BIGEarl
Well-known member
September 5, 2007: Wildcats & Carter-Moriah Traverse
Trails:
A.T. from Pinkham Notch to Route 2 in Gorham
Trail segments:
Lost Pond Trail
Wildcat Ridge Trail
Nineteen Mile Brook Trail
Carter-Moriah Trail
Kenduskeag Trail
Rattle River Trail
Distance – Elevation: 21 miles, 7,150 feet, (plus 3.7 miles - road walk)
Often a story ends with the comment – “It seemed like a good idea at the time”.
Well…
This hike has been on my to-do list for 2007. The days have started to get shorter and I decided to get moving on this one. A few weeks ago I started to see about hiking partners for the hike. At one point it looked like I had a solid plan in place with one other person but he cancelled out the night before due to a personal matter. I decided to take a shot at the hike, solo or accompanied, on August 29 but the forecasted weather conditions became very unfavorable and I once again delayed. Finally, everything fell into place for a hike on September 5 and I was off.
My day started at 1:00am for the final preparation and a departure to Pinkham Notch Visitor Center (PNVC) at 2:00am. Along the way I thought about where to leave the truck – PNVC or Rattle River trailhead, which was my ending location. If I parked at PNVC it would mean hitching a ride back there at the end of the day. Parking at Rattle River would mean starting by hitching a ride. With multiple possible bail-outs as part of the plan there was a possibility of hitching a ride mid-hike. All of the bail-outs went to Route 16 which seemed to suggest a PNVC location was best. I decided to end the day with hitching a ride. I expected to arrive at 5:00am but was roughly 20 minutes early. I took care of my final preparation, which included adding a layer – it was cool and windy, turned on my headlight and headed out on the Lost Pond Trail.
I had initially expected to reach the Lost Pond – Wildcat Ridge trails junction as it was starting to get light but that wasn’t the case. I came to the trails junction, turned left and started up the Wildcat Ridge Trail in darkness. It wasn’t as difficult as I had expected. I took my time and slowly made progress toward the ridge. By the time I reached the first ledge viewpoint the headlight was off and packed away. The temperature was in the low 40’s and I had a pretty good breeze to tolerate. Hiking the Wildcat Ridge Trail from Pinkham early in the morning means you’re on the dark side of the moon – no benefit from the warm sun. As I’ve said before – it doesn’t take much to make a fat guy sweat – and I was working pretty hard in climbing to Wildcat Ridge. I had no trouble in keeping warm.
Surprisingly, I made it to the ridge and found myself on Wildcat D a solid 30 minutes ahead of plan. Not bad! On the way I had thought about stopping at the ski patrol shack at the top of Wildcat for a brief break. When I arrived there I could see a couple occupied sleeping bags on the floor and decided not to disturb these folks.
I knew hiking across Wildcat Ridge is hard work and I needed to keep focused on getting through to Wildcat A. No problem! I reached Wildcat A, stopped for a few pictures at the outlook over Carter Notch and continued. The next challenge to overcome was right in front of me. The view of Carter Dome on the far side of Carter Notch is very de-motivating. This is the first place where it would be very easy to call it a day, but I wasn’t quite ready for that. Down from Wildcat A to Carter Notch I hiked. When I reached the Wildcat Ridge – Nineteen Mile Brook trails junction I finally stopped for refreshment. With that out of the way I headed off for the Carter Moriah Trail, which would lead me to Carter Dome, across the Carters, and on to Moriah.
Part of my plan was to have lunch and re-supply with water at the spring below the summit of Carter Dome. On an earlier similar hike I found my water supply was very low after lunch on Mt. Hight and it ran out before the Imp Campsite. I wanted to avoid a similar situation. I started the hike with plenty of water and Gatorade to make it well past Zeta Pass but made it a point to drink as much as possible on the way to Carter Dome. By stopping at the Carter Dome spring I could re-hydrate, eat, and top everything off. I also had an extra container to fill there. I was sure this approach would do the job. While climbing Carter Dome I came upon a couple large groups of students from a school in Beverly Ma., they were staying at the Carter Notch Hut for a few days. Outdoor education I assumed. Actually, there were at least three groups with two adult chaperones in each group – they all met at the summit of Carter Dome, a crowded place. One of the groups were planning to visit the spring but missed it. I found the path that leads to the spring goes left from the Carter-Moriah trail at 4300 feet. There’s a slight loss of elevation to the spring. It’s a good idea to have a filter to aid in pumping water from the shallow pool at the spring. I had my lunch, water, and Gatorade, reloaded with water and Gatorade, and headed back to the hike.
Soon, I reached the summit and found the crowded conditions. A few pictures and I was on my way to Mt. Hight. Everybody was clearly getting comfortable and planning to have their lunch, which gave me the opportunity to put some distance between me and everybody else. The hike across Mt. Hight and down to Zeta Pass was clear – a little rough coming off Mt. Hight but I’ve been through this section before and knew it was coming. I hit the junction with the Carter Dome Trail and knew Zeta Pass was just around the corner.
Trails:
A.T. from Pinkham Notch to Route 2 in Gorham
Trail segments:
Lost Pond Trail
Wildcat Ridge Trail
Nineteen Mile Brook Trail
Carter-Moriah Trail
Kenduskeag Trail
Rattle River Trail
Distance – Elevation: 21 miles, 7,150 feet, (plus 3.7 miles - road walk)
Often a story ends with the comment – “It seemed like a good idea at the time”.
Well…
This hike has been on my to-do list for 2007. The days have started to get shorter and I decided to get moving on this one. A few weeks ago I started to see about hiking partners for the hike. At one point it looked like I had a solid plan in place with one other person but he cancelled out the night before due to a personal matter. I decided to take a shot at the hike, solo or accompanied, on August 29 but the forecasted weather conditions became very unfavorable and I once again delayed. Finally, everything fell into place for a hike on September 5 and I was off.
My day started at 1:00am for the final preparation and a departure to Pinkham Notch Visitor Center (PNVC) at 2:00am. Along the way I thought about where to leave the truck – PNVC or Rattle River trailhead, which was my ending location. If I parked at PNVC it would mean hitching a ride back there at the end of the day. Parking at Rattle River would mean starting by hitching a ride. With multiple possible bail-outs as part of the plan there was a possibility of hitching a ride mid-hike. All of the bail-outs went to Route 16 which seemed to suggest a PNVC location was best. I decided to end the day with hitching a ride. I expected to arrive at 5:00am but was roughly 20 minutes early. I took care of my final preparation, which included adding a layer – it was cool and windy, turned on my headlight and headed out on the Lost Pond Trail.
I had initially expected to reach the Lost Pond – Wildcat Ridge trails junction as it was starting to get light but that wasn’t the case. I came to the trails junction, turned left and started up the Wildcat Ridge Trail in darkness. It wasn’t as difficult as I had expected. I took my time and slowly made progress toward the ridge. By the time I reached the first ledge viewpoint the headlight was off and packed away. The temperature was in the low 40’s and I had a pretty good breeze to tolerate. Hiking the Wildcat Ridge Trail from Pinkham early in the morning means you’re on the dark side of the moon – no benefit from the warm sun. As I’ve said before – it doesn’t take much to make a fat guy sweat – and I was working pretty hard in climbing to Wildcat Ridge. I had no trouble in keeping warm.
Surprisingly, I made it to the ridge and found myself on Wildcat D a solid 30 minutes ahead of plan. Not bad! On the way I had thought about stopping at the ski patrol shack at the top of Wildcat for a brief break. When I arrived there I could see a couple occupied sleeping bags on the floor and decided not to disturb these folks.
I knew hiking across Wildcat Ridge is hard work and I needed to keep focused on getting through to Wildcat A. No problem! I reached Wildcat A, stopped for a few pictures at the outlook over Carter Notch and continued. The next challenge to overcome was right in front of me. The view of Carter Dome on the far side of Carter Notch is very de-motivating. This is the first place where it would be very easy to call it a day, but I wasn’t quite ready for that. Down from Wildcat A to Carter Notch I hiked. When I reached the Wildcat Ridge – Nineteen Mile Brook trails junction I finally stopped for refreshment. With that out of the way I headed off for the Carter Moriah Trail, which would lead me to Carter Dome, across the Carters, and on to Moriah.
Part of my plan was to have lunch and re-supply with water at the spring below the summit of Carter Dome. On an earlier similar hike I found my water supply was very low after lunch on Mt. Hight and it ran out before the Imp Campsite. I wanted to avoid a similar situation. I started the hike with plenty of water and Gatorade to make it well past Zeta Pass but made it a point to drink as much as possible on the way to Carter Dome. By stopping at the Carter Dome spring I could re-hydrate, eat, and top everything off. I also had an extra container to fill there. I was sure this approach would do the job. While climbing Carter Dome I came upon a couple large groups of students from a school in Beverly Ma., they were staying at the Carter Notch Hut for a few days. Outdoor education I assumed. Actually, there were at least three groups with two adult chaperones in each group – they all met at the summit of Carter Dome, a crowded place. One of the groups were planning to visit the spring but missed it. I found the path that leads to the spring goes left from the Carter-Moriah trail at 4300 feet. There’s a slight loss of elevation to the spring. It’s a good idea to have a filter to aid in pumping water from the shallow pool at the spring. I had my lunch, water, and Gatorade, reloaded with water and Gatorade, and headed back to the hike.
Soon, I reached the summit and found the crowded conditions. A few pictures and I was on my way to Mt. Hight. Everybody was clearly getting comfortable and planning to have their lunch, which gave me the opportunity to put some distance between me and everybody else. The hike across Mt. Hight and down to Zeta Pass was clear – a little rough coming off Mt. Hight but I’ve been through this section before and knew it was coming. I hit the junction with the Carter Dome Trail and knew Zeta Pass was just around the corner.
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