Macomb, Carson, and Hough - March 13

[nundagao]

Despite an uncertain forecast, aside from a few worrisome drops of frozen precip' between the gate and the trailhead the day stayed dry, though very windy (Going up the open rocks on Carson gusts were strong enough to make walking difficult.) The red trail from the summer parking lot to Slide Brook Lean-to was hardpacked and barebootable but lumpy. At the beginning of the herd path we strapped on crampons, thinking we'd need them for the slide anyhow, but soon the snow became too soft and unperdictable so we switched to snowshoes. The broken path headed toward Slide Brook lower down than the summer herd path, with plenty of intruders and head-hunters as well as a few good legtraps, but was easy to follow all the way to the slide. The slide was mostly frozen snow with not much true ice, tho' as the going got steeper the snow got harder, and the crampons in our packs might better have been on our feet, but we all had MSRs and they served admirably. Once above the slide it was a cakewalk. From Macomb to Carson, and Carson to Hough it was all hardpack and previous tracks kept to the standard route nearly all the way. Beween the last col and the summit of Hough there were signs of someone having bushwhacked up from the Boquet (or gone down that way) so on our descent we had to take care to follow our own tracks not theirs. The Lillian Brook herd path was OK but not pretty. The upper reaches were scrubby with plenty of snow-covered tangled branches and deadfalls. The last quarter mile, on the flats before the jct with the red trail, was the most difficult of all. By then the snow had gotten soft and mushy so we were postholing a lot despite snowshoes and the alders did their best to further slow us down. Nevertheless, at the end of hike we were happily surprised by our time. We'd left the car at 6:20 got back at 4:10, so we did the whole loop in under 10 hours.