Carter Dome - 4832' (34/48)

Trail-head

This past weekend Paloma, John, Foster, and I decided to head up to the mountains to tackle Carter Dome.  John and Foster slept at our place the night before so that we could get as early of a start as possible, anticipating that Memorial Day weekend would attract a slew of tourists to the White Mountains.  We were up and on the road at just after 5:40AM, and began our journey towards the Nineteen Mile Brook trail-head located just past the Mt. Washington auto road off of Rt. 16.  The weather was quite cool, barely breaking 40 degrees on the drive up.

Our plan for the day was to hike up the Nineteen Mile Brook trail to Carter Notch and the Carter Lakes, then take the steep Carter-Moriah trail up to the summit of Carter Dome – a total distance of 10 miles round trip.  I had toyed with the idea of tackling all of the Carters but given that this was our first big hike for the year I decided against it.  Plus, I wasn’t sure what the snow situation was going to be like at the higher elevations.

We arrived at the trail-head parking lot at 8:30AM and had to park on the road as the lot was completely full.  There were already a few cars parked on the road – looked like it was going to be a busy day.  The weather was a balmy 36 degrees, and in a rush out of the house I didn’t grab all of the layers I wanted to.  Oh well, I figured once we got moving I would be just fine.  We officially hit the trail at 8:42AM.

Johnny at the Lake

The first four or so miles up the Nineteen Mile Brook trail are quite pleasant and relatively easy.  The trail follows along the Nineteen Mile Brook, crossing it periodically.  It was quite scenic and enjoyable, even though I had already hiked down this trail in the past when hiking the Wildcats.  There were a few areas where there was some trail erosion and mud but nothing too concerning or difficult to get around.  The river was flowing quite aggressively due to the melting snow from this past winter.  For the number of cars we saw in the lot, we encountered very few people on the way up to the Notch.

As we got a bit higher in elevation there was some scattered snow in the woods but thankfully nothing on the trails at this point.  I could tell Foster was anticipating some nasty potholing up ahead and it was funny to hear him talk about how much he hates hiking in the snow.  We reached the split with the Carter Dome trail at 9:26AM though continued on the Nineteen Mile Brook trail to the Notch.  We reached the Carter Lakes area 10:15AM, and after taking some photos of the beautiful lake and the cliffs on Wildcat, began the difficult part of the hike – 1.2 miles up the Carter-Moriah trail to the summit of Carter Dome.

Snow!

To say this section is steep is an understatement.  That being said, however, there are plenty of hand and foot holds to hang onto and not much erosion – which made this section mostly just physically tiring than technically challenging, per se.  My heart was beating so hard at some points that I could feel it throbbing in the back of my head.  “Whew – this will get me back into hiking shape in no time” I had thought to myself.  John was pushing the pace up this section and we all silently agreed to reconvene at the summit.  The views from some points of this trail were amazing – looking back over at the Wildcats and Mt. Washington.  It was quite breezy at this point and my hands were going numb – I estimated it to be south of 40 degrees up there.  There was also quite a bit of snow but the cold temps overnight froze it solid so you could easily walk on top without post-holing.

While this stretch was only supposed to be 1.2 miles, it seemed like it was triple that.  Once you get past the steep, slide section you continue the ascent through another wooded section that drags on forever with minimal views.  Unfortunately, the summit of Carter Dome is the same way…not that exciting.  I made it to the summit at 11:24AM, John had made it there a few minutes before me and Paloma and Foster arrived a few minutes after.  There was a friendly dog named Monty at the top who almost made off with Paloma’s sandwich.  While the sun was shining bright on the top of Carter Dome, it was quite chilly so we quickly wolfed down our sandwiches and snacks, took our summit photos, then headed back down at 11:42AM.

Chilly Lunch at the Top

On the hike up we had passed a short trail off of the Carter-Moriah trail marked “View.”  We were too gassed on the way up to stop for a look but decided to hit it up on the way down.  It was only about 30 yards up the trail to a great lookout point, providing beautiful views of the notch below and over to the neighboring mountains.  Much better than the view (or lack thereof) at the summit of Carter Dome!

We had to take extra care on the descent as the trail was quite slippery with ice and water at some points.  Paloma had prepared for this and put on her microspikes – the rest of us bare-booted down.  Luckily no real bad slips or injuries!  We were able to get down from the steep part and back into the notch pretty quickly, and began the long, easy descent down the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail.  The trails got a lot busier as the day went on and now we were passing numerous people along our descent.  At one point we came to a bridge and another group of hikers were on the other side.  We let them go first but for some reason one of their dogs was terrified of me and wouldn’t cross the bridge until I did and moved to the side.  What did I do!?!?

Summit of Carter Dome

The rest of the descent was pretty uneventful and we were actually able to jog for long sections of the descent which helped us shave off some time.  We made it back to the parking lot at 2:00PM on the dot, shed our gear and hopped into the car, hoping to get out of the mountains before the evening traffic started.  On the way home we stopped in Portsmouth, NH for dinner at the Thirsty Moose.  It was quite delicious and much deserved after this 10 mile hike!

Overall this was a nice hike and while the views from the summit are nearly non-existent, the look-out point and the beautiful lake make it all worthwhile.  If you are up for it I would suggest grabbing all of the Carters at once (Carter Dome, Middle Carter, South Carter) because we now have to make the same trip up next weekend to finish them off!

"View"

Hike Stats

Trails: Nineteen Mile Brook, Carter-Moriah

Total Time (Including Breaks): 5:20

Distance: 10 Miles

Elevation Gain: 3,400' (approx.)

Mt. Cabot - 4170' (26/48)

This is to you, Mt. Cabot!

You may be wondering why this particular blog post is starting off with a pixelated photo of my middle finger at the summit of Mt. Cabot.  Maybe you aren't, however you will soon find out!

The forecast was looking beautiful for Saturday, so Paloma and I, joined by Julie and Joe, decided to head up to the mountains to hike the Wildcats.  The ride up Rte. 16 went relatively smoothly, though I did take one wrong turn but that was easily fixed.  As we approached Pinkham Notch we noticed a large volume of cars parked on the sides of the road and numerous cyclists with racing numbers attached to their jerseys.  Great - we chose to hike Wildcat during the famous Inferno race, a pentathlon of running, cycling, kayaking, hiking and skiing in the area.  No chance we were going to find parking anywhere near the trail-head.  Time for plan B.

York Pond Trail-head

The time was already later than usual, so we scrambled to find a nearby hike.  Since we had already driven quite a ways, we decided to continue up Rte. 16 all the way to Berlin, NH, to hike Mt. Cabot, the northernmost four-thousand footer.  Along the way we grabbed Subway sandwiches because it was already close to lunch-time. I had read about Cabot before and was quite excited to hike it because of the chances of seeing moose and bear.

We decided to hike from the Berlin Fish Hatchery, a rather unique looking facility nestled deep in the woods off of York Pond Road.  We asked a few gentlemen where the trailhead was and found it relatively easy.  There were a few cars in the parking lot, and a ton of snow still left.  I was the only person who brought snowshoes so I decided that I would lead the pack and hopefully flatten down some of the snow for the others to hike on.

Packing down the trail

Our route of the day had us taking the York Pond Trail to the Bunnell Notch Trail, following along this for about 2.8 miles to the Kilkenny Ridge trail and taking that to the summit.  We began the 9.4 mile out-and-back hike at 12:00PM on the dot - much later than we had hoped but still doable none-the-less.

The first 1.5 miles or so was relatively flat, hiking across some pretty open terrain.  There were hundreds of gigantic moose tracks in the snow, strange looking animal poops scattered about, and what looked like the remains of a massacred bird.  We were in the wild!  At one point I mentioned to Joe how cool it would be to see a bear, when all of a sudden an animal emerged from the woods about 50 yards ahead of us.  It was a giant, weasel-looking animal.  Turns out it was a Fisher Cat!  Cool!

Fisher Cat in the distance

Even though the trail was relatively flat at this point, the hiking was very difficult as the snow was quite soft and if you stepped off the narrow packed down path even an inch you would sink nearly three feet deep in slushy snow.  There were a few river crossings which were not difficult but did take a bit of maneuvering to get across.  Julie especially was having difficulties sinking into the snow often, rightfully earning her the nickname Bambi (have you ever seen a baby deer try to walk?). 

Snowy crossing

We finally made it through the field section, already well behind our time goal but the weather was so nice that we decided to continue.  We finally reached a section where we were gaining some elevation and hiking next to a steep ravine.  Still, the snow was extremely soft and only getting softer with the increasing temperature.  The language coming out of our mouths was more vulgar than the worst Eminem songs as we continued to fall, sink, and curse our way up.

A bit further on we encountered our first humans, a pair of raggedy looking guys on their way down.  Joe asked "how much further do we have," to which one of the mongrels replied "you are going to hate yourselves."  Gee, thanks for the insight buddy.  Things were looking promising!  We carried on, stumbling our way through the snow, post-holing nearly every five feet.  My snowshoes were useless at this point so I strapped them to my pack and decided to just go with microspikes.  We hiked for a few more grueling miles and saw some more people, each of them in about the same mood as us...borderline miserable.  Thank God for the nice weather, or this day would have really sucked.  One guy we passed while he was on the way down referred to the trail as "the trail of tears."  It was truly that horrible.  I imagine that in the summer or dead of winter this trail would be relatively easy, but not now.

Bambi double-postholing

We re-evaluated at this point as to whether we should continue.  We had already invested so much time driving and hiking to this point, no way in hell was I turning around.  We pushed on, finally reaching the Kilkenny Ridge trail.  Things were looking promising.  The trail began getting quite steep and we were exhausted and wet.  I had foolishly worn shorts, and everytime I postholed the icy top layer of snow acted like wax, ripping my leg hairs out.  Ouch.  After what seemed like an eternity, we finally came across the old Boy Scout Cabin near the summit of Mt. Cabot at 3:20PM.  We went inside to the grimy little abode to eat some snacks and take a much needed break.  I added a short entry into the hiking log that was left inside.  After a short rest, we headed towards the summit of Cabot, a few tenths of a mile further. 

Sweet cabin!

The approach to the summit was absolutely horrible.  The snow was nearly 6 feet deep in some spots, with spruce traps and tree wells just begging to suck you under for good.  We finally reached the summit at 3:50PM, where we took a couple quick photos and I flipped good ol' Mt. Cabot the bird for being such a pain in the ass hike.  With an eye on the time, we decided to head down right away.  Much like the hike up, postholing was inevitable.  One by one we would all fall down (isn't that a nursery rhyme or something?).  Needless to say, we were making decent time down, that is, until the accident.

Paloma and I at the summit

A bit of background information:  for about three weeks my left foot had been hurting a bit - nothing serious, but definitely not feeling quite 'normal.'  Well, about 3 miles from the car I post holed and turned what was apparently the start of a stress fracture into a full fledged broken bone.  I screamed as Paloma tried to take my boot off.  Thoughts were racing through my head - how was I going to get down?  It was already way later than we wanted...was the weather going to stay ok?  Was the sunlight going to disappear?  I tried to stand but could barely put any pressure on my now swollen left foot.  Damn!  Joe had some athletic tape which I wrapped tightly around my broken foot, and I managed to get my boot back on, tying it extra tight for as much support as I could get.

Wounds

Knowing that we had no choice, Joe, Julie, and Paloma divided up my gear, each carrying a bit of the weight.  Joe gave me his hiking poles to act as a bit of a crutch.  I then managed to hike, scream, and swear at a snails pace.  This was the worst.  Every step I took felt like I was walking on fire.  Everytime my right foot postholed into the snow, all of my weight was put on my broken left foot causing intense pain.  I now know why they say to hike with partners.  If I was alone I might have panicked but luckily Joe, Julie, and Paloma were all very supportive.  We were even able to joke a bit on the way down which helped raise my spirits.  I felt like I was starring in a war movie and was escaping some enemy base, wounded.  By the time we could see the car, the sunlight was nearly all gone.  The last hundred yards felt like an eternity, but finally, I was back at the car.  It was 7:45PM.  What a day.

Exhausted, wet, and hungry, we decided to find a place to eat in North Conway.  We chose the Moat Mountain Smokehouse and Brewing Company.  Thankfully we got a table by the door so I was able to hobble in.  I ordered some a sample of 9 different beers to help dull the pain and we engorged ourselves with burgers, pulled pork, and fries.  Finally I was feeling better!  We didn't end up getting home until around midnight.  A long, painful day it was but we were still able to joke around and have fun, and I have no regrets about the hike at all, just lessons learned:

1) Don't hike in warm weather when there is still snow on the ground.
2) Don't wear shorts when post-holing is inevitable.  You will lose copious amounts of leg hair.
3) Research local area events before planning a hike.
4) If something is hurting you, listen to it, and don't try to hike 10 miles.
5) Hike with others.

I visited the hospital on Sunday morning and was diagnosed with a fractured fifth metatarsal.  Today I visited the orthopedic doctor and was given a permanent cast that I will need to wear for a month.  Hopefully this thing heals up nicely so I can get back on the trails soon!

Hike Stats
Trails: York Pond, Bunnell Notch, Kilkenny Ridge
Total Time (Including Breaks): 7:45
Distance: 9.4 Miles
Elevation Gain: 2900'

Mt. Lincoln- 5089' (25/48)

Ever since our failed attempt at bagging Mt. Lincoln while hiking Mt. Lafayette last September, the mountain has been calling our names to complete it.  Lincoln was the last of the four Franconia ridge mountains that we had to complete (Lafayette, Liberty, and Flume being the others), so we decided that it would be a good choice for our 25th mountain.  Finally my buddy Foster was going to join us on a hike, so Paloma, Foster, and myself set off on Saturday morning towards Franconia Notch to finally bag Lincoln.

We arrived at the Falling Waters trail-head at around 9:15 AM.  Despite the forecast calling for clouds and showers, the weather at the base was a beautiful 45 degrees with minimal clouds in the sky.  Things were looking good.  We made our final preparations and were on the trail at 9:30 AM.  There was still a ton of snow on the ground, I estimated about three feet or so, but luckily the trail was pretty well packed down and easy to follow.

The frozen cascades

Our route for the day was to hike up the Falling Waters trail to the top of Little Haystack, then traverse the ridge to the summit of Lincoln and return the same way, a total distance of 7.8 miles.  The lower portion of the Falling Waters trail is relatively mild, gaining elevation gradually.  Since there was so much snow, we had little issues with any of the water crossings as they were completely covered - sometimes we didn't even realize we were over a river bed.  Within only a few minutes we reached what we assumed was the cascades that this trail is famous for, though they were completely covered in snow and frozen so there wasn't much to see.  In a few spots you could see some flowing water - I bet this trail is beautiful when the snow is gone.

Falling Waters - Appropriate Name!

As soon as we passed through the open river bed area the climbing truly began.  The trail was still packed down relatively well but only about one foot in width - stepping off to either the left or the right would cause your legs to post-hole down about three feet.  It was actually quite funny as every few seconds one of us would let out a "damn" or an "oof" as our legs broke through the snow and plummeted downward.  We eventually caught up to a group of three which we would end up leap frogging the rest of the way to the top.  By this point the trail was climbing steadily towards the summit of Little Haystack, which stands at about 4800' but unfortunately doesn't count due to the difference in height of it to the ridge which it is a part of (read the AMC 4000' "rules" here).  Our hearts were racing and our legs were burning.  This was a difficult section.  We stopped for a quick snack break of Raisinets and clementines to refuel our bodies before the final push.

Lunch on Little Haystack

We finally broke through the trees and reached the top of Little Haystack at 11:50AM.  Now here is where I must admit we encountered a bit of confusion.  In reading about the route prior to our hike, I had read that you would reach the top of Little Haystack and then continue on the ridge to Lincoln, though I didn't realize that Lincoln completely blocks the view of Lafayette from here, and it looks like there are no mountains beyond it.  Stupid me thought that we must be at the top of Lincoln since I knew the order of the mountains on the ridge and couldn't see Lafayette.  This lead to me proclaiming that we were at the top, and we ended up taking premature summit photos and eating lunch.  Luckily, an older gentleman asked us about our route of the day and I told him we were just hiking Lincoln so we would be turning and heading back down after we ate.  Thankfully he questioned whether we had already been over to Lincoln which caused me to realize that we hadn't reached the summit yet!  Whoops!  I would have been devastated if we turned back and figured out we had only hiked Little Haystack!  Nevertheless, the top of Little Haystack was beautiful and gave us great views.  We had a nice spot hunkered down between some boulders which shielded us from the wind as we ate.

Paloma and I at the summit of Lincoln

Realizing that we still had some work to do, we packed up our things and headed across the ridge to the real Mt. Lincoln at 12:20PM.  It was beautiful along the ridge, and it was neat watching the clouds whip by, engulfing us for a moment, then disappearing completely.  Just goes to show you the ever changing weather in the White Mountains.  We reached the summit of Lincoln at 12:45 PM, where Mt. Lafayette was revealed to us.  Now it made sense!  From the top of Lincoln we were treated to great views of the ridge and across to Cannon Mt.  Since we had already eaten, we took a few snap shots at the summit then headed back across the ridge to Little Haystack to begin our descent.

Men.

The word "hilarious" describes our descent nearly perfectly.  A steep trail + melting snow + gravity and inertia = three hikers completely out of control for much of the descent.  I don't think I have laughed for such an extended period of time in my life as I did during our hike down.  It was nearly impossible to hike slowly which caused us to have to basically jog down.  This was all good until one of us would hit a soft spot and post hole one or both of our legs into the snow and stop dead in our tracks and face plant. I'd estimate that about once every five minutes one of us would be tumbling down the trail in some awkward movement.  Thankfully the amount of snow made every landing soft, so we were able to laugh at each other rather than have concern for each other's well being.  I am just hoping that no kids were nearby to hear the variety of questionable language that was coming out of our mouths each time wiped out!

By this point we were all soaking wet and tired, but were having a blast, so we decided to engage in what many winter hikers rave about - butt-sledding.  Yes, sliding down the trail on nothing but your ass.  The first spot we decided to give it a whirl was at a steep hairpin turn on the trail.  It looked like others had the same idea, and a human ice-luge shortcut was made.  It was too perfect to pass up.  We all cruised down the 60' slide on our asses.  It was quite fun.  We continued to slide down all of the remaining steep spots we could find as we made our way back to the base.

We arrived at the lot at 3:10 PM - though we were sore and exhausted, we continued to talk about how awesome the hike was as we changed into dry clothes and packed up the car for the ride home.  This really was a great, challenging hike.  The Falling Waters trail is definitely one I will revisit at some point as I would love to see the cascades in action!

Public Service Announcement:  If you ever plan to hike with Foster, bring eye protection and a helmet.  He has a nasty habit of sling-shotting all branches he passes into your face.  I am thankful that I still have vision in both eyes.


Hike Stats
Trails: Falling Waters Trail, Franconia Ridge
Total Time (Including Breaks): 5:40
Distance: 7.8 Miles
Elevation Gain: 3400'

Mt. Hale- 4054' (13/48)

It shouldn't be snowing on Memorial Day weekend, right?  WRONG.

Hale Brook Trail-head

Paloma and I, despite the dismal looking weather predictions, decided to head up and hike Mt. Hale on Sunday.  We figured we would likely experience some off and on showers and clouds, so we chose Hale as it isn't known for having the best views. We didn't want to sacrifice a mountain with better views in this weather.  Hale also happens to be a relatively short and easy hike compared to the other forty-seven, so it seemed like a logical choice.

Given that the book-time on the hike was just over three hours, we decided to sleep in a bit longer than usual hiking days and ended up leaving our place at 9:30AM.  The ride was relatively simple, and the weather was much nicer than the forecast had read.  That is, until we were about thirty minutes from the trail-head   As we got up higher in elevation and deeper into Franconia Notch, the clouds began to increase in size and snow began appearing on the road.  After going back and forth as to whether or not we should continue our drive and attempt the hike, we decided that we had already come so far and we would go forward with our plans. If the hike became too dangerous we could always turn back.

Slippery river crossing

We arrived at the trail-head just before noon and were surprised that there were actually a number of cars parked there.  The temperature at the base was around 39 degrees.  We started out on the Hale Brook trail at two minutes past noon.  The first mile or so was relatively easy, with only a few patches of snow along the trail.  It was raining lightly so Paloma and I had our rain gear on and our hoods up - our feet covered in mud.  We passed by a man and his dog who were on their way down - he indicated to us that there was quite a bit of snow towards the top but that it was still doable.  We continued on.

Snowy trails

As we continued up the trail, the snow began to cover the trail and the rain that was coming down on us at the start turned to sleet and snow.  We came out to a ridge with a long, steep drop off to our left that lead down into a rapidly moving river.  We had to be extra careful as the trail was quite slippery and we didn't want to slide down the ridge into the icy river below.  Once we got past this section we encountered a second group of people on their way down.  We chatted for a few moments with them, while one of the ladies nonchalantly snacked on a giant snot that was dripping from her nose.  Hey - guess she needed some extra energy.  We passed another group with a gorgeous English Mastiff - this dog looked like he was built for this type of hiking as he traipsed down the trail with ease.

The snow continued to pick up and the trail was now fully covered - thankfully the snow was very wet so it was packed down nicely.  If it had been a drier snow we would have probably had to turn back, as neither Paloma or I had micro-spikes or snowshoes with us.  The woods were absolutely beautiful with the fresh snow, and the thickness of the snow on the surrounding pine trees drowned out any and all noises, making it extremely peaceful.  Every so often we would come across some snow covered cascades which added to the beauty.

I mentioned to a passerby that it felt as though we were part of one of those Coors Light commercials, where the ice climbers go on a dangerous trek to fetch some ice cold beer, open a door on the side of the mountain, and appear at a bar.  It seemed as though we would reach the top, find some ice cold beer, and return it to our friends having a cookout in t-shirts and sandals at the base.  This was, after all, Memorial Day weekend - and that is what you are supposed to be doing!

Paloma's new friend

We reached the summit at 1:42PM, and thankfully we were the only ones at the top at this time.  It was beautiful yet eerie at the top.  We were fully socked in by clouds so you could not see more than a hundred feet in any direction.  The summit of Hale is pretty unique - it is a giant circular field outlined by pine trees, in it's center is a giant rock cairn, nearly six feet tall.  Someone had built a snowman on one of the rocks at the top, using pieces of Twizzlers for the nose, mouth, and eyes.  I asked Paloma if I could eat them....she said no.

It was fairly chilly at the top, and the sweat that we had created on the hike up was now making us quite cold.  We decided to hike down a few hundred yards to hunker down behind some trees before we ate lunch.  We wolfed down some sandwiches and began our descent at 1:55PM.  In better weather, the descent would have been a cinch, but the snow/sleet and mud made it treacherous, so we had to go at a much slower pace than usual.  As we got lower in elevation, the temperature increased quite a bit and the snow that was on the top of the trees began freeing itself from the branches and pelting us off of the head.  It was actually quite comical as every so often one of us would let out a yelp as snow exploded off our head.

Summit of Mt. Hale

The trail was absolutely drenched as we approached the bottom, so there was really no need for us to watch our steps anymore - our clothes were already drenched.  We reached the car at 3:23PM, cold, wet, and muddy, yet happy as can be.  To us, the nasty weather and snow covered trails added to this hike, and made it that more enjoyable in way.  It is a hike that both of us will absolutely remember forever!

On the way home we met up with my Grandparents in Concord for dinner.  Paloma and I had to stop at a Walmart on the way to pick up some cheap clothing to wear, as neither of us remembered to pack a change of clothes.  We had a very enjoyable seafood dinner with my Grandparents - what a great end to the day!

Hike Stats
Trails: Hale Brook Trail
Total Time (Including Breaks): 3:23
Distance: 4.4 Miles
Elevation Gain: 2300'