bunchberry
New member
The idea of hiking Carrigain this past Saturday (1/7/06) came from Marty—it was to be his 48th NH 4000-footer, quite the cause for celebration. Unfortunately, he had to cancel the night before, so the participants on this epic adventure turned out to be Roadtripper (Greg), my friend Marie, and me. I was bursting with excitement the night before the hike, sitting at the Tilt’n Diner with Marie as we tried to eat nice big carb-loaded meals (a burger and fries for me). I knew the day would be long, but I was filled with anticipation and could barely contain my excitement (evident by the fact that I was dancing around in my chair and singing along to the Oldies they were playing!)
Marie and I had decided to drive up Friday night and stay at the Highland Center’s Shapleigh Studio, so that we could get a good night’s sleep and wouldn’t have to get up at about 3am in order to make it for our 7:30am trailhead meeting time. Before we left the Highland Center, we ran into Sapblatt and Little Bear, preparing to hike Pierce and Eisenhower. Despite our close proximity to the parking area at Sawyer River Road, and the fact that Greg did drive up early that morning from MA, Marie and I were about 15 minutes late, and when we arrived at the road Greg was already there waiting for us. We quickly got our things together, and started up the road at about 8am. Just as we started walking up the road, we heard a vehicle behind us and saw a guy in a truck get out and unlock the gate for his vehicle. We joked “hmm…I wonder if we can hitch a ride to the trailhead from him?” but I quickly reminded everyone that in order for it to “count,” we had to walk the road (right?)! The road walk was nice and easy, and time passed very quickly. When we got to the Signal Ridge Trailhead, I led Greg and Marie on the bushwhack that avoids the first river crossing. It was very quick (about 10 minutes) and easy, especially because I was following some faint tracks in the snow.
I should mention that the weather was spectacular. Not just good—truly breathtaking. There was not a cloud in the sky, despite some iffy weather reports for clouds and potential snow flurries. There were about 1-3 inches of fresh snow on the trail when we started, and we decided to bareboot since postholing would not be a problem (we all carried snowshoes and crampons/stabilicers). Once on the trail, the gentle grade of the Signal Ridge Trail helped time fly by and before we knew it, we were at the junction with the Carrigain Notch Trail. At this point, I decided to put on my snowshoes because my feet had been slipping around a lot in the snow, expending extra energy. I was wearing plastic boots, and seemed to have this problem more than Greg and Marie, who were both wearing Sorel-type boots. As soon as I got my snowshoes on and we set off again on the trail, we came to the first big water crossing! I was able to step on snow-covered rocks and logs much of the way, so it wasn’t too bad. As we hiked along, we could see Carrigain through the trees, looming in front of us. I think it was Marie who said “I guess we’re almost done with the flat section!”
Once we started ascending, the trail climbed steadily upward. It wasn’t very steep, just long and relentlessly uphill. I was going a little more slowly then Greg and Marie, who graciously stopped from time to time for me to catch up. Since they were ahead of me, they also had the joy of getting dumped on by snow from the trees, clearing the way for me—thank you!! At one point, Greg put on his Stabilicers for better traction, but Marie continued barebooting. Soon, the trail started switchbacking, and Greg let us know that Signal Ridge was close by. In this section, we started getting spectacular views from the side of the trail. I’m not very good at estimating distances, but we must have been able to see well over a hundred miles. When we finally emerged onto Signal Ridge, the views were stunning! The wind had picked up a bit, but I hardly noticed as I was so enraptured by the sights surrounding us. We also had a clear view up to the summit of Carrigain and its lookout tower beckoning us upward. Once we went back into the trees, the trail was more crusty and icy than before. About halfway up the final section, we came to a spot where the trail was hard to follow—it seemed like there were three possible directions for it to go. After looking around a bit, Greg found the trail by taking a hard left at that spot, and walking a bit counter-intuitively around a large snow-covered blowdown.
Pretty soon after, at 1:30pm, we arrived at the summit of Carrigain! We knew that it would be very windy and cold at the summit, so we all donned several extra layers before heading up to look around. I was feeling a bit lazy, so kept my snowshoes on to go up the tower—the stairs were snow covered, I just had to walk carefully (even more so when I backed down the stairs!). Up on the tower, 360-degree views surrounded us. We pointed out various peaks, including the Presidentials, Franconia Ridge, Chocorua, Vose Spur (which I had climbed about a month before) and so many others. We took a bunch of photos, and then had to head down as we were hungry and cold. Celebratory snacks at the summit included hot tomato soup, Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies, Gushers, and other yummy treats. Handwarmers were shared (thanks Greg!) and snacks were consumed as we tried to stay as sheltered as possible, but eventually we got going pretty quickly since it was very cold (5 degrees and falling on the little thermometer I have on my jacket) and we had been on the summit for about 30 minutes. We passed a group of four heading up, somewhere between the summit and Signal Ridge. They were going to be camping out that night, and we remarked several times throughout the rest of the hike that we were glad that we weren’t camping out! Back on Signal Ridge, Greg put on his snowshoes, and Marie put hers on a bit later. The snowshoes made the descent go by quickly, as we all took swooping steps down the mountain.
By the time we arrived at the big water crossing, within sight of the Signal Ridge and Carrigain Notch Trail junctions, it was getting dark and I decided to take my snowshoes off and bareboot the rest of the way out. We were all feeling a little silly, joking about bringing steak on the trail and other silly musings.
The way out was slow going, mainly because my knee was bothering me. Fortunately, I was with two great people and the excellent conversation kept me going. It got dark, but the moonlight was bright, and we never needed our headlamps. The moon shadows were gorgeous—the trees created intricate patterns on the trail, and we could see our own shadows as we hiked along. The two-mile road walk at the end of the day seemed to go on forever, but we finally arrived at our cars at 6:30pm ready to go get some dinner (food had dominated our conversation for a good bit of the last hour or two on the trail)! At the Mooseland we kept looking around for other hiking friends, but didn’t see any—maybe next time!
Thanks to Greg and Marie for a FANTASTIC day in the Whites!!! We missed you Marty!
-katie
Photos by Marie:
http://community.webshots.com/album/540229440YwWDdS
Marie and I had decided to drive up Friday night and stay at the Highland Center’s Shapleigh Studio, so that we could get a good night’s sleep and wouldn’t have to get up at about 3am in order to make it for our 7:30am trailhead meeting time. Before we left the Highland Center, we ran into Sapblatt and Little Bear, preparing to hike Pierce and Eisenhower. Despite our close proximity to the parking area at Sawyer River Road, and the fact that Greg did drive up early that morning from MA, Marie and I were about 15 minutes late, and when we arrived at the road Greg was already there waiting for us. We quickly got our things together, and started up the road at about 8am. Just as we started walking up the road, we heard a vehicle behind us and saw a guy in a truck get out and unlock the gate for his vehicle. We joked “hmm…I wonder if we can hitch a ride to the trailhead from him?” but I quickly reminded everyone that in order for it to “count,” we had to walk the road (right?)! The road walk was nice and easy, and time passed very quickly. When we got to the Signal Ridge Trailhead, I led Greg and Marie on the bushwhack that avoids the first river crossing. It was very quick (about 10 minutes) and easy, especially because I was following some faint tracks in the snow.
I should mention that the weather was spectacular. Not just good—truly breathtaking. There was not a cloud in the sky, despite some iffy weather reports for clouds and potential snow flurries. There were about 1-3 inches of fresh snow on the trail when we started, and we decided to bareboot since postholing would not be a problem (we all carried snowshoes and crampons/stabilicers). Once on the trail, the gentle grade of the Signal Ridge Trail helped time fly by and before we knew it, we were at the junction with the Carrigain Notch Trail. At this point, I decided to put on my snowshoes because my feet had been slipping around a lot in the snow, expending extra energy. I was wearing plastic boots, and seemed to have this problem more than Greg and Marie, who were both wearing Sorel-type boots. As soon as I got my snowshoes on and we set off again on the trail, we came to the first big water crossing! I was able to step on snow-covered rocks and logs much of the way, so it wasn’t too bad. As we hiked along, we could see Carrigain through the trees, looming in front of us. I think it was Marie who said “I guess we’re almost done with the flat section!”
Once we started ascending, the trail climbed steadily upward. It wasn’t very steep, just long and relentlessly uphill. I was going a little more slowly then Greg and Marie, who graciously stopped from time to time for me to catch up. Since they were ahead of me, they also had the joy of getting dumped on by snow from the trees, clearing the way for me—thank you!! At one point, Greg put on his Stabilicers for better traction, but Marie continued barebooting. Soon, the trail started switchbacking, and Greg let us know that Signal Ridge was close by. In this section, we started getting spectacular views from the side of the trail. I’m not very good at estimating distances, but we must have been able to see well over a hundred miles. When we finally emerged onto Signal Ridge, the views were stunning! The wind had picked up a bit, but I hardly noticed as I was so enraptured by the sights surrounding us. We also had a clear view up to the summit of Carrigain and its lookout tower beckoning us upward. Once we went back into the trees, the trail was more crusty and icy than before. About halfway up the final section, we came to a spot where the trail was hard to follow—it seemed like there were three possible directions for it to go. After looking around a bit, Greg found the trail by taking a hard left at that spot, and walking a bit counter-intuitively around a large snow-covered blowdown.
Pretty soon after, at 1:30pm, we arrived at the summit of Carrigain! We knew that it would be very windy and cold at the summit, so we all donned several extra layers before heading up to look around. I was feeling a bit lazy, so kept my snowshoes on to go up the tower—the stairs were snow covered, I just had to walk carefully (even more so when I backed down the stairs!). Up on the tower, 360-degree views surrounded us. We pointed out various peaks, including the Presidentials, Franconia Ridge, Chocorua, Vose Spur (which I had climbed about a month before) and so many others. We took a bunch of photos, and then had to head down as we were hungry and cold. Celebratory snacks at the summit included hot tomato soup, Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies, Gushers, and other yummy treats. Handwarmers were shared (thanks Greg!) and snacks were consumed as we tried to stay as sheltered as possible, but eventually we got going pretty quickly since it was very cold (5 degrees and falling on the little thermometer I have on my jacket) and we had been on the summit for about 30 minutes. We passed a group of four heading up, somewhere between the summit and Signal Ridge. They were going to be camping out that night, and we remarked several times throughout the rest of the hike that we were glad that we weren’t camping out! Back on Signal Ridge, Greg put on his snowshoes, and Marie put hers on a bit later. The snowshoes made the descent go by quickly, as we all took swooping steps down the mountain.
By the time we arrived at the big water crossing, within sight of the Signal Ridge and Carrigain Notch Trail junctions, it was getting dark and I decided to take my snowshoes off and bareboot the rest of the way out. We were all feeling a little silly, joking about bringing steak on the trail and other silly musings.
The way out was slow going, mainly because my knee was bothering me. Fortunately, I was with two great people and the excellent conversation kept me going. It got dark, but the moonlight was bright, and we never needed our headlamps. The moon shadows were gorgeous—the trees created intricate patterns on the trail, and we could see our own shadows as we hiked along. The two-mile road walk at the end of the day seemed to go on forever, but we finally arrived at our cars at 6:30pm ready to go get some dinner (food had dominated our conversation for a good bit of the last hour or two on the trail)! At the Mooseland we kept looking around for other hiking friends, but didn’t see any—maybe next time! Thanks to Greg and Marie for a FANTASTIC day in the Whites!!! We missed you Marty!
-katie
Photos by Marie:
http://community.webshots.com/album/540229440YwWDdS
