SteveHiker
New member
My friends Rich and Sue, whom I haven't hiked with in quite some time contacted me earlier in the week about my weekend plans. Ever since two years ago when I mentioned the NH48 list to Sue in passing, she's been on a mission to work on it. She calls it her "mid-life crisis". Rich just enjoys hiking and could care less if he finishes a list or not. I offered the suggestion of trying to hit all 3 Carters in one day, as it's something I've been meaning to attempt for some time. Somehow I managed to add up the mileage on the map and arrive at a figure that was lower than reality, so they agreed to go. Still not sure what I did wrong, but it was defintely longer.
Starting out from Nineteen Mile Brook trail, it was a lot chillier than it has been for most of the summer. I'm pretty sure it's August, but it felt like October. We warmed up quickly enough once we got moving. The first section is relatively easy and we made good time. As we reached the junction with the Carter Dome trail, we caught up with an AMC group. They let us pass and we continued to the Carter Notch Hut for a break. The views up Carter Dome, up the Wildcats and across the lake were spectacular. I wandered around a little looking for the outhouse, but so did a few other people so I don't feel so bad.
We doubled back and began the climb up the Carter-Moriah trail. I've only ever been down this before, I can safely say I much prefer that direction. I'm not sure why but I really sucked wind on this. It seemed very similar to the area above the gem pool last week, but I had way more trouble on this. We reached the summit to find a very strong cold wind and the sun behind the clouds. I reached in my pack and produced my bottle of ice-cold dilute gatorade. Not quite what I needed. Fingers getting cold, we moved on taking the detour to Hight. The wind increased, and we discussed bailing on our 3-bagger and heading down after Hight. The view from Hight was great, but so was the wind and we only stayed for 10 minutes at most. Disappointing, but more reason to return someday.
We headed down to Zeta Pass. About half-way down we met up with a couple of younger guys heading up. They had come from South Carter and said it was less windy over there. Ok, so maybe we will go on. Then it happened. In between the junction with the Hight trail and the Zeta Pass junction, I twisted my ankle badly. I've rolled ankles many times, but this felt much worse. I even fell down. I was still able to walk but it hurt like hell. I hobbled down to the benches at Zeta Pass and we took a break. Soon enough, the AMC group caught up with us again. Discussing our plans and noting the time (it was before 2 o'clock) we decided to continue over the other Carters, despite the AMC leader's declaration that it was "very ambitous". After ten minutes or so, the ankle felt better and off we went, figuring we could always come back down South Carter if we had to. Once we got past that it would be the point of no return.
The climb up South Carter is steep in places too. Again, I had only ever come down this way. I had an easier time than going up the Dome, and it was much less windy. Rich and Sue were less than impressed with the summit, and I'd have to agree. We shoved off towards Middle Carter. Down the back side of South Carter, we met a ranger who was headed down to the pass. On the back of his pack was a 46er patch(!?!). About halfway to the summit of Middle Carter, it happened again. Not as serious this time, but the same ankle. I limped up to the summit where a couple guys out for a long backpack to Pinkham Notch were hanging out. As we looked ahead, Rich was convinced we were going over North Carter as well, not just the North Carter trail. He was also having an issue with my mileage calculations. "Seems like we've already gone that far". When we got to the North Carter junction, I pointed out that the AMC and FS have mileage issues too. The sign in Zeta Pass says "North Carter Trail 2.2". At this junction, "Zeta Pass 2.7". Must have missed the wormhole.
Originally, I wanted to go over the northern half of the Imp trail. Two reasons: first I had already been up the southern leg and it's kinda dull, secondly I wanted to see Imp Face. As we reached the junction, dark clouds appeared overhead and it started to sprinkle. So we decided to head down the southern leg, reasoning that if we could find the herd path to Joe Dodge's we could save a lot of time in the rain, and if not, at least it'd be less road walk. 5 minutes later the sun came back out, but no one felt like backtracking. I kept an eye out for a herd path most of the way down. Eventually we reached a small brook. Since it'd been about an hour and twenty minutes since we left the last junction, I broke out the map to see if this stream was on it. It wasn't, and we weren't sure exactly how much further it was (turned out to be at most 15 minutes). Just after the stream we came across an old road overgrown with grass. I reasoned this must be what we were looking for, but was outvoted 2-1 due to the uncertainity. (or maybe it was the 1/2 mile attempt we made to bypass some stream crossings on the Rocky Branch trail that they remembered). I guess they won't follow me off-trail any more. As we walked down Route 16, the clouds were retaking their positions on the Presidentials and the thought of a warm dinner propelled us back to the car.
this morning as I write this, my left ankle is twice the size of my right.
Starting out from Nineteen Mile Brook trail, it was a lot chillier than it has been for most of the summer. I'm pretty sure it's August, but it felt like October. We warmed up quickly enough once we got moving. The first section is relatively easy and we made good time. As we reached the junction with the Carter Dome trail, we caught up with an AMC group. They let us pass and we continued to the Carter Notch Hut for a break. The views up Carter Dome, up the Wildcats and across the lake were spectacular. I wandered around a little looking for the outhouse, but so did a few other people so I don't feel so bad.
We doubled back and began the climb up the Carter-Moriah trail. I've only ever been down this before, I can safely say I much prefer that direction. I'm not sure why but I really sucked wind on this. It seemed very similar to the area above the gem pool last week, but I had way more trouble on this. We reached the summit to find a very strong cold wind and the sun behind the clouds. I reached in my pack and produced my bottle of ice-cold dilute gatorade. Not quite what I needed. Fingers getting cold, we moved on taking the detour to Hight. The wind increased, and we discussed bailing on our 3-bagger and heading down after Hight. The view from Hight was great, but so was the wind and we only stayed for 10 minutes at most. Disappointing, but more reason to return someday.
We headed down to Zeta Pass. About half-way down we met up with a couple of younger guys heading up. They had come from South Carter and said it was less windy over there. Ok, so maybe we will go on. Then it happened. In between the junction with the Hight trail and the Zeta Pass junction, I twisted my ankle badly. I've rolled ankles many times, but this felt much worse. I even fell down. I was still able to walk but it hurt like hell. I hobbled down to the benches at Zeta Pass and we took a break. Soon enough, the AMC group caught up with us again. Discussing our plans and noting the time (it was before 2 o'clock) we decided to continue over the other Carters, despite the AMC leader's declaration that it was "very ambitous". After ten minutes or so, the ankle felt better and off we went, figuring we could always come back down South Carter if we had to. Once we got past that it would be the point of no return.
The climb up South Carter is steep in places too. Again, I had only ever come down this way. I had an easier time than going up the Dome, and it was much less windy. Rich and Sue were less than impressed with the summit, and I'd have to agree. We shoved off towards Middle Carter. Down the back side of South Carter, we met a ranger who was headed down to the pass. On the back of his pack was a 46er patch(!?!). About halfway to the summit of Middle Carter, it happened again. Not as serious this time, but the same ankle. I limped up to the summit where a couple guys out for a long backpack to Pinkham Notch were hanging out. As we looked ahead, Rich was convinced we were going over North Carter as well, not just the North Carter trail. He was also having an issue with my mileage calculations. "Seems like we've already gone that far". When we got to the North Carter junction, I pointed out that the AMC and FS have mileage issues too. The sign in Zeta Pass says "North Carter Trail 2.2". At this junction, "Zeta Pass 2.7". Must have missed the wormhole.
Originally, I wanted to go over the northern half of the Imp trail. Two reasons: first I had already been up the southern leg and it's kinda dull, secondly I wanted to see Imp Face. As we reached the junction, dark clouds appeared overhead and it started to sprinkle. So we decided to head down the southern leg, reasoning that if we could find the herd path to Joe Dodge's we could save a lot of time in the rain, and if not, at least it'd be less road walk. 5 minutes later the sun came back out, but no one felt like backtracking. I kept an eye out for a herd path most of the way down. Eventually we reached a small brook. Since it'd been about an hour and twenty minutes since we left the last junction, I broke out the map to see if this stream was on it. It wasn't, and we weren't sure exactly how much further it was (turned out to be at most 15 minutes). Just after the stream we came across an old road overgrown with grass. I reasoned this must be what we were looking for, but was outvoted 2-1 due to the uncertainity. (or maybe it was the 1/2 mile attempt we made to bypass some stream crossings on the Rocky Branch trail that they remembered). I guess they won't follow me off-trail any more. As we walked down Route 16, the clouds were retaking their positions on the Presidentials and the thought of a warm dinner propelled us back to the car.
this morning as I write this, my left ankle is twice the size of my right.
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Hope your ankle feels better. Take it easy!
