So much for a crust - Little Wildcat

[peakbagger]

Given the short days this time of year we were looking for an easy bushwhack and decided on Little Wildcat (also nicknamed in the past as the "kitty"). At my house in Gorham and my lot in Randolph there has been a pretty well developed crust and since we were bushwhacking I decided to use my MSR Denalis and left my tails home. We zipped up 19 mile brook trail with microspikes to the junction with Carter Dome trail. We then put the snow shoes on and headed into the woods. It was soon obvious once we crossed the brook and headed up slope that I made the wrong choice. Some of the time I did stay up on top of the snow but with some regularity down I went into 2 to 3 feet of snow. The woods from 19 mile brook towards the summit are quite open. I would not be surprised if its not used glade skiing. We eventually hit a few mild cliff bands and by doing some zig zagging we avoided the worst areas. Once past the cliff bands the summit flattens out and opens up. Despite the forecast we had been in cloudy conditions but did get glimpses of views. The summit canister was easy to find. Not a lot of recent sign ins on the register. The winds were more noticeable on the summit and we didnt hang around long. Heading down went a lot faster. We then switched to microspikes once we hit the trail and zipped back out. I definitely will switch to my larger shoes on the next trip or at least bring my tails with me.

By the way while parking in the AM I saw a portion of large #10 tin can sitting in the snowbank. It was frozen in the snow but with some careful kicking I got the can out of the snowbank and it was pumpkin pie filling. I expect some group must of dropped it in the snow when they were heading up to Carter Notch. They must have really liked pumpkin given the quantity and expect they had a surprise when they got to the hut. The can is frozen solid. I brought it home and if the seams are intact I will probably give it to a food drive.