H
HikerBob
Guest
After last weeks struggles trail breaking the Carter Dome trail I dithered a lot about what to hike this weekend. I considered trying for South Twin to try and be there for Cantdog's final winter NH 48 but I didn't think I was fast enough to keep up with a group and didn't relish the long road walk going solo by way of the Gale River and Twinway trails.
Karen was keen to get out again so I looked at what was still on my "2 do" list for the 48 and decided on South Carter. I knew the Carter Dome trail had seen significant traffic since my trials last week so it should be a lot easier to do and South Carter is just a hop from Zeta Pass.
We arrived at the trail head at around 7:30 under clear skies and with a bone chilling temperature of 0 degrees. We geared up as quickly as we could and headed out. This time the 30" Tubbs went on my pack - not the 25"s. I wasn't taking any chances!
While I was toasty in my usual minimilist winter get up Karen said her hands were not warming up so she donned mitts. The mitts, and a few minutes brisk walking to get the blood flowing, had them back in order in no time. The cold was causing the moisture in Karen's breath to frost up her hair. Looked very cool... pun intended!
The 19 Mile Brook trail was still in great shape. There didn't appear to have been much new precipitation and the trail was still hard packed so we bare booted all the way to the Carter Dome trail junction. The sun made an early appearance and stayed with us the entire day sweeping across an endless blue sky.
We took a quick break at the Carter Dome trail junction before starting up. I figured we'd see if it had been consolidated enough to bare boot but it soon became apparent it had not so on went the shoes. A group of about six that had passed us earlier took a while longer to make that decision and their post holes had chewed up the much improved trail. After the point where they decided to shoe up things were much more pleasant and a stark contrast to what I endured last week.
Karen and I are both slow hikers but she has also been plagued with a recurring knee problem and, of course, today it decided to start nagging again. I told her we would turn around any time she felt it was getting too bad, but she said she was OK so we plodded on.
On one of our many short breather breaks a solo hiker caught up to us and, though we had never met before, I knew right away I was making the acquantance of Mohamed Ellozy. Mohamed's web site shares his great knowledge of the White Mountains and is the first place I turn to in planning any trip. Mohamed, it was a pleaseure to meet you and I am sure your goal of summiting Mt Height for the first time in winter was rewarded with incredible views.
Having wished one another safe journeys, Mohamed forged ahead and we resumed our steady, but somewhat liesurely, progress. The weather was so fine and the woods so beautiful it didn't matter a hoot how fast we went, it was just great to be out in the mountains.
We had hoped to reach Zeta Pass by noon at which point we would take a lunch break. Our sedate progress however meant lunch would have to be taken further back down the trail. Eating and drinking are very important on any hike but even more so during winter when the body requires additional fuel just to stay warm. We picked a sunny spot somewhere on the switchback section and tucked in. Re-energized from lunch we pushed on and got to Zeta Pass at 12:44pm whereupon we had another short break and bottle replenishment.
Two tracks led away from the Carter Moriah trail sign. One seemed to agree with the map which indicates the trail leaves at right angles to the Carter Dome trail. The other, more travelled, trail follows the direction pointed to by the sign but which almost doubles back on the Carter Dome trail. This just didn't seem to tally with what the map indicated.
However, standing at the sign a white blaze can be seen in the direction pointed to, confirming that this is indeed the right way. In fact the trail does almost parallel the Carter Dome trail for a few yards but then makes a sharp right turn in the more logical direction.
The Carter Moriah trail had been defined by the passage of several hikers but was not as well consolidated and snowshoes were a must. The snow was soft and deep and poles, even fitted with baskets, would sink in an alarming distance if they were placed off trail.
The trek over to South Carter starts out and maintains a fairly easy grade with a few steeper sections and even some disheartening minor descents thrown in. Given a uniform forest I wondered why the trail builders decided to lose altitude rather than follow the contour.
After the rather steep final climb we found ourselves at the wooded summit of South Carter, just making it before my turn around time of 2pm. The summit sign is right on the trail, and we took pictures there, but I recalled the WMG saying the oficial summit was a few yards off on a spur trail. For completness sake I did the extra few paces to the top of the adjacent bump and claimed that as the summit and had Karen take another picture.
We had another quick snack before starting our return trip. We are both much quicker on the descent but I stayed in front and tried to keep the pace slower to avoid Karen over taxing her knee. With fewer stops and a steady pace we soon found ourselves back at Zeta Pass. At the sharp turn I decided we could save a few yards and a very minor amount of climbing by "bushwacking" the twenty feet straight over to the Carter Dome trail. The day remained pleasant as we decended and, with snowshoes, was an easy walk on a well conditioned trail.
As we approached the 19 Mile Brook trail junction we heard barking, always cause for some concern. Dogs on trails is a contentious subject and is often hotly debated. While I always take a defensive attitude when approaching, or being approached by, a dog on the trail I do enjoy encounters with well trained and behaved pooches. I had one bad experience where a dogs aggressive behaviour was treated with total indifference by the owner, and in cases like this it is the owner I blame, not the dog.
As it turned out our barker was named Teddy and he was with his owner Ron, both natives of Gorham and frequent hikers. His barking was merely a response to the din made by our snowshoes as we approached. Once he saw us and made contact he was quiet and friendly. As we took a quick rest break we chatted with Ron. Ron had placed his gloves on top of the trail sign and Teddy decided he would steal one of them. Despite Ron's best efforts to have him return it Teddy trotted around ignoring Ron's pleas while at the same time maintaining an air of total innocence.
We started out down the 19 Mile brook trail on the last leg of our journey and Teddy decided he would accompany us. So, with our new glove carrying friend we headed down. Teddy trotted along behind us occasionally popping back to see if Ron was coming or not. After a while he went back and didn;t return untl Ron caught up with us. Ron now had his glove back, saying Teddy got bored with it and dropped it in the trail. We wished them both well and let them pass.
It had been a long day and the final mile and a bit after the dam seemed to go on forever but we soon started to hear traffic and before too long the last corner was turned and the road bridge came into view. The setting sun highlighted the first small clouds we had seen during the entire gorgeous day. It may not have been a 'grand view' hike but it was rewarding in other ways. Yet another grand day out.
Pictures can be found starting HERE
Bob
Karen was keen to get out again so I looked at what was still on my "2 do" list for the 48 and decided on South Carter. I knew the Carter Dome trail had seen significant traffic since my trials last week so it should be a lot easier to do and South Carter is just a hop from Zeta Pass.
We arrived at the trail head at around 7:30 under clear skies and with a bone chilling temperature of 0 degrees. We geared up as quickly as we could and headed out. This time the 30" Tubbs went on my pack - not the 25"s. I wasn't taking any chances!
While I was toasty in my usual minimilist winter get up Karen said her hands were not warming up so she donned mitts. The mitts, and a few minutes brisk walking to get the blood flowing, had them back in order in no time. The cold was causing the moisture in Karen's breath to frost up her hair. Looked very cool... pun intended!
The 19 Mile Brook trail was still in great shape. There didn't appear to have been much new precipitation and the trail was still hard packed so we bare booted all the way to the Carter Dome trail junction. The sun made an early appearance and stayed with us the entire day sweeping across an endless blue sky.
We took a quick break at the Carter Dome trail junction before starting up. I figured we'd see if it had been consolidated enough to bare boot but it soon became apparent it had not so on went the shoes. A group of about six that had passed us earlier took a while longer to make that decision and their post holes had chewed up the much improved trail. After the point where they decided to shoe up things were much more pleasant and a stark contrast to what I endured last week.
Karen and I are both slow hikers but she has also been plagued with a recurring knee problem and, of course, today it decided to start nagging again. I told her we would turn around any time she felt it was getting too bad, but she said she was OK so we plodded on.
On one of our many short breather breaks a solo hiker caught up to us and, though we had never met before, I knew right away I was making the acquantance of Mohamed Ellozy. Mohamed's web site shares his great knowledge of the White Mountains and is the first place I turn to in planning any trip. Mohamed, it was a pleaseure to meet you and I am sure your goal of summiting Mt Height for the first time in winter was rewarded with incredible views.
Having wished one another safe journeys, Mohamed forged ahead and we resumed our steady, but somewhat liesurely, progress. The weather was so fine and the woods so beautiful it didn't matter a hoot how fast we went, it was just great to be out in the mountains.
We had hoped to reach Zeta Pass by noon at which point we would take a lunch break. Our sedate progress however meant lunch would have to be taken further back down the trail. Eating and drinking are very important on any hike but even more so during winter when the body requires additional fuel just to stay warm. We picked a sunny spot somewhere on the switchback section and tucked in. Re-energized from lunch we pushed on and got to Zeta Pass at 12:44pm whereupon we had another short break and bottle replenishment.
Two tracks led away from the Carter Moriah trail sign. One seemed to agree with the map which indicates the trail leaves at right angles to the Carter Dome trail. The other, more travelled, trail follows the direction pointed to by the sign but which almost doubles back on the Carter Dome trail. This just didn't seem to tally with what the map indicated.
However, standing at the sign a white blaze can be seen in the direction pointed to, confirming that this is indeed the right way. In fact the trail does almost parallel the Carter Dome trail for a few yards but then makes a sharp right turn in the more logical direction.
The Carter Moriah trail had been defined by the passage of several hikers but was not as well consolidated and snowshoes were a must. The snow was soft and deep and poles, even fitted with baskets, would sink in an alarming distance if they were placed off trail.
The trek over to South Carter starts out and maintains a fairly easy grade with a few steeper sections and even some disheartening minor descents thrown in. Given a uniform forest I wondered why the trail builders decided to lose altitude rather than follow the contour.
After the rather steep final climb we found ourselves at the wooded summit of South Carter, just making it before my turn around time of 2pm. The summit sign is right on the trail, and we took pictures there, but I recalled the WMG saying the oficial summit was a few yards off on a spur trail. For completness sake I did the extra few paces to the top of the adjacent bump and claimed that as the summit and had Karen take another picture.
We had another quick snack before starting our return trip. We are both much quicker on the descent but I stayed in front and tried to keep the pace slower to avoid Karen over taxing her knee. With fewer stops and a steady pace we soon found ourselves back at Zeta Pass. At the sharp turn I decided we could save a few yards and a very minor amount of climbing by "bushwacking" the twenty feet straight over to the Carter Dome trail. The day remained pleasant as we decended and, with snowshoes, was an easy walk on a well conditioned trail.
As we approached the 19 Mile Brook trail junction we heard barking, always cause for some concern. Dogs on trails is a contentious subject and is often hotly debated. While I always take a defensive attitude when approaching, or being approached by, a dog on the trail I do enjoy encounters with well trained and behaved pooches. I had one bad experience where a dogs aggressive behaviour was treated with total indifference by the owner, and in cases like this it is the owner I blame, not the dog.
As it turned out our barker was named Teddy and he was with his owner Ron, both natives of Gorham and frequent hikers. His barking was merely a response to the din made by our snowshoes as we approached. Once he saw us and made contact he was quiet and friendly. As we took a quick rest break we chatted with Ron. Ron had placed his gloves on top of the trail sign and Teddy decided he would steal one of them. Despite Ron's best efforts to have him return it Teddy trotted around ignoring Ron's pleas while at the same time maintaining an air of total innocence.
We started out down the 19 Mile brook trail on the last leg of our journey and Teddy decided he would accompany us. So, with our new glove carrying friend we headed down. Teddy trotted along behind us occasionally popping back to see if Ron was coming or not. After a while he went back and didn;t return untl Ron caught up with us. Ron now had his glove back, saying Teddy got bored with it and dropped it in the trail. We wished them both well and let them pass.
It had been a long day and the final mile and a bit after the dam seemed to go on forever but we soon started to hear traffic and before too long the last corner was turned and the road bridge came into view. The setting sun highlighted the first small clouds we had seen during the entire gorgeous day. It may not have been a 'grand view' hike but it was rewarding in other ways. Yet another grand day out.
Pictures can be found starting HERE
Bob
