South Carter - 4430' Middle Carter - 4610' (36/48)

Trail-head

Exactly one week after our hike up Carter Dome, Paloma and I wanted to finish the other two Carters – Middle and South Carter.  In retrospect, we should have tackled these two when hiking Carter Dome, but alas, any day hiking is a good day so we didn’t mind the extra trip up.  Plus, my parents decided to join us for their first hike of the year.  We met up at the Park-N-Ride in Newburyport so that we could carpool.  The ride up Rt. 16 was pretty uneventful as usual, and I was able to relax a bit after volunteering at a beer festival the night before.

We arrived at the Nineteen Mile Brook trail-head at approximately 9:15AM, made our final preparations, and were on the trail at 9:34AM.  Our route for the day was a 10.8 mile loop up the Nineteen Mile Brook and Carter Dome trails to Zeta Pass, then along the Carter-Moriah trail over both summits, before finally descending by the North Carter and Imp trails back to Rt. 16.  Per usual, the Nineteen Mile Brook trail provided a nice warm up to the hike and we finished this section relatively quickly.  It was stunning how different the temperatures were from the previous weekend, as during that hike I was wearing a jacket and quite chilly yet was already dripping sweat on this hike by the time we reached the junction with the Carter Dome trail.

Summit of South Carter

The Carter Dome trail was a bit steeper than the Nineteen Mile Brook trail so we took it pretty easy, knowing that we had quite a bit of mileage in front of us still.  The trail gains elevation quite quickly through a series of switchbacks, but never really hits any extremely steep grades.  That being said, the humidity was catching up to us and we were all sweaty.  Unfortunately, any time we stopped to take a breather we were met with an onslaught of black flies and mosquitoes.  There is nothing worse than black flies when hiking.  Nothing!

We reached Zeta Pass at 12:25PM and chatted for a bit with a guy named Doug and his daughter Amy who were sitting down cooking some Ramen Noodles on a camp stove to the side of the trail.  Boy, did that little 50 cent package of Ramen look delicious!  We chatted for a few minutes before heading over to bag the summit of South Carter.  The going across the ridge was pretty easy with a few small PUDs along the way (pointless ups and downs), and there was still a couple piles of snow surviving the heat along the side of the trail.  A series of man-made bridges help us navigate the muddy sections and before we knew it we were at the summit of South Carter. 

Mom and Dad

It was 1:00PM on the dot and we were all hungry so we decided to hunker down and eat lunch and enjoy the views (or lack thereof…).  Seriously, the summit of South Carter is just a cairn in the middle of the woods – pretty unmemorable.  Once we sat down we were again bombarded by all sorts of flying insects – I guess it was lunchtime for them too.  We wolfed down our sandwiches, cookies, and some chips and decided to get out of there before we were fully consumed by the bugs.  We began the trek over to Middle Carter at 1:11PM.  Given the humidity I was nearly out of water already, which was impressive since I carried 3L of water to start the day.  Guess the beer festival the night before made me thirsty!

Again, the going across the ridge was pretty easy.  There were some sections of low lying brush which afforded us some pretty nice views, even though it was a bit cloudy out.  The breeze in these sections helped to keep the bugs at bay which was nice as well.  We reached the summit of Middle Carter at 2:02 PM – again, another pile of rocks in the woods.  At least here there was a little lookout point which had some pretty nice views from it.  Since we had already ate lunch we pretty much just took a few photos and continued on our way down.  Shortly into our descent we passed a couple people who warned us of a “crazy bird” that had been attacking people that afternoon on the trail.  Some sort of grouse or something.  I was actually hoping that we would run into it to see what all the fuss was about but we never had the pleasure.

Summit of Middle Carter

We reached the junction with the North Carter trail at 2:34PM and after just a few minutes we were hiking down the middle of a small riverbed.  This was interesting.  There weren’t any visible trail markings so we took a few minutes to look at the map.  I was convinced we were on the trail but it was in pretty rough shape.  The trail was extremely narrow and soaking wet with a few blown down trees.  Fun.  We finally began to see some footprints in the mud and realized we were, in fact, on the correct trial.  It took us nearly an hour to get down to the junction with the Imp trail, reaching it at 3:23PM.  Only a little over three miles were left!  At this point Paloma and I decided to take off ahead on our own as someone was going to have to hike or get a ride 1.5 miles back up Rt. 16 to retrieve our car from the parking lot since this route didn’t end at our starting point.  We figured we could cruise down, walk or grab a ride, and make it back by the time my parents were finishing.

Paloma and I at the lookout

The Imp trail, while consistently downhill, seemed to be filled with pointy and loose rocks, making it a bit difficult to go down as fast as we wanted to.  Usually we try a light jog on the descent at points but trying that here would have been irresponsible and dangerous.  We were still able to keep a good pace but with both of our waters empty and our feet starting to hurt, it wasn’t effortless!  The Imp trail taunts you a bit because you nearly get to Rt. 16 before it turns and skirts parallel alongside it.  You can hear cars but can’t see them or reach any parking lots!  We ended up passing Doug and Amy on the way down, but they caught back up to us when we stopped to determine if we could bushwhack back to the car instead of continuing on the trail.  Rather than bushwhacking, Doug offered us a ride back to our car so we decided to hike the rest with him and his daughter.  We spent the last mile or so chatting about hiking, recounting stories from our more memorable hikes.  It made the time go by very quickly.

Cloudy but beautiful!

We reached Rt. 16 at 4:44PM and followed Doug and Amy for about a quarter mile on the road to their car and they dropped Paloma and I at our car.  What nice people you sometimes meet on the trail!  Paloma and I shed our boots and drove back to where we finished the hike to wait for my parents.  It felt great to change into new clothes and clean ourselves up a bit!  My parents came out of the woods at about 5:15PM, exhausted.  A good meal was earned by all of us, so after my parents had a chance to clean up a bit we headed to the Red Fox for a delicious dinner!

All-in-all this was a decent hike but not one I would recommend if you are looking for views.  I do enjoy the Nineteen Mile Brook trail so that is a plus.

Hike Stats
Trails: Nineteen Mile Brook, Carter Dome, Carter-Moriah, North Carter, Imp
Total Time (Including Breaks): 7:10
Distance: 10.8 Miles
Elevation Gain: 3,500'