Towards the end of last week it became clear that there would be a lot of rain in the southern parts of NH, much less further north. A friend and I are redlining the AT in NH, and we had the whole section from Rt 2 to the Maine border to do. Since I can no longer carry a full backpack (bad back) this meant two day hikes. Just the ticket for a weekend with rain in our usual hiking area but better weather up north!
The original plan was to go up the Centennial Trail and follow the AT to Dream Lake on Saturday descending by the Peabody Brook Trail, then on Sunday to go back up the Peabody Brook Trail, continue north along the AT to Carlo Col, and desend by the Carlo Col Trail. Ambitious for so early in the season (neither of us is in great shape yet), but probably doable.
My friend drove up on Friday, and we left Thornton at about 7 AM on Saturday in the rain. In Gorham we dropped our stuff at the Mt. Madison Motel, changed into hiking clothes, and did some planning. I do not recall exactly how we reached that decision, but we decided to do a slightly longer trip, going up the Austin Brook Trail, and following the AT south to the Rattle River parking lot. The WMG says nothing about the crossing of Austin Brook.
Saturday
After spotting a car at the Rattle River trailhead we parked on North Road opposite the start of the trail, just after the road crossed Austin Brook, which was raging. After about a mile the trail reached the brook crossing, and we had one look at it and decided it was uncrossable. A careful look at the map suggested no solution: bushwhacing south of the brook would allow us to cross the un-named tributary, rather than the main brook, but the water level was so high that we decided not to waste any time exploring that option. We also decided that there was no reason to expect Peabody Brook to be any easier to cross, so we opted for an improvised Plan B; go to Randolph and hike Mt. Crescent. We went up the Mt. Crescent Trail, then followed the Crescent Ridge Trail to Carlton Col, and descended by the Carlton Col Trail (looking at the map we decided not to go over Mt. Randolph, since all the trails we might have used would cross Carlton Brook). It was a wet hike; the rain had stopped but the ground was soaked, and there were many places where the trail had become a stream. Alas, no views, but still an enjoyable hike, salvaging what had appeared to be a wasted day.
That evening we did some bad planning
To avoid stream crossings we decided to do an out and back along the AT, from the Rattle Trail parking area to Dream Lake and back, about 18 miles and 5,400 feet of elevation gain, including 1,800 on the return trip Of course we said that we would turn around whenever we felt it was time to do so, but the plan was clearly to go to Dream Lake. What made us think we could do so at our current level of fitness is a mystery to both of us.
Sunday
We had set the alarm to 5 AM, and made breakfast in our room (the motel has fridge, microwave and coffee maker), and set out at 6:30 in light rain. We spotted a car at the Centennial Trail trailhead (no point in doing the road walk twice!!) and drove to the Rattle River trailhead. By the time we got out of the car and started hiking (6:50 AM) the rain had stopped completely for the day. The road walk was an easy start to the day, and soon we were going up the Centennial Trail. It was, as we fully expected after the previous day's hike, very wet. Some steep sections, in spite of only climbing 1,800 feet over three miles. Shortly before the junction with the Mahoosuc Trail we climbed up some ledges, they were not too difficult but we were very careful because they were (surprise!!) very wet. I made a mental note that we should definitely plan to reach them, on the way down, before dark (I was already envisioning an exit by headlamp).
Once we reached the Mahoosuc Trail we shifted from straight uphill to a long ridge walk, with both big ups and downs (down from Mt. Hayes, up Cascade Mountain, down to Trident Col, up to Wocket Ledge) and many smaller bumps. In addition trail conditions deteriorated considerably. We ran into an incredible number of blowdowns. While many were easy to deal with, others required more effort, and all in all they added quite a bit to the difficulty of the trip. In addition let me note that there are areas of the trail that have not been brushed out in a long time.
AMC Booktime to Dream Lake was 6:40, so we should have arrived there around 1:30 PM. We were not too far behind, at 2 PM we were almost there (about 0.3 miles short by my GPSr). But I was getting very tired, and was worrying about reaching the ledges before dark. While the distance to Dream Lake was trivial, it would require us to go down about 200 feet, which we would have to climb up on the way back. Some of the climbs ahead of us were steep, including half of the 900 or so feet from Trident Col to the summit of Cascade Mountain. So we stopped, had our second lunch (first was at Trident Col) and started the long journey back.
The first 2.5 miles, to Trident Col, were quite easy, and I recovered a bit. The first half of the climb up Cascade Mountain was brutally steep, but we managed to do quite well on adrenalin. The second 400 or so vertical feet were much less steep, but with the adrenalin gone were no easier. The final gentle climb up Mt. Hayes was the low point of the trip. The grades were, by any definition, gentle, but I was running on empty and was unhappy even on those gentle grades. But when you have no choice but to go on, you do.
We reached the ledges that had worried me with lots of light, and negotiated them very carefully, as they were still wet, and we were very tired. Beyond that it was just a long slog, with a tiny bump making us go uphill one last time. We reached the car a little before 8 PM, for a 13 hour trip (book time is 11:35). We happily changed out of our wet boots and socks, retrieved the other car at the Rattle River trailhead, and headed to Mr. Pizza for a diet-free meal (in my case a huge serving of pasta with sausage and garlic bread). When I reached home in Thornton I was faced with one last hike: up the fourteen steps from the parking lot to my unit. That was perhaps the hardest part of the entire trip!
On our return trip the clouds had lifted considerably, and tired though we were we admired the excellent views of the Moriahs and Madison, with Gorham nestled in the valley and Pine Hill standing as a toy mountain between its taller nieghbors. Definitely a trip to be repeated in optimal weather!
In spite of being bone tired I was delighted with the trip. My biggest trips so far this spring have been twelve milers with around 3,000 feet of elevation gain. On Sunday I was able to hike almost 18 miles, with 5,200 feet of elevation gain. Almost the distance of a minimal (Appalachia to Pierce) Presidential Traverse, though with only about 60% of the elevation gain.
Two questions arise:
How was I able to complete the trip, given that I was already tired when we decided to turn around? As I wrote above, when you have no choice you just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Miriam Underhill, in her wonderful book Give me the Hills writes on this subject:
Neither of us is competitive, and neither of us is very goal oriented. But by some mysterious quirk neither of us had the common sense to say: "This is ridiculous, let's plan something more doable". My best guess is that we both saw that as a way to jump-start our spring training, but your guess is as good as mine
The original plan was to go up the Centennial Trail and follow the AT to Dream Lake on Saturday descending by the Peabody Brook Trail, then on Sunday to go back up the Peabody Brook Trail, continue north along the AT to Carlo Col, and desend by the Carlo Col Trail. Ambitious for so early in the season (neither of us is in great shape yet), but probably doable.
My friend drove up on Friday, and we left Thornton at about 7 AM on Saturday in the rain. In Gorham we dropped our stuff at the Mt. Madison Motel, changed into hiking clothes, and did some planning. I do not recall exactly how we reached that decision, but we decided to do a slightly longer trip, going up the Austin Brook Trail, and following the AT south to the Rattle River parking lot. The WMG says nothing about the crossing of Austin Brook.
Saturday
After spotting a car at the Rattle River trailhead we parked on North Road opposite the start of the trail, just after the road crossed Austin Brook, which was raging. After about a mile the trail reached the brook crossing, and we had one look at it and decided it was uncrossable. A careful look at the map suggested no solution: bushwhacing south of the brook would allow us to cross the un-named tributary, rather than the main brook, but the water level was so high that we decided not to waste any time exploring that option. We also decided that there was no reason to expect Peabody Brook to be any easier to cross, so we opted for an improvised Plan B; go to Randolph and hike Mt. Crescent. We went up the Mt. Crescent Trail, then followed the Crescent Ridge Trail to Carlton Col, and descended by the Carlton Col Trail (looking at the map we decided not to go over Mt. Randolph, since all the trails we might have used would cross Carlton Brook). It was a wet hike; the rain had stopped but the ground was soaked, and there were many places where the trail had become a stream. Alas, no views, but still an enjoyable hike, salvaging what had appeared to be a wasted day.
That evening we did some bad planning
To avoid stream crossings we decided to do an out and back along the AT, from the Rattle Trail parking area to Dream Lake and back, about 18 miles and 5,400 feet of elevation gain, including 1,800 on the return trip Of course we said that we would turn around whenever we felt it was time to do so, but the plan was clearly to go to Dream Lake. What made us think we could do so at our current level of fitness is a mystery to both of us.Sunday
We had set the alarm to 5 AM, and made breakfast in our room (the motel has fridge, microwave and coffee maker), and set out at 6:30 in light rain. We spotted a car at the Centennial Trail trailhead (no point in doing the road walk twice!!) and drove to the Rattle River trailhead. By the time we got out of the car and started hiking (6:50 AM) the rain had stopped completely for the day. The road walk was an easy start to the day, and soon we were going up the Centennial Trail. It was, as we fully expected after the previous day's hike, very wet. Some steep sections, in spite of only climbing 1,800 feet over three miles. Shortly before the junction with the Mahoosuc Trail we climbed up some ledges, they were not too difficult but we were very careful because they were (surprise!!) very wet. I made a mental note that we should definitely plan to reach them, on the way down, before dark (I was already envisioning an exit by headlamp).
Once we reached the Mahoosuc Trail we shifted from straight uphill to a long ridge walk, with both big ups and downs (down from Mt. Hayes, up Cascade Mountain, down to Trident Col, up to Wocket Ledge) and many smaller bumps. In addition trail conditions deteriorated considerably. We ran into an incredible number of blowdowns. While many were easy to deal with, others required more effort, and all in all they added quite a bit to the difficulty of the trip. In addition let me note that there are areas of the trail that have not been brushed out in a long time.
AMC Booktime to Dream Lake was 6:40, so we should have arrived there around 1:30 PM. We were not too far behind, at 2 PM we were almost there (about 0.3 miles short by my GPSr). But I was getting very tired, and was worrying about reaching the ledges before dark. While the distance to Dream Lake was trivial, it would require us to go down about 200 feet, which we would have to climb up on the way back. Some of the climbs ahead of us were steep, including half of the 900 or so feet from Trident Col to the summit of Cascade Mountain. So we stopped, had our second lunch (first was at Trident Col) and started the long journey back.
The first 2.5 miles, to Trident Col, were quite easy, and I recovered a bit. The first half of the climb up Cascade Mountain was brutally steep, but we managed to do quite well on adrenalin. The second 400 or so vertical feet were much less steep, but with the adrenalin gone were no easier. The final gentle climb up Mt. Hayes was the low point of the trip. The grades were, by any definition, gentle, but I was running on empty and was unhappy even on those gentle grades. But when you have no choice but to go on, you do.
We reached the ledges that had worried me with lots of light, and negotiated them very carefully, as they were still wet, and we were very tired. Beyond that it was just a long slog, with a tiny bump making us go uphill one last time. We reached the car a little before 8 PM, for a 13 hour trip (book time is 11:35). We happily changed out of our wet boots and socks, retrieved the other car at the Rattle River trailhead, and headed to Mr. Pizza for a diet-free meal (in my case a huge serving of pasta with sausage and garlic bread). When I reached home in Thornton I was faced with one last hike: up the fourteen steps from the parking lot to my unit. That was perhaps the hardest part of the entire trip!
On our return trip the clouds had lifted considerably, and tired though we were we admired the excellent views of the Moriahs and Madison, with Gorham nestled in the valley and Pine Hill standing as a toy mountain between its taller nieghbors. Definitely a trip to be repeated in optimal weather!
In spite of being bone tired I was delighted with the trip. My biggest trips so far this spring have been twelve milers with around 3,000 feet of elevation gain. On Sunday I was able to hike almost 18 miles, with 5,200 feet of elevation gain. Almost the distance of a minimal (Appalachia to Pierce) Presidential Traverse, though with only about 60% of the elevation gain.
Two questions arise:
How was I able to complete the trip, given that I was already tired when we decided to turn around? As I wrote above, when you have no choice you just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Miriam Underhill, in her wonderful book Give me the Hills writes on this subject:
A more interesting question is why two experienced hikers, who know their limits all too well, embarked on this trip. I was the guilty party in the planning, though my companion never complained. The original plan called for a three mile hike up the Centennial Trail, then six miles along the Mahoosuc Trail, then a three mile descent by the Peabody Brook Trail, for a total of about twelve miles and 3,600 feet. With the streams uncrossable I said: What the heck, why don't we do an out and back? We both had the numbers in our heads; we would be replacing a three mile descent by a six mile ridge walk followed by a three mile descent, adding six miles and whatever elevation gain was involved. A quick look at the WMG told us that we would be adding 1,800 feet. Clearly way more than we could comfortably do.
Neither of us is competitive, and neither of us is very goal oriented. But by some mysterious quirk neither of us had the common sense to say: "This is ridiculous, let's plan something more doable". My best guess is that we both saw that as a way to jump-start our spring training, but your guess is as good as mine
![Grand Teton Day Hikes and National Park Map [Map Pack Bundle] (National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41DB0jvRnbL._SL500_.jpg)
![Yellowstone National Park [Map Pack Bundle] (National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51kGuJ72qjL._SL500_.jpg)
