bpschroder
New member
On Saturday July 23 LenDawg, Little Sister and myself set out for a fabulous traverse across the Carter-Moriah Range. It was a long hike and I’m thankful that I was able share it with such great company. The weather was excellent, but the laughs and conversation made this day even sunnier.
Pictures are here
We all met up at the Carter Moriah Trail in Gorham at 6:30 and chatted while we prepared our gear and wondered if any last minute arrivals to our group would appear. After some shuffling around of gear, we drove down to the Glen Ellis Falls parking area and started our hike at 7:30. We were all a little worried that the hike would take much longer than book time and as I drove us down to Pinkham Notch it started to sink in how far we intended to hike. Luckily, the humidity was low and the temps were comfortable all day with a nice breeze to cool us off, which certainly helped us stay on schedule. After crossing under Route 16 we had a tricky crossing of the Ellis River, but managed to stay dry and soon began our first ascent of the day.
The Wildcat Ridge Trail immediately starts a steep ascent and we stopped many times as open areas offered excellent cloudless view of Mt Washington. We seemed to scramble and ascend for about an hour until we reached a split rock where we took a few pictures and of course LenDawg couldn’t miss an opportunity to put on his moose hat! Even though we knew we were in for a long day we stopped to have fun as often as possible. Around 9:00 we made it to the Wildcat Ski Area and enjoyed some snacks for our first small rest of the day and then we were off to Wildcat D to take in some views and a chilly breeze. We trekked on for awhile and enjoyed the beautiful low trees and scenery along the ridge, until I was startled by a large toad. It seems there everywhere lately and I’m probably going to step on one by accident pretty soon! Shortly after the terrifying toad crossed our path we found ourselves on the summit of Wildcat Mtn looking down with a beautiful view of Carter Notch.
We stopped for half an hour at Carter Hut to refill our water and eat half our lunches. So far we were on schedule and after re-energizing at the hut we were anxious to push up to Carter Dome and get onto the ridge again. On our way up we ran into a south bound thru-hiker that had broken his ankle in the Mahoosucs, but had resolved to keep on with his journey. I can’t imagine what that’s like, but no matter how much I’d want to finish I think I’d chalk it up to bad luck and try it another time. We pushed hard up the steep trail and within less than an hour were on the summit of Carter Dome. The views here are limited, but to the north we could see our destination getting a little larger and Mt Hight where we made our next stop. Even though it was sunny and warm the breeze was chilly on treeless summit so, we could only enjoy the excellent views for a limited time, but stayed long enough to snap a group photo.
When we reached Zeta Pass there was a large family that looked completely out of energy and could barely muster a conversation with us. I think maybe they needed some GU energy gels to get them going like LenDawg and myself. The ascents and descents along the ridge are so gradual along the Carters that we made great time along South, Middle and North Carter. At South Carter we stopped for a moment to contemplate finishing lunch, but a large group soon crowed the small summit. I spoke to one hiker in the group about Mt Isolation where he believes there is a conspiracy regarding the true summit. I’ll have to check it out this Saturday. I’m starting to have my doubts about any summit really existing, maybe there is always a slightly higher rock that is invisible to the naked eye unless viewed with special refractive glasses.
We stopped to eat the rest of our lunch at Middle Carter and were starting to feel tired, but knowing we only had Moriah and North Carter ahead of us kept our spirits up. At North Carter some gray jays met us and LenDawg had them eating out of his hand, which was a lot of fun. The rest of the way to Moriah we ran into many hikers making there way to the Imp shelter for the night and thoughts of eating dinner motivated us up to the summit of Moriah by 5:30. We rejoiced upon reaching our last summit of the day and relaxed as we took in the spectacular view looking back at where we had started.
We ended our traverse by 7:25 running down most of the trail from Mt Surprise and stopping only to eat some blueberries and raspberries along the trail. If you get a chance there should still be some left along the way up to Moriah from Gorham.
Pictures are here
We all met up at the Carter Moriah Trail in Gorham at 6:30 and chatted while we prepared our gear and wondered if any last minute arrivals to our group would appear. After some shuffling around of gear, we drove down to the Glen Ellis Falls parking area and started our hike at 7:30. We were all a little worried that the hike would take much longer than book time and as I drove us down to Pinkham Notch it started to sink in how far we intended to hike. Luckily, the humidity was low and the temps were comfortable all day with a nice breeze to cool us off, which certainly helped us stay on schedule. After crossing under Route 16 we had a tricky crossing of the Ellis River, but managed to stay dry and soon began our first ascent of the day.
The Wildcat Ridge Trail immediately starts a steep ascent and we stopped many times as open areas offered excellent cloudless view of Mt Washington. We seemed to scramble and ascend for about an hour until we reached a split rock where we took a few pictures and of course LenDawg couldn’t miss an opportunity to put on his moose hat! Even though we knew we were in for a long day we stopped to have fun as often as possible. Around 9:00 we made it to the Wildcat Ski Area and enjoyed some snacks for our first small rest of the day and then we were off to Wildcat D to take in some views and a chilly breeze. We trekked on for awhile and enjoyed the beautiful low trees and scenery along the ridge, until I was startled by a large toad. It seems there everywhere lately and I’m probably going to step on one by accident pretty soon! Shortly after the terrifying toad crossed our path we found ourselves on the summit of Wildcat Mtn looking down with a beautiful view of Carter Notch.
We stopped for half an hour at Carter Hut to refill our water and eat half our lunches. So far we were on schedule and after re-energizing at the hut we were anxious to push up to Carter Dome and get onto the ridge again. On our way up we ran into a south bound thru-hiker that had broken his ankle in the Mahoosucs, but had resolved to keep on with his journey. I can’t imagine what that’s like, but no matter how much I’d want to finish I think I’d chalk it up to bad luck and try it another time. We pushed hard up the steep trail and within less than an hour were on the summit of Carter Dome. The views here are limited, but to the north we could see our destination getting a little larger and Mt Hight where we made our next stop. Even though it was sunny and warm the breeze was chilly on treeless summit so, we could only enjoy the excellent views for a limited time, but stayed long enough to snap a group photo.
When we reached Zeta Pass there was a large family that looked completely out of energy and could barely muster a conversation with us. I think maybe they needed some GU energy gels to get them going like LenDawg and myself. The ascents and descents along the ridge are so gradual along the Carters that we made great time along South, Middle and North Carter. At South Carter we stopped for a moment to contemplate finishing lunch, but a large group soon crowed the small summit. I spoke to one hiker in the group about Mt Isolation where he believes there is a conspiracy regarding the true summit. I’ll have to check it out this Saturday. I’m starting to have my doubts about any summit really existing, maybe there is always a slightly higher rock that is invisible to the naked eye unless viewed with special refractive glasses.
We stopped to eat the rest of our lunch at Middle Carter and were starting to feel tired, but knowing we only had Moriah and North Carter ahead of us kept our spirits up. At North Carter some gray jays met us and LenDawg had them eating out of his hand, which was a lot of fun. The rest of the way to Moriah we ran into many hikers making there way to the Imp shelter for the night and thoughts of eating dinner motivated us up to the summit of Moriah by 5:30. We rejoiced upon reaching our last summit of the day and relaxed as we took in the spectacular view looking back at where we had started.
We ended our traverse by 7:25 running down most of the trail from Mt Surprise and stopping only to eat some blueberries and raspberries along the trail. If you get a chance there should still be some left along the way up to Moriah from Gorham.
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