KPMMBM
Member
I joined up with an AMC Boston group hike for Mt Moriah. We all met at the trail head for the Carter Moriah trail in Gorham off Bangor Street. A few of the group had come up the night before and stayed in the area and some had driven up from Boston area leaving around 4am. My 5:30 am start from Maine seemed much better when I think about starting at 4:00am. We spotted a few cars there and drove over to the trail head for Stony Brook trail off Rte 16.
After the formal introductions and few ground rules, we headed off. A minute or so into the hike we passed a rusty old jalopy just off the trail. Someone made note of the fact that this vehicle did not have a WMNF sticker displayed on the window, maybe we weren't in the WMNF at this point?
In the first mile or so there are two water crossings, both of which were easily crossed over the exposed rocks. One member of our group did slip on a wet rock and landed in an awkward position and soon after was having some back pain and had to turn around and head out accompanied by one of the co leaders. The rest of us continued on and eventually passed the final water crossing which was also easily crossed. Up to this point there was a trace amount of snow on the trees and ground.
At about 2600 feet the snow had become more noticeable, probably an inch over everything and in some areas up to 2 inches. We made it to the junction of Carter Moriah trail and headed down the AT towards the summit of Moriah. We passed a few short sections of thin ice but we all were still bare-booting. Just before the summit of Moriah, we stopped for an extended snack break as the views were excellent in most directions. A short time later we were at the junction of Carter Moriah and Kenduskeag trails. At this point there is a short steep hand over hand scramble to get to the summit spur. We spent a half hour or so on the summit having lunch and enjoying the views. It was probably in the low 30s maybe high 20s on the summit with not much wind.
After this break we began our descent and about 15 minutes into it, we decided to put on some traction. There was a variety of microspikes and stabilicers and everyone seem to be more sure footed on some of the icy sections we encountered. Most left the traction on for the next mile and a half. This section probably could have been bare booted with extreme caution but much better safe than sorry.
We finished up back at the trailhead off Rte 2 in Gorham just as the sun was going down. This was an enjoyable hike with all sorts of conditions and temperatures. The loop was 9.7 miles with 3426 feet of elevation gain and we took 8 hours and 10 minutes to complete. We saw very few other hikers today, i think just one who went up and back down Stony Brook Trail.
After the formal introductions and few ground rules, we headed off. A minute or so into the hike we passed a rusty old jalopy just off the trail. Someone made note of the fact that this vehicle did not have a WMNF sticker displayed on the window, maybe we weren't in the WMNF at this point?
In the first mile or so there are two water crossings, both of which were easily crossed over the exposed rocks. One member of our group did slip on a wet rock and landed in an awkward position and soon after was having some back pain and had to turn around and head out accompanied by one of the co leaders. The rest of us continued on and eventually passed the final water crossing which was also easily crossed. Up to this point there was a trace amount of snow on the trees and ground.
At about 2600 feet the snow had become more noticeable, probably an inch over everything and in some areas up to 2 inches. We made it to the junction of Carter Moriah trail and headed down the AT towards the summit of Moriah. We passed a few short sections of thin ice but we all were still bare-booting. Just before the summit of Moriah, we stopped for an extended snack break as the views were excellent in most directions. A short time later we were at the junction of Carter Moriah and Kenduskeag trails. At this point there is a short steep hand over hand scramble to get to the summit spur. We spent a half hour or so on the summit having lunch and enjoying the views. It was probably in the low 30s maybe high 20s on the summit with not much wind.
After this break we began our descent and about 15 minutes into it, we decided to put on some traction. There was a variety of microspikes and stabilicers and everyone seem to be more sure footed on some of the icy sections we encountered. Most left the traction on for the next mile and a half. This section probably could have been bare booted with extreme caution but much better safe than sorry.
We finished up back at the trailhead off Rte 2 in Gorham just as the sun was going down. This was an enjoyable hike with all sorts of conditions and temperatures. The loop was 9.7 miles with 3426 feet of elevation gain and we took 8 hours and 10 minutes to complete. We saw very few other hikers today, i think just one who went up and back down Stony Brook Trail.
