BIGEarl
Well-known member
October 20, 2009: The Carters
Trails: Nineteen Mile Brook Trail, Carter Dome Trail, Carter-Moriah Trail, N. Carter Trail, Imp Trail
Summits: Carter Dome, South Carter Mountain, Middle Carter Mountain
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue), and me
It’s been a tough few days and I really needed an easy one for a little change (rest and repair). The Carters seemed to fit perfectly. It’s been at least a year-and-a-half since the last time Sue and I hiked this loop. As usual, we started with a quick stop at the PNVC to take care of final hike preparation and drove to the trailhead for the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail. The place was completely empty. We had a nice quiet day coming up. The only concern was the red sky – good thing we weren’t planning to take a boat ride.
The Nineteen Mile Brook Trail is in great shape; completely clear and very little mud. Covering the1.9 miles of mild grade to the junction with the Carter Dome Trail went quickly. We made the turn and started the climb. The Carter Dome Trail is also clear but has some mud to deal with in the lower section where the trail follows the brook. Usually there are plenty of rocks and getting past the mud isn’t a problem. A short distance before the upper crossing was the first snowman of the day for Sue – there would be more. As she was finishing a beautiful large German Shepherd came along – the owner wasn’t far behind. He called the dog to return and evidently waited for a period to allow us some separation. We cleared the upper crossing and started into the switchbacks. As usual, ascending includes periodic stops and eventually the German Shepherd came for another visit. Again, the owner called the dog back. Clearly, the dog and owner were moving faster than us. The owner apparently decided to pass but that’s not the part that really got my attention. Before he started to close in on us he pulled out a leash and brought the dog under direct control. Then, he worked his way up and stopped to visit. His name was Ken but I don’t have the name of the dog. After he confirmed we were comfortable with the dog, and the dog was comfortable with us, he released the dog from the leash. Ken is probably the most considerate dog owner I have ever met on the trail. Others could learn a lot from him.
Ken and his four-legged partner continued their hike to Mount Hight while Sue and I continued ours to The Carters. Roughly half-way through the switchbacks we started to get into a fairly consistent covering of snow and ice. There were enough edges of rocks to work with and we continued to hike without traction aids through Zeta Pass and on to Carter Dome. The upper portion of the Carter Dome Trail had even more ice and the footing became very questionable. We reached the summit of Carter Dome with views north and east but the Presidentials were in cloud/fog. Before leaving we pulled out the MicroSpikes.
The hike back to Zeta Pass was fairly quick. On the way we found lots of new, very large dog tracks headed down the trail. Evidently Ken and his friend were again ahead of us. We reached Zeta Pass and made a quick stop for some lunch.
The Carter-Moriah Trail leaving Zeta Pass was covered in snow and ice and we decided to continue with the MicroSpikes, at least for a while. Within a quarter mile we came to a section where the sun had completely cleared the trail and we decided to go back to the bare boot approach. All of the mud pits on the Carter-Moriah Trail are getting pretty firm and we had no trouble getting past any of them. In a fairly short time we reached the summit of South Carter. There we found a small cairn next to the trail where the sign post once stood. Behind the cairn is the actual high spot. We got the usual summit pictures and were off.
The exit from South Carter has a couple sections of steep ledge that were a little tricky but we were able to get through them without any slips. It will be nice when we get through this in-between season. A few feet of snow with ice and we’ll be traveling on snowshoes and crampons – life gets much easier. But for now, we need to be cautious.
The day was moving fast; it was early afternoon, we were working our way through a relatively short hike, and already heading for the final target for the day. We didn’t stop but really slowed things down. Between South Carter and Middle Carter are a couple nice viewpoints that we enjoyed. We took a more leisurely approach to the remainder of the hike which had us finishing later than we could have but we still had an early finish.
We reached the summit of Middle Carter and found a small cairn next to the trail marking the location. More pictures and we were soon off continuing north on the Carter-Moriah Trail headed for the N. Carter Trail and out exit. We were still bare booting the hike. Roughly half way to the N. Carter Trail junction the ice and snow became more difficult and we went back to the MicroSpikes. We stayed with them until we hiked out of the snow on our exit.
We hit the trail junction, made the left and started down the North Carter Trail on our exit run. The North Carter Trail is a rough one. We found a number of blowdowns along the way and it seems little maintenance has been done on this trail recently. The MicroSpikes took care of the slick conditions and we made it to the junction with the Imp Trail without any problems. Somewhere around the trail junction we retired the MicroSpikes for the remainder of the hike.
There are three popular ways to approach the exit via the Imp Trail. Some folks follow the trail all of the way to the trailhead, but that leaves a couple mile road walk back to the trailhead for the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail and our vehicle. Some folks take a short bushwhack starting at roughly 1550 feet elevation via Camp Dodge and complete a shorter road walk back to the trailhead lot. The third approach is a bushwhack that starts at roughly 2000 feet elevation and goes directly back to the trailhead lot. We took the third choice. The bushwhack is fairly straightforward. At approximately 2000 feet elevation the trail makes a right turn. Instead of making the turn, just follow the same bearing the trail had been following. This simply goes straight to the end of the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail. It will be necessary to cross Cowboy Brook but that’s an easy task.
We slightly missed the trailhead by about 100 yards and came upon the power line that runs from the trailhead to Camp Dodge(?). There, we turned left and followed the power line corridor to the trailhead lot.
It didn’t take long to pack and head back to PNVC for some post-hike clean-up before heading home.
Compared to recent hikes this was a short one. The day started late, finished early, and provided a little needed rest and repair. Sue’s vacations can be tiring.
Thanks Sue – for sharing your vacation and another terrific day in the mountains.
Pictures will follow.
I’ve finally got some pictures posted from the hike. Sorry for the delay, I was pretty busy yesterday.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
Trails: Nineteen Mile Brook Trail, Carter Dome Trail, Carter-Moriah Trail, N. Carter Trail, Imp Trail
Summits: Carter Dome, South Carter Mountain, Middle Carter Mountain
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue), and me
It’s been a tough few days and I really needed an easy one for a little change (rest and repair). The Carters seemed to fit perfectly. It’s been at least a year-and-a-half since the last time Sue and I hiked this loop. As usual, we started with a quick stop at the PNVC to take care of final hike preparation and drove to the trailhead for the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail. The place was completely empty. We had a nice quiet day coming up. The only concern was the red sky – good thing we weren’t planning to take a boat ride.
The Nineteen Mile Brook Trail is in great shape; completely clear and very little mud. Covering the1.9 miles of mild grade to the junction with the Carter Dome Trail went quickly. We made the turn and started the climb. The Carter Dome Trail is also clear but has some mud to deal with in the lower section where the trail follows the brook. Usually there are plenty of rocks and getting past the mud isn’t a problem. A short distance before the upper crossing was the first snowman of the day for Sue – there would be more. As she was finishing a beautiful large German Shepherd came along – the owner wasn’t far behind. He called the dog to return and evidently waited for a period to allow us some separation. We cleared the upper crossing and started into the switchbacks. As usual, ascending includes periodic stops and eventually the German Shepherd came for another visit. Again, the owner called the dog back. Clearly, the dog and owner were moving faster than us. The owner apparently decided to pass but that’s not the part that really got my attention. Before he started to close in on us he pulled out a leash and brought the dog under direct control. Then, he worked his way up and stopped to visit. His name was Ken but I don’t have the name of the dog. After he confirmed we were comfortable with the dog, and the dog was comfortable with us, he released the dog from the leash. Ken is probably the most considerate dog owner I have ever met on the trail. Others could learn a lot from him.
Ken and his four-legged partner continued their hike to Mount Hight while Sue and I continued ours to The Carters. Roughly half-way through the switchbacks we started to get into a fairly consistent covering of snow and ice. There were enough edges of rocks to work with and we continued to hike without traction aids through Zeta Pass and on to Carter Dome. The upper portion of the Carter Dome Trail had even more ice and the footing became very questionable. We reached the summit of Carter Dome with views north and east but the Presidentials were in cloud/fog. Before leaving we pulled out the MicroSpikes.
The hike back to Zeta Pass was fairly quick. On the way we found lots of new, very large dog tracks headed down the trail. Evidently Ken and his friend were again ahead of us. We reached Zeta Pass and made a quick stop for some lunch.
The Carter-Moriah Trail leaving Zeta Pass was covered in snow and ice and we decided to continue with the MicroSpikes, at least for a while. Within a quarter mile we came to a section where the sun had completely cleared the trail and we decided to go back to the bare boot approach. All of the mud pits on the Carter-Moriah Trail are getting pretty firm and we had no trouble getting past any of them. In a fairly short time we reached the summit of South Carter. There we found a small cairn next to the trail where the sign post once stood. Behind the cairn is the actual high spot. We got the usual summit pictures and were off.
The exit from South Carter has a couple sections of steep ledge that were a little tricky but we were able to get through them without any slips. It will be nice when we get through this in-between season. A few feet of snow with ice and we’ll be traveling on snowshoes and crampons – life gets much easier. But for now, we need to be cautious.
The day was moving fast; it was early afternoon, we were working our way through a relatively short hike, and already heading for the final target for the day. We didn’t stop but really slowed things down. Between South Carter and Middle Carter are a couple nice viewpoints that we enjoyed. We took a more leisurely approach to the remainder of the hike which had us finishing later than we could have but we still had an early finish.
We reached the summit of Middle Carter and found a small cairn next to the trail marking the location. More pictures and we were soon off continuing north on the Carter-Moriah Trail headed for the N. Carter Trail and out exit. We were still bare booting the hike. Roughly half way to the N. Carter Trail junction the ice and snow became more difficult and we went back to the MicroSpikes. We stayed with them until we hiked out of the snow on our exit.
We hit the trail junction, made the left and started down the North Carter Trail on our exit run. The North Carter Trail is a rough one. We found a number of blowdowns along the way and it seems little maintenance has been done on this trail recently. The MicroSpikes took care of the slick conditions and we made it to the junction with the Imp Trail without any problems. Somewhere around the trail junction we retired the MicroSpikes for the remainder of the hike.
There are three popular ways to approach the exit via the Imp Trail. Some folks follow the trail all of the way to the trailhead, but that leaves a couple mile road walk back to the trailhead for the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail and our vehicle. Some folks take a short bushwhack starting at roughly 1550 feet elevation via Camp Dodge and complete a shorter road walk back to the trailhead lot. The third approach is a bushwhack that starts at roughly 2000 feet elevation and goes directly back to the trailhead lot. We took the third choice. The bushwhack is fairly straightforward. At approximately 2000 feet elevation the trail makes a right turn. Instead of making the turn, just follow the same bearing the trail had been following. This simply goes straight to the end of the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail. It will be necessary to cross Cowboy Brook but that’s an easy task.
We slightly missed the trailhead by about 100 yards and came upon the power line that runs from the trailhead to Camp Dodge(?). There, we turned left and followed the power line corridor to the trailhead lot.
It didn’t take long to pack and head back to PNVC for some post-hike clean-up before heading home.
Compared to recent hikes this was a short one. The day started late, finished early, and provided a little needed rest and repair. Sue’s vacations can be tiring.
Thanks Sue – for sharing your vacation and another terrific day in the mountains.
Pictures will follow.
I’ve finally got some pictures posted from the hike. Sorry for the delay, I was pretty busy yesterday.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
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