vose spur

[THE WINTER WONDERER]

planning on hiking vose spur and was wondering what would be the quickest way to carrigan from vose spur. would it be quicker to bushwack from one summit to the next or come back down vose and up carrigan via signal ridge.plan is to hike to the base of vose on friday night and ad least bag vose and anything after that will be a bonus. any info on this would be great thanks.

 

[NewHampshire]

The whack up to the summit of Carrigain from Vose summit is reputed as TOUGH, but I would see that as probably the easier option, exertion wise, than going up to Vose, down, then over taking trails up.

Brian

 

[MichaelJ]

Discussion here.

 

[THE WINTER WONDERER]

thanks! sounds like if we want to do carrigan then we should just grin and bear the bushwack

 

[MichaelJ]

Don't grin too much, you'll get spruce needles in your teeth.

 

[rocket21]

Don't grin too much, you'll get spruce needles in your teeth.

But then you don't need to floss!

 

[marty]

Don't grin too much, you'll get spruce needles in your teeth.

But then you don't need to floss!

You also won't have to drink your OJ, as the needles are high in vitamin C

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

Vose Spur from the traditional starting point is not all that difficult. It starts off with a herd trail and from about half way up you can pick up herd trails most of the way to the top.

I have a feeling that trying to bushwhack from the top of Vose Spur to the top of Carrigain would be a real tough slog. On top of it, right now, you would probably be pushing through a lot of snow covered spruce.

My recommendation would be to get off to an early start. Go straight up Carrigain and that out of the way, go back to the Carrigain notch trail and then do the bushwhack.

Time wise, I'm not sure which would be longer, but I do think you would find it a much more enjoyable day.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

You also won't have to drink your OJ, as the needles are high in vitamin C

Also, if you drink white wine after the trip you can pretend that you are in Greece and are drinking Retsina wine

For those who do not bother to click on the link, Retsina wine is a Greek wine with a pine rasin taste. An aquired taste that I, for one, never quite aquired

 

[rocket21]

Retsina wine is a Greek wine with a pine rasin taste.

Like PineSol?

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Like PineSol?

Never got around to tasting PineSol ...

Never met any serious PineSol drinkers, but back home a few of my friends actually liked Retsina

From the link in my post:

... but the flavor itself was so popular that the style is still widespread today.

Back to the original topic ... I have friends who did the Vose Spur to Carigain bushwhack (or was it the other way round?), they still talk about the experience

 

[Grayjay]

I did it a few years back. In the saddle between Vose and Carrigain, there is a nice boulderfield (it is visible from the south). From there I dropped down from the saddle to the south a little to avoid the puckabrush right on the ridge, and that was a tremendous help.

 

[chinooktrail]

I did this in the opposit direction a few weeks back.

Signal Ridge to Carrigan, then a bushwhack over to Vose Spur, then the herd path (for the most part, lost it a couple of times. ) back to the trail and out.

The boulder field in the saddle, as Gray Jay said was a good place to take a rest and remove some pine needles from, um, uncomfortable places...

Going in this direction was not that bad, quite fun in fact.

Not sure I would have liked it so much in the other direction though.
If you are planning on camping the night before, there are some established campsites just before the summit of Carrigan, not sure if they are 'legal' ones, but I'm sure the guide book or some more knowledeable hikers on this site could let you know.

Have fun and be safe!

 

[MichaelJ]

If you are planning on camping the night before, there are some established campsites just before the summit of Carrigan, not sure if they are 'legal' ones, but I'm sure the guide book or some more knowledeable hikers on this site could let you know.

We've had this [strike]argument[/strike] discussion (where's that strike-through formatting, Dave?) before. Suffice it to say that that are differing opinions on the topic.

However, I imagine the major contributors to that discussion might actually agree that using those sites without 4' of snow on the ground is not in keeping with LNT.

 

[MichaelJ]

You also won't have to drink your OJ, as the needles are high in vitamin C

Yeah but then everything would end up tasting reminiscent of gin...

(yes, I know that spruce and juniper are different, but in then end they all sorta smell like Christmas trees)

 

[THE WINTER WONDERER]

thanks guys. for this being my first post on this site i am amazed at the amount of responses i have got. my friend and i still don't know what we are going to do. Another thought was to bag vose then come down and head for nancy. and i don't care what anybody says nancy is NOT a bushwack. thet mite as well just hag a trail sign at the bottom. and oe more thing has anybody heard how atticus is doing. my prayers have been with both atticus and tom ever since i heard about what happened. again thanks for the info and the laughs.

 

[MichaelJ]

You can follow Tom and Atticus at their blog.
Indeed, Nancy isn't a bushwhack, and unfortunately the herd path to the top is very poorly laid out, heading steeply straight up the slope, and will probably badly erode in the future. It's my personal hope that the Forest Service manage this land and put a properly-switchbacked trail before that happens.

 

[THE WINTER WONDERER]

thanks guys for the info and laughs. this is alittle off the subject but has anyone heard how atticus and tom are doing they have been in my thoughts and prayers ever since i heard about the incident. thank agai for the great info!

 

[David Metsky]

thanks guys for the info and laughs. this is alittle off the subject but has anyone heard how atticus and tom are doing they have been in my thoughts and prayers ever since i heard about the incident. thank agai for the great info!

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showpost.php?p=247668&postcount=60

You can always just send a PM to Tom and ask.

 

[Frodo]

I have done Vose 4 times (only once without snow), and if you are looking to do them both on the same hike, then I recommend heading up to Carrigain and whacking down to Vose along the ridge. It is not as bad as people say...

If the weather is good it is fairly easy to navigate, but if the weather is bad you will need some sharp navigating skills. Though it looks straight forward on a map, the ridge constantly tries to draw you down.

Good luck!