hikersinger
Member
Friday-Sunday, March 15-17, 2014
A group of four of us planned a three-day, two-night, leisurely hike over the Carters and Carter Dome. We'd head up Stony Brook to the Imp shelter on Friday for an overnight stay (maybe with some time to include Moriah), then continue from there over the Carters and Carter Dome to the AMC Carter Notch hut for the next night. We'd hike out 19-mile Brook the next day. Easy, right?
Three of us had tried for a similar trek last year, but late starts and tough conditions put a stop to those plans. So the plan this year was to finish the job.
This year, as it turned out, two days earlier a sizable snowstorm dumped 20+ inches of snow on the higher summits. We started out about 12:30pm. The base of Stony Brook had around 8" or so of snow and wasn't broken out, not surprisingly. Breaking out the trail wasn't bad, as we took turns taking the lead. Weather was pleasant enough, with temps in the 20s and partly cloudy skies.
As we got closer to the top of the ridge where the trail intersects with the Carter-Moriah trail, it became obvious the snow accumulation was sizable. Within about 0.2 miles of the intersection, we were breaking well over 20" of snow - very slow going. We even lost trail at one point but did find it again.
It was 5pm at this point, and with about .8 miles left to the shelter, we had to assess options. At the rate we were going, it would likely take 2-3 more hours to get to the shelter, and we'd almost certainly not be able to hike the entire Carter ridge to the hut the next day, in reasonable time. We could either continue on and get to the shelter at or after dark, or hike down and figure out how to salvage the next day.
It's worth noting I was in a similar position a year ago: I hiked Stony Brook to the Imp shelter for the night, and was to meet up with the rest of the group the following day and continue over the Carters to the hut. However, my experience on the ridge between Stony Brook and the shelter was a trying one: while I was alone and did get to the shelter, it took some very tough bushwhacking, without snowshoes, mostly in the dark. We all had snowshoes this year, but we'd have to break trail the entire way, assuming we could even stay on-trail. I had a good idea where the trail was this time, but with the waning daylight hours I know we couldn't be so sure.
All this considered, I suggested we cut our losses and hike down. The hike had become a real chore, and I know we were more interested in a fun time, than a stressful, laborious one. We hiked back to the trailhead, arriving there a couple hours later in near-complete darkness (we'd need headlamps within 15-20 minutes). We drove over to Hiker's Paradise and stayed the night there. It was my first visit there, and I really enjoyed it. Mary Ann (recovering from a broken foot!) was welcoming and the warm bed and pillow really hit the spot.
In the morning, we decided to drive to the 19-mile Brook trailhead and hike directly to the hut. We knew that trail would be broken out, and we could hike up to Carter Dome from the hut after stashing packs. It certainly wouldn't be a full Carter traverse, but this was a good way to salvage the trip given the tough conditions.
Once at the hut, stashed our packs, had some lunch, and two of us headed up the initially steep trail to Carter Dome. A few small groups had been ahead of us but the trail was still pretty soft and not well-packed. Once at the top, we found the trail beyond the summit along the ridge was hardly broken out; good thing we decided not to take that on as originally planned.
At the hut for the night, was a large group from AMC's Boston chapter, along with a few smaller groups, and some singles. We had a fabulous time meeting some new people, including a woman from Lancaster and, separately, a man from New York City, both of whom were celebrating birthdays within a few days, in the backcountry. What a great way to go.
The next day, we enjoyed a leisurely hike out. Took only an hour, 45 minutes; what a joy a packed trail can be. We finished up with a nice lunch at Mr. Pizza; great food, not your normal house of grease by any stretch.
Lessons learned: start earlier (same lesson as last year, I suppose...), and while I already knew it was fine to be OK with a plan B, this time we really lived it.
A group of four of us planned a three-day, two-night, leisurely hike over the Carters and Carter Dome. We'd head up Stony Brook to the Imp shelter on Friday for an overnight stay (maybe with some time to include Moriah), then continue from there over the Carters and Carter Dome to the AMC Carter Notch hut for the next night. We'd hike out 19-mile Brook the next day. Easy, right?
Three of us had tried for a similar trek last year, but late starts and tough conditions put a stop to those plans. So the plan this year was to finish the job.
This year, as it turned out, two days earlier a sizable snowstorm dumped 20+ inches of snow on the higher summits. We started out about 12:30pm. The base of Stony Brook had around 8" or so of snow and wasn't broken out, not surprisingly. Breaking out the trail wasn't bad, as we took turns taking the lead. Weather was pleasant enough, with temps in the 20s and partly cloudy skies.
As we got closer to the top of the ridge where the trail intersects with the Carter-Moriah trail, it became obvious the snow accumulation was sizable. Within about 0.2 miles of the intersection, we were breaking well over 20" of snow - very slow going. We even lost trail at one point but did find it again.
It was 5pm at this point, and with about .8 miles left to the shelter, we had to assess options. At the rate we were going, it would likely take 2-3 more hours to get to the shelter, and we'd almost certainly not be able to hike the entire Carter ridge to the hut the next day, in reasonable time. We could either continue on and get to the shelter at or after dark, or hike down and figure out how to salvage the next day.
It's worth noting I was in a similar position a year ago: I hiked Stony Brook to the Imp shelter for the night, and was to meet up with the rest of the group the following day and continue over the Carters to the hut. However, my experience on the ridge between Stony Brook and the shelter was a trying one: while I was alone and did get to the shelter, it took some very tough bushwhacking, without snowshoes, mostly in the dark. We all had snowshoes this year, but we'd have to break trail the entire way, assuming we could even stay on-trail. I had a good idea where the trail was this time, but with the waning daylight hours I know we couldn't be so sure.
All this considered, I suggested we cut our losses and hike down. The hike had become a real chore, and I know we were more interested in a fun time, than a stressful, laborious one. We hiked back to the trailhead, arriving there a couple hours later in near-complete darkness (we'd need headlamps within 15-20 minutes). We drove over to Hiker's Paradise and stayed the night there. It was my first visit there, and I really enjoyed it. Mary Ann (recovering from a broken foot!) was welcoming and the warm bed and pillow really hit the spot.
In the morning, we decided to drive to the 19-mile Brook trailhead and hike directly to the hut. We knew that trail would be broken out, and we could hike up to Carter Dome from the hut after stashing packs. It certainly wouldn't be a full Carter traverse, but this was a good way to salvage the trip given the tough conditions.
Once at the hut, stashed our packs, had some lunch, and two of us headed up the initially steep trail to Carter Dome. A few small groups had been ahead of us but the trail was still pretty soft and not well-packed. Once at the top, we found the trail beyond the summit along the ridge was hardly broken out; good thing we decided not to take that on as originally planned.
At the hut for the night, was a large group from AMC's Boston chapter, along with a few smaller groups, and some singles. We had a fabulous time meeting some new people, including a woman from Lancaster and, separately, a man from New York City, both of whom were celebrating birthdays within a few days, in the backcountry. What a great way to go.
The next day, we enjoyed a leisurely hike out. Took only an hour, 45 minutes; what a joy a packed trail can be. We finished up with a nice lunch at Mr. Pizza; great food, not your normal house of grease by any stretch.
Lessons learned: start earlier (same lesson as last year, I suppose...), and while I already knew it was fine to be OK with a plan B, this time we really lived it.
