Mad Townie
New member
Having missed Saturday’s beautiful weather (at least it was on the coast), I couldn’t pass again on Sunday. There are a few nice things about climbing Mount Caribou in Evans Notch: I first climbed it many years ago; it was one of my kids’ early hikes; and there are GREAT Views From The Top!
9:30 is a pretty late start for me, but the hike isn’t long and I felt like dubbing around this morning anyway. You can do that when you hike solo.
The former “Morrison Brook Trail” has been renamed the Caribou Trail, and both it and the Mud Brook Trail now originate at the parking lot. Oh, and since I last hiked here about a dozen years ago they put in the fee system, so there was a three buck tube in place. I fed it.
The Caribou Trail crosses Morrison Brook 8 times. With today’s high water, the hopping rocks were either just above or just below the surface, and the water was running fast. I had brought some fording shoes with me, but I ended up not using them (and not getting wet, either ). Poles were valuable in adding stability to some pretty precarious foot positions. The crossings actually got more challenging until about the fifth or sixth crossing, when the stream started getting small enough to make for short hops.
There’s a 20 foot waterfall, Kees Falls, about 2 miles up the trail. It’s pretty fine, but the next one up, although a bit shorter, was much prettier because it was w-i-d-e, and the water coming over it formed a thick, silver curtain that obscured the rocks behind. There were 2 or 3 other good sized falls above that one, all of which were beautiful.
The trail is pretty gradual until Kees Falls, and after that gradual stretches alternate with some that are a bit steeper. The Caribou Trail reaches a col and continues straight, but to get to the summit you turn right onto the Mud Brook Trail. In about a half mile you’re on the summit ledges, which are pretty extensive and offer great views from Pleasant (with Kezar Lake in the foreground), west to Chocorua and some of the more southerly 4Ks, then around to the layers of the Royces and Baldfaces, the Carters and the Prezzies. Washington, of course, was in the clouds. The great thing about Caribou is that the views continue: you see the Kilkenny Ridge area (I think), then the Mahoosucs stretched out in front of you, from Success all the way to Old Speck and the Baldpates. Even though there were a fair number of clouds in the sky, most of the mountains were below them and offered great views.
This was a great summit to spend some time on, and I hung out eating a blueberry lunch and napping for awhile in the wonderful and unfamiliar sunshine.
The Maine Mountain Guide describes the Mud Brook Trail as providing good and dry footing despite its name. Well, the author clearly did not hike the trail after weeks of heavy rain! There was plenty of mud, and the trail was a minor stream in several places. Still, one gets the impression that these conditions are due to the recent weather and not the quality of the trail.
After descending somewhat steeply for awhile and crossing several of the headwater feeders for Mud Brook (which is actually clear and beautiful and fast), the trail becomes more gradual and the hiker can pick up the pace a little. All in all, I beat book time easily and by quite a bit (once again proving that it’s the rest of you people I hike with who go way too fast! My ego needs this kind of boost from time to time, after a few hikes with you VFTT rocketships.). I was back to the car somewhere around 2:30. The worst part of the trip occurred a bit later, when I saw that the ice cream shop in Stow is closed!
Caribou is a little (2850’) gem of a mountain and well worth the detour into Evans Notch. It’s near the north end, so it’s easily accessible from Gorham, NH. So take a break from your various 4K and “highest” quests and spend a little time on this beauty.
(No pix--I left my camera at home. )
9:30 is a pretty late start for me, but the hike isn’t long and I felt like dubbing around this morning anyway. You can do that when you hike solo.
The former “Morrison Brook Trail” has been renamed the Caribou Trail, and both it and the Mud Brook Trail now originate at the parking lot. Oh, and since I last hiked here about a dozen years ago they put in the fee system, so there was a three buck tube in place. I fed it.The Caribou Trail crosses Morrison Brook 8 times. With today’s high water, the hopping rocks were either just above or just below the surface, and the water was running fast. I had brought some fording shoes with me, but I ended up not using them (and not getting wet, either
). Poles were valuable in adding stability to some pretty precarious foot positions. The crossings actually got more challenging until about the fifth or sixth crossing, when the stream started getting small enough to make for short hops.There’s a 20 foot waterfall, Kees Falls, about 2 miles up the trail. It’s pretty fine, but the next one up, although a bit shorter, was much prettier because it was w-i-d-e, and the water coming over it formed a thick, silver curtain that obscured the rocks behind. There were 2 or 3 other good sized falls above that one, all of which were beautiful.
The trail is pretty gradual until Kees Falls, and after that gradual stretches alternate with some that are a bit steeper. The Caribou Trail reaches a col and continues straight, but to get to the summit you turn right onto the Mud Brook Trail. In about a half mile you’re on the summit ledges, which are pretty extensive and offer great views from Pleasant (with Kezar Lake in the foreground), west to Chocorua and some of the more southerly 4Ks, then around to the layers of the Royces and Baldfaces, the Carters and the Prezzies. Washington, of course, was in the clouds. The great thing about Caribou is that the views continue: you see the Kilkenny Ridge area (I think), then the Mahoosucs stretched out in front of you, from Success all the way to Old Speck and the Baldpates. Even though there were a fair number of clouds in the sky, most of the mountains were below them and offered great views.
This was a great summit to spend some time on, and I hung out eating a blueberry lunch and napping for awhile
in the wonderful and unfamiliar sunshine.The Maine Mountain Guide describes the Mud Brook Trail as providing good and dry footing despite its name. Well, the author clearly did not hike the trail after weeks of heavy rain! There was plenty of mud, and the trail was a minor stream in several places. Still, one gets the impression that these conditions are due to the recent weather and not the quality of the trail.
After descending somewhat steeply for awhile and crossing several of the headwater feeders for Mud Brook (which is actually clear and beautiful and fast), the trail becomes more gradual and the hiker can pick up the pace a little. All in all, I beat book time easily and by quite a bit (once again proving that it’s the rest of you people I hike with who go way too fast!
My ego needs this kind of boost from time to time, after a few hikes with you VFTT rocketships.). I was back to the car somewhere around 2:30. The worst part of the trip occurred a bit later, when I saw that the ice cream shop in Stow is closed! Caribou is a little (2850’) gem of a mountain and well worth the detour into Evans Notch. It’s near the north end, so it’s easily accessible from Gorham, NH. So take a break from your various 4K and “highest” quests and spend a little time on this beauty.
(No pix--I left my camera at home.
)
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