peakn
New member
The day started out with very overcast skies. As I drove through Franconia Notch I wondered if the great forecast would actually come to pass. Fortunately, the weather forecast was spot on. It turned out to be a glorious day- partly cloudy and quite breezy on top, but not cold enough to ever put on a fleece.
Stopped at the Waterwheel in Jefferson for B & B. Lesson learned- don’t stop there if there are more than a couple of cars in the parking lot. It was slow! Road resurfacing on Rte 16 delayed things a bit more. It was 9:30 before I finally started up 19 Mile Brook Trail. The plan was to do an out and back hitting South and Middle Carter. I had promised that I would be home by 7:00 to go out to dinner. Living in Waterville Valley meant that I HAD to be back on the road by 5:15. I set a hard turn around time of 1:45.
The trails were all in great shape. No mud, no bugs, only one insignificant blowdown with a huge herd path around it.
Slogging up to Zeta Pass was, well, slogging up to Zeta Pass. The Carter-Moriah Trail has to be on my “favorites” list. The footpath alternates between a beautiful pine needle covered surface to rocky areas with well placed rock steps, bog bridges that appear fairly recently replaced, and some steeper rocky areas, a few of which required hands. The surrounding forest is wild. This is a trail on which one really can enjoy a “wilderness experience”.
Made it to Carter Dome Tr in 58 min, to Zeta Pass in 2.5 hours and to the rocky knob with great views just past Middle Carter at 1:30. Mission accomplished. I only spent a few minutes there to look around before heading back. Hit the parking lot at exactly 5 PM- 7.5 hours. Home at 7 as promised, iced the knees and out to dinner. A very good day indeed.
Stopped at the Waterwheel in Jefferson for B & B. Lesson learned- don’t stop there if there are more than a couple of cars in the parking lot. It was slow! Road resurfacing on Rte 16 delayed things a bit more. It was 9:30 before I finally started up 19 Mile Brook Trail. The plan was to do an out and back hitting South and Middle Carter. I had promised that I would be home by 7:00 to go out to dinner. Living in Waterville Valley meant that I HAD to be back on the road by 5:15. I set a hard turn around time of 1:45.
The trails were all in great shape. No mud, no bugs, only one insignificant blowdown with a huge herd path around it.
Slogging up to Zeta Pass was, well, slogging up to Zeta Pass. The Carter-Moriah Trail has to be on my “favorites” list. The footpath alternates between a beautiful pine needle covered surface to rocky areas with well placed rock steps, bog bridges that appear fairly recently replaced, and some steeper rocky areas, a few of which required hands. The surrounding forest is wild. This is a trail on which one really can enjoy a “wilderness experience”.
Made it to Carter Dome Tr in 58 min, to Zeta Pass in 2.5 hours and to the rocky knob with great views just past Middle Carter at 1:30. Mission accomplished. I only spent a few minutes there to look around before heading back. Hit the parking lot at exactly 5 PM- 7.5 hours. Home at 7 as promised, iced the knees and out to dinner. A very good day indeed.
