Mt. Moosilauke - 4802' (4/48)

Gorge Brook Trail-head

 On Saturday, June 30th, Paloma, John, and I set out to hike Mt. Moosilauke.  Moosilauke is the western-most 4k footer in NH.  The weather was beautiful and the ride up Rt. 93 to the trail-head was clear and took a lot less time than we anticipated.  We arrived at the Ravine Lodge - which is ran by students at Dartmouth College - at about 9:30AM.  The parking area was quite full and we weren't entirely sure where the trail-head was located so we headed into the Lodge to ask for directions.  We officially began our hike at 9:37AM.

Our First View

We decided to take the Gorge Brook Trail to the summit.  It started off by crossing a couple of man-made bridges, then gradually worked its way up Moosilauke.  There were a few areas where the trail had experienced some severe wash-out, so getting through these spots took a bit of extra care.  The rest of the trail was in pretty good shape.  We thought that the day was going to be extremely hot but it turned out to be perfect.  Paloma wanted to take it easy going up, so John and I took the lead and held a pretty strong pace towards the summit.  A good ways up the mountain we came to a clearing that offered us our first amazing view.  It looks like the trees had been blown down or cut, which opened up the area.

Closing in on the Summit

We continued up the trail, past a couple of steep portions and the trees began to get smaller and smaller.  We were treated with amazing views along the way up.  The weather was still absolutely gorgeous and you could see for hundreds of miles.  Made you realize how small you were.  Once you reach the alpine zone, there are a number of cairns that lead you passed Paloma's summit (will expand on this in a few paragraphs) towards the final ascent to the bare, rocky summit.  At this point since we were exposed to weather, it actually became quite cool and windy.

John and I reached the summit at 11:30AM, and after snapping a few photos we hunkered down amongst some boulders to shield us from the cool wind, ate some snacks, and waited for Paloma.  There were quite a few people at the summit, and we chatted a bit with some of the other folks on the top.  One older guy was explaining to another hiker that he has completed the Hundred Highest New Hampshire peaks in both summer and winter, and was now working on hiking the different mountains in different months to see how his experience would differ.  Pretty impressive if you ask me, but certainly not as impressive as the view from the summit.  The summit offered an amazing 360 degree view, and we could see all of the White Mountains and even up into some of the Vermont mountains.  Beautiful.  This reminded me of why I enjoy hiking so much.

Paloma, John, and I at the Summit

Paloma arrived approximately 40 minutes later, and we could both tell that she was a little bit "ticked off."  Apparently Paloma had waited at the first cairn for a decent amount of time, thinking that this was the summit.  She was misinformed by another couple hiking as well, so she was a bit confused, and the fact that our hikes up Mt. Tom and Mt. Field a few weeks prior had summits similar to what the first cairn looked like - I guess I can understand. ;).  We sorted it out and got back in good spirits, and began joking about "Paloma's Summit" for a while.  Every cairn we would pass on the way down we would say
"Congrats on another peak, Paloma!"

Paloma Adds on to a Cairn

After a few minutes of eating trail-mix and hydrating, we decided it was time to head down.  We wanted to make it back to Boston to go out for a friends birthday.  We decided to take the Carriage Road down which eventually connects with the Snapper Trail which would return us to our starting point.  The Carriage Road follows a ridge off of the top of Moosilauke towards Moosilauke's second peak (which we skipped due to time/the fact that it doesn't count as a 4k) rather gradually, before depending moderately down the mountain. The Carriage Road was a fairly easy trail to descend, and we were glad that we hadn't taken it on the way up (it was a bit boring).  We kept a very fast pace on the way down, and Paloma kept up just fine - I was quite impressed.  After we reached the Snapper trail (in what seemed like record time), we began the final push towards the bottom.  It only took us approximately an hour and a half to reach our car.

Overall this might be one of my favorite hikes yet.  The weather was gorgeous, the trails were nice, and the summit was amazing.  It was a bit crowded but everyone was respectful along the way so I didn't mind at all.  Highly recommend this hike if you are looking for a good one!

Hike Stats
Trails: Gorge Brook, Carriage Road, Snapper
Total Time (Including Breaks): 4:50
Distance: 7.5 Miles
Elevation Gain: 2450'