LenDawg
New member
Chinooktrail, Drewski (AKA “The Professor”), MEB, LittleSister (together, affectionately nicknamed the “Bopsy Twins”, and I arrived at the start of the closed off Sawyer River Road on route 302 at 0800 on Sunday. The Professor gave a short lesson on the use of saws before we started up the two mile road that lead to the start of the trail head. On the way, we noticed some foundation on the left side that we were debating what it originally was. Some ideas included that it could be an old mill, or a small power plant. Any insight would be appreciated.
We started up Signal Ridge Trail directly, forgetting about Carrigain brook’s crossings. Shortly thereafter, we ran into our first river crossing. Those with plastic boots (Bopsy Twins) had no problem getting through. The Professor found a tree and did a “tight rope” across. I did the old “leap of faith” across onto an icy rock and made it across nice and dry. That left Chinooktrail to shimmey across with the log between her legs… funny!
We made the next river crossings with much less “frustration” and found ourselves at the turnoff for the Carrigain Notch Trail. We kept going up Signal Ridge and began our ascent on Mt. Carrigain. The temperature was in the high 20’s, there was little to no wind, and there was a light snow flurry.
The footing on the hike was very difficult in that there was not enough snow to even consider snowshoes (all of ours were left in the car), there wasn’t enough consistent ice to consider using crampons, but it was tough to spot the rocks properly in the snow that had fallen. Basically, each step was taken with some lack of confidence in exactly how you were stepping. At a muddy area, I sank my boot fairly deep into the stuff. However, nothing made it over the top (thanks to gators) and into my boot.
We made the ridge at about 1230, dropped packs, and headed across to the fire tower and peak. We took some pictures from the top of the fire tower, celebrated our accomplishments, and waved to hikers on different adjacent peaks.
We enjoyed lunch when we got back to our packs, including MEB’s warm tomato soup, Rachel’s hot cocoa, and some chips. Unfortunately, we had no pringle duck sightings on this hike (I think Coldmountain may have shot the ones on top of Mt. Tom!!!).
Footing on the way down was rather tricky. Each of us seemed to take our falls. I performed one crash and burn that was originally done by a Soviet skater in the 1968 winter Olympics. Rachel’s fall got high scores from everyone, except the French judge who gave it a sanc.
The professor had hiked ahead so we all joined back up at the trail merger and headed down the final stretch. Chinooktrail had gone down before all of us and left a perfect snow angel on the path. Thank you! We took the bushwhack out to avoid the final river crossing, and got back to the cars before dark (around 1630).
This was a real fun hike. I am looking forward to coming back for this in real winter. As always, I love hiking with the Bopsy Twins, the Professor, and Christine. You guys made this a great hike. Thanks.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=67t3qkc.l90rcjk&Uy=-z4hahz&Ux=0
We started up Signal Ridge Trail directly, forgetting about Carrigain brook’s crossings. Shortly thereafter, we ran into our first river crossing. Those with plastic boots (Bopsy Twins) had no problem getting through. The Professor found a tree and did a “tight rope” across. I did the old “leap of faith” across onto an icy rock and made it across nice and dry. That left Chinooktrail to shimmey across with the log between her legs… funny!
We made the next river crossings with much less “frustration” and found ourselves at the turnoff for the Carrigain Notch Trail. We kept going up Signal Ridge and began our ascent on Mt. Carrigain. The temperature was in the high 20’s, there was little to no wind, and there was a light snow flurry.
The footing on the hike was very difficult in that there was not enough snow to even consider snowshoes (all of ours were left in the car), there wasn’t enough consistent ice to consider using crampons, but it was tough to spot the rocks properly in the snow that had fallen. Basically, each step was taken with some lack of confidence in exactly how you were stepping. At a muddy area, I sank my boot fairly deep into the stuff. However, nothing made it over the top (thanks to gators) and into my boot.
We made the ridge at about 1230, dropped packs, and headed across to the fire tower and peak. We took some pictures from the top of the fire tower, celebrated our accomplishments, and waved to hikers on different adjacent peaks.
We enjoyed lunch when we got back to our packs, including MEB’s warm tomato soup, Rachel’s hot cocoa, and some chips. Unfortunately, we had no pringle duck sightings on this hike (I think Coldmountain may have shot the ones on top of Mt. Tom!!!).
Footing on the way down was rather tricky. Each of us seemed to take our falls. I performed one crash and burn that was originally done by a Soviet skater in the 1968 winter Olympics. Rachel’s fall got high scores from everyone, except the French judge who gave it a sanc.
The professor had hiked ahead so we all joined back up at the trail merger and headed down the final stretch. Chinooktrail had gone down before all of us and left a perfect snow angel on the path. Thank you! We took the bushwhack out to avoid the final river crossing, and got back to the cars before dark (around 1630).
This was a real fun hike. I am looking forward to coming back for this in real winter. As always, I love hiking with the Bopsy Twins, the Professor, and Christine. You guys made this a great hike. Thanks.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=67t3qkc.l90rcjk&Uy=-z4hahz&Ux=0
