Jeff&Henry
New member
Route: Signal Ridge Trail
Full photo album
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Carrigain is one seriously great mountain -- not many peaks will give you the payoff that Carrigain does. It immediately became one of our favorites.
The initial two mile walk up Sawyer River Road (which is still closed because of Irene) is a drag, but we did it in about 45 minutes, and it warmed us up. I have done this walk in the springtime, and enjoyed that much more because you can see all the remnants of the old town of Livermore. Did you realize there used to be a whole town right here? Easy to miss if you were just driving by.
Check out this great article from the AMC about Livermore: http://www.outdoors.org/publication...andoned-communities-white-mountains-contd.cfm
We were pleased to see the new route of the Signal Ridge Trail, as we'd attempted this hike in the Springtime, and the water levels kept us back. The new sections of trail are getting established, but are still on very "spongy" fresh soil, so it's easy on the feet. The new sections of trail have very slight ups and downs, but overall, you can move fast to the intersection of Carrigain Notch trail, and beyond, to the "meadows".
But then Signal Ridge digs in, and you begin what feels like an endless climb. And you don't get any break until the ridge. We found it to be really tough. But then once you punch out onto the ridge, it's all worthwhile. The views all around will astound you. Gorgeous rock slides, knobs and sumimts in the foreground...and in the distance, a slightly visible - a fire warden tower. Almost there.
It was very neat to see a well near the summit; I lifted the cover and the water looked clean, but we had enough in our packs, and figured the river water down lower was a safer bet. Anyone know if this is safe to pump from?
We climbed the fire warden's tower at about 11:00 AM...Carrigain had taken us about 3 hours 45 minutes. Not a bad time. As well, my Suunto altimeter watch did pretty well -- atop the tower it showed 4747 feet. Pretty close! We had the summit to ourselves for almost 30 minutes and enjoyed some iced tea and bagels before heading down. Looking back to Signal Ridge.
The nice thing about Carrigain is, as soon as you reach the bottom of the climb (and even though you have nearly 4 miles left) you know it's easy and you can put away your poles and enjoy the journey.
And Carrigain was a great one.
Full photo album
JW
Full photo album
-----
Carrigain is one seriously great mountain -- not many peaks will give you the payoff that Carrigain does. It immediately became one of our favorites.
The initial two mile walk up Sawyer River Road (which is still closed because of Irene) is a drag, but we did it in about 45 minutes, and it warmed us up. I have done this walk in the springtime, and enjoyed that much more because you can see all the remnants of the old town of Livermore. Did you realize there used to be a whole town right here? Easy to miss if you were just driving by.
Check out this great article from the AMC about Livermore: http://www.outdoors.org/publication...andoned-communities-white-mountains-contd.cfm
We were pleased to see the new route of the Signal Ridge Trail, as we'd attempted this hike in the Springtime, and the water levels kept us back. The new sections of trail are getting established, but are still on very "spongy" fresh soil, so it's easy on the feet. The new sections of trail have very slight ups and downs, but overall, you can move fast to the intersection of Carrigain Notch trail, and beyond, to the "meadows".
But then Signal Ridge digs in, and you begin what feels like an endless climb. And you don't get any break until the ridge. We found it to be really tough. But then once you punch out onto the ridge, it's all worthwhile. The views all around will astound you. Gorgeous rock slides, knobs and sumimts in the foreground...and in the distance, a slightly visible - a fire warden tower. Almost there.
It was very neat to see a well near the summit; I lifted the cover and the water looked clean, but we had enough in our packs, and figured the river water down lower was a safer bet. Anyone know if this is safe to pump from?
We climbed the fire warden's tower at about 11:00 AM...Carrigain had taken us about 3 hours 45 minutes. Not a bad time. As well, my Suunto altimeter watch did pretty well -- atop the tower it showed 4747 feet. Pretty close! We had the summit to ourselves for almost 30 minutes and enjoyed some iced tea and bagels before heading down. Looking back to Signal Ridge.
The nice thing about Carrigain is, as soon as you reach the bottom of the climb (and even though you have nearly 4 miles left) you know it's easy and you can put away your poles and enjoy the journey.
And Carrigain was a great one.
Full photo album
JW
