/nh/viewreport.php?entryid=13094
