I'd originally wanted to sign up for West Bond. My aunt, who is just getting into hiking, wanted to come along. She is not yet ready for an overnighter, and nor a 16 mile day. Scratch West Bond. Her father, my grandfather, used to deer hunt on Carter Dome way back in the day. My grandfather and aunt see each other daily, so I figured that if we did the Dome he may be interested in hearing about it. Also, my daughter had yet to hike the white blazes from the Dome to the hut. This was our (me and the kiddos) 4th Flags hike, but the first where we brought the flag. We brought one of the kids wall flags up on our previous hikes as a "just in case" flag. I ordered a 6X10 nylon (Light) flag off Ebay for $16 bucks after shipping. Our pole was constructed out of 3/4" conduit.
The original plan was to meet at the parking lot aprox 7 and begin hiking by 7:30. Starting this early would give us plenty of time in case my aunt had a difficult time. At the last minute, she had to bail. One of my sons former teammates, his father, and two of his fathers friends+son did come along, and they were in good shape. Three of them did the hike last year with us on N.Twin, so I knew there wouldnt be a problem. The original plan was to hike up the Carter Dome Trail from 19Mile Brook. Doing the math in my head, this would put us at the summit far to early, so we decided to hike to the hut, kill an hour there exploring around, than take the Carter-Moriah Trail to the summit. This worked exactly as planned. The others in our group had never been to the Notch, so they were in awe.
We also spent apox 1/2 at the Ramparts, which was fun for all of us.
At the hut, the croo was cleaning up, as that was their last day of full service for the year.
It took us just over an hour to hit the summit. I slowed everyone down. Due to this awful cold, it felt like I was hauling up a ball&chain.
We arrived at 11:56, just in time to get the flag assembled.
This was about as nice of a day as one could ask for. The wind was blowing enough to keep the flag up most of the time. Being as hyper as they are, the kids spent the two hours running back and forth. The only time they were quite was during the minute's moment of silence before the flag was lowered.
A well deserved nap
We headed to Hight after the flag was lowered so the others could get some views. They were glad we did.
From there, we descended down the Carter Dome trail back 19Mile Brook.
The trail was in great shape. Only about have of the bridge at apox 1 mile up the trail remains. Some cabled 2"x12"'s have been laid down for the remaining half. Also, a log bridge had been recently built on the 19Mile Brook Trail just after the Carter Dome trail junction. Only a few blowdowns overhung the trail, but all are well overhead. Some may come down this winter though. Well done to all those that helped clean up. One wouldn't even know that the storm had hit.
Video From The Summit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cQ94arqvfE
The original plan was to meet at the parking lot aprox 7 and begin hiking by 7:30. Starting this early would give us plenty of time in case my aunt had a difficult time. At the last minute, she had to bail. One of my sons former teammates, his father, and two of his fathers friends+son did come along, and they were in good shape. Three of them did the hike last year with us on N.Twin, so I knew there wouldnt be a problem. The original plan was to hike up the Carter Dome Trail from 19Mile Brook. Doing the math in my head, this would put us at the summit far to early, so we decided to hike to the hut, kill an hour there exploring around, than take the Carter-Moriah Trail to the summit. This worked exactly as planned. The others in our group had never been to the Notch, so they were in awe.
We also spent apox 1/2 at the Ramparts, which was fun for all of us.
At the hut, the croo was cleaning up, as that was their last day of full service for the year.
It took us just over an hour to hit the summit. I slowed everyone down. Due to this awful cold, it felt like I was hauling up a ball&chain.
We arrived at 11:56, just in time to get the flag assembled.
This was about as nice of a day as one could ask for. The wind was blowing enough to keep the flag up most of the time. Being as hyper as they are, the kids spent the two hours running back and forth. The only time they were quite was during the minute's moment of silence before the flag was lowered.
A well deserved nap
We headed to Hight after the flag was lowered so the others could get some views. They were glad we did.
From there, we descended down the Carter Dome trail back 19Mile Brook.
The trail was in great shape. Only about have of the bridge at apox 1 mile up the trail remains. Some cabled 2"x12"'s have been laid down for the remaining half. Also, a log bridge had been recently built on the 19Mile Brook Trail just after the Carter Dome trail junction. Only a few blowdowns overhung the trail, but all are well overhead. Some may come down this winter though. Well done to all those that helped clean up. One wouldn't even know that the storm had hit.
Video From The Summit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cQ94arqvfE
