FreightTrain
New member
The hike started friday night for me. The approach was along the AT and rattle river trail. The 1.7 mile hike in to the shelter was relatively easy, but I remembered why I don't like summer hiking. The heat, humidity and bugs were with me the whole way. I also remembered what I like about summer hiking. You could hike in daylight past 8:30pm. I met up with Mike and Eric at the shelter. There were 3 others in the shelter and a through hiker set up nearby. At some point during the night a storm dumped a bunch of rain but it had passed by morning. We started up the trail a little later than planned. It was very humid and foggy. Although it wasn't raining, I got just as soaked as if it was raining. The first half of the 2.6 mile trail was easy. The steep section, heat and blowdowns slowed our progess a little. A couple of the blowdowns were pretty severe. The cat walks at the kenduskeag trail junction made a good place to rest and plan the rest of the day. We decided to summit shelbourne moriah first. The sun tried to come out a couple times along the way but it didn't last long. The summit was a bit difficult to determine since visibility was about 150 feet. We just kept pushing on until we came upon a large cairn. The sun broke again long enough to confirm our spot on the summit. After a short snack we headed back towards moriah. The hike over the side of middle moriah was easy but the last section before the carter moriah junction was a bit steep. The sum welcomed me on moriah and it was good to rest for an extended period. The small summit was crowded but cozy. I didn't get to talk too much with the larger group, but did talk with hiker Ray. The bugs started make the summit less desireable, so a cigar was lit in defense. The day turned out OK, but it was time to head back to the shelter. I think it took about 2.5 hours to get back to the shelter from moriah. We over indulged on burritos and called it a night. Eric and I had the whole shelter to ourself. Sunday morning left a 25 minute hike down to the car. Not a bad weekend since many thought it would be a washout. 
