JohnL
New member
On Sunday, Dec 22, I headed up the Stony Brook Trail, for a solo hike up Mt Moriah. I was following in the well worn footsteps of a group (which turned out to be 12 in number) who appeared to have gone up the trail the previous day.
I had gotten out of bed at 3:15 to make the 3 hour ride to the trailhead and several times during the drive I felt as if I was going to fall asleep. Too much time at the Black Rose before a sumptuous dinner in the North End had added to my malaise. I was whipped by the time I stepped onto the parking lot at Stony Brook.
A beautiful sunrise while I drove across Rte 2 near Jefferson got me out of the car to snap some photos and get some sorely needed cold fresh air. As I laced up my boots I was starting to feel up to the day's challenge. Yeah, right! It was 8:05 and only 5 degrees when I started up the trail.
I had forgotten about the large brook crossing about a mile or so up the trail and when I got to the crossing and looked at the footprints on the other side, I said there was no way I was going to cross there. Too deep, too swift, too many slush pads masquerading as ice. I walked upstream about a hundred yards and found a spot where the terrain leveled out and the stream split into three smaller and more crossable streamlets. I was in business now, and I carefully made my way across the trio of flows and a short easy bushwhack got me back to the trail.
The rest of the walk up to the ridge was uneventful except for the feeling that I would never get there. I kept stopping, more out of frustration at being so tired than having to catch my breath. Upon reaching the trail junction of the Carter-Moriah Trail, I noticed that the trail in the direction of the Imp Shelter was well broken out and that only a couple sets of snowshoe tracks were heading in my direction. I grabbed a quick drink of not-so-hot chocolate and continued onward.
The walk to the summit was a series of stops to take some photos and enjoying the quiet solitude of the place. There was a slight wind and the temperature had risen to 16 degrees. The dark clouds hung close to the Carter ridge as I kept checking the view south. There were no tracks heading down the Carter-Moriah trail to Gorham.
I stopped for lunch in a sheltered spot a short ways from the summit and a few minutes after starting up again, I encountered a group of 10 who had stayed at Imp Shelter and were heading over the top to Gorham. They were the ones who had broken trail for me.
Continuing down the ridge trail and then back onto the Stony Brook Trail, I noticed a couple other sets of tracks that were now on top of my snowshoe tracks. They were headed down and I wondered if I would catch them. Soon enough I came across two young ladies as they were working out how to get across a small icy stream. I lent them an assisting hand and I discovered they had come up with the group of ten that I had met earlier. I told them of my alternate crossing of the stream and they had settled on staying with the course they had taken the prior day.
I continued on ahead of them, leaving them to their privacy, and I would see no one the rest of the way down. I kept an eye out for my tracks that went off-trail to the stream crossing and in due time I came across them. I repeated my careful crossings of earlier and then stopped to stretch out my back and have a leisurely drink. As I looked up, the two were staring at the stream crossing and did not now like the looks of it. I directed them back to my tracks and down to the stream crossings, where I coached them across and lent a bit of assistance to them. We said our good-byes and we continued our separate ways. Not long after, I made my way into the parking lot, where I eagerly downed a generous portion of an ice cold GatorAde.
My day was done and it was a shame that this could not have counted as an official winter hike. But a hike is a hike, no matter the season and it was good just to get out and into the quietness of the woods and to see the interplay of clouds and mountain ridges.
For those interested, my photos are here.
JohnL
I had gotten out of bed at 3:15 to make the 3 hour ride to the trailhead and several times during the drive I felt as if I was going to fall asleep. Too much time at the Black Rose before a sumptuous dinner in the North End had added to my malaise. I was whipped by the time I stepped onto the parking lot at Stony Brook.
A beautiful sunrise while I drove across Rte 2 near Jefferson got me out of the car to snap some photos and get some sorely needed cold fresh air. As I laced up my boots I was starting to feel up to the day's challenge. Yeah, right! It was 8:05 and only 5 degrees when I started up the trail.
I had forgotten about the large brook crossing about a mile or so up the trail and when I got to the crossing and looked at the footprints on the other side, I said there was no way I was going to cross there. Too deep, too swift, too many slush pads masquerading as ice. I walked upstream about a hundred yards and found a spot where the terrain leveled out and the stream split into three smaller and more crossable streamlets. I was in business now, and I carefully made my way across the trio of flows and a short easy bushwhack got me back to the trail.
The rest of the walk up to the ridge was uneventful except for the feeling that I would never get there. I kept stopping, more out of frustration at being so tired than having to catch my breath. Upon reaching the trail junction of the Carter-Moriah Trail, I noticed that the trail in the direction of the Imp Shelter was well broken out and that only a couple sets of snowshoe tracks were heading in my direction. I grabbed a quick drink of not-so-hot chocolate and continued onward.
The walk to the summit was a series of stops to take some photos and enjoying the quiet solitude of the place. There was a slight wind and the temperature had risen to 16 degrees. The dark clouds hung close to the Carter ridge as I kept checking the view south. There were no tracks heading down the Carter-Moriah trail to Gorham.
I stopped for lunch in a sheltered spot a short ways from the summit and a few minutes after starting up again, I encountered a group of 10 who had stayed at Imp Shelter and were heading over the top to Gorham. They were the ones who had broken trail for me.
Continuing down the ridge trail and then back onto the Stony Brook Trail, I noticed a couple other sets of tracks that were now on top of my snowshoe tracks. They were headed down and I wondered if I would catch them. Soon enough I came across two young ladies as they were working out how to get across a small icy stream. I lent them an assisting hand and I discovered they had come up with the group of ten that I had met earlier. I told them of my alternate crossing of the stream and they had settled on staying with the course they had taken the prior day.
I continued on ahead of them, leaving them to their privacy, and I would see no one the rest of the way down. I kept an eye out for my tracks that went off-trail to the stream crossing and in due time I came across them. I repeated my careful crossings of earlier and then stopped to stretch out my back and have a leisurely drink. As I looked up, the two were staring at the stream crossing and did not now like the looks of it. I directed them back to my tracks and down to the stream crossings, where I coached them across and lent a bit of assistance to them. We said our good-byes and we continued our separate ways. Not long after, I made my way into the parking lot, where I eagerly downed a generous portion of an ice cold GatorAde.
My day was done and it was a shame that this could not have counted as an official winter hike. But a hike is a hike, no matter the season and it was good just to get out and into the quietness of the woods and to see the interplay of clouds and mountain ridges.
For those interested, my photos are here.
JohnL
