sjhbos
New member
Met up with a big group of hikers at the Sawyer River Road parking lot at 8AM. It was a big group (by far the largest I had hiked with) and it included Brian, Bob, Gerri, Adrian, Mark, Sean, Stephanie, Daraine? I think that there were nine others but I can’t remember the last member of the group – sorry.
We planned to hike the Signal Ridge Trail to the summit of Mt. Carrigain. For Brian, it would be his 48th 4,000 footer in winter and it was a fun group along for the trip. For some of the group, including me, it would be my first time at the top of Carrigian, while for about half the group they had climbed this mountain many times.
The trail was very well packed down and pretty easy going, everyone bare booted the entire trail to the summit. As we approached the top we met a couple of other hikers that were heading down and mentioned that a clearing that we would be at in about 5 minutes, a quarter of a mile from the summit, was extra windy today and so we stopped and put on a couple of extra layers before pushing on.
I had heard that on a clear day Carrigain offered great views of the Whites and we were not disappointed with speculator views at the summit and so we stopped there for a lunch break. The group was very generous with sharing food and I sampled some homemade cookies that were delicious. Sean finished a whole jar of old picked eggs at the summit which made for an 'interesting' return journey.
Bob and Gerri are old pro's on these hikes and as well as being great company I was able to get some useful insights from Bob on some of the mountains that I have not climbed yet but will summit before the end of this year.
Most of us threw on crampons for the descent and we made good time back to the cars. Unfortunately, the adventure was not over yet as two of the three vehicles had sunk slightly into the snow at the parking lot but with lots of digging and pushing we were eventually able to get them free.
I needed to be back in Boston that night and so was not able to stay on to socialize with people afterwards.
I had the good fortune to meet very nice people in the group that I hope to connect with in the future for more hikes.
Thanks so much for a fun day,
-Steve
We planned to hike the Signal Ridge Trail to the summit of Mt. Carrigain. For Brian, it would be his 48th 4,000 footer in winter and it was a fun group along for the trip. For some of the group, including me, it would be my first time at the top of Carrigian, while for about half the group they had climbed this mountain many times.
The trail was very well packed down and pretty easy going, everyone bare booted the entire trail to the summit. As we approached the top we met a couple of other hikers that were heading down and mentioned that a clearing that we would be at in about 5 minutes, a quarter of a mile from the summit, was extra windy today and so we stopped and put on a couple of extra layers before pushing on.
I had heard that on a clear day Carrigain offered great views of the Whites and we were not disappointed with speculator views at the summit and so we stopped there for a lunch break. The group was very generous with sharing food and I sampled some homemade cookies that were delicious. Sean finished a whole jar of old picked eggs at the summit which made for an 'interesting' return journey.
Bob and Gerri are old pro's on these hikes and as well as being great company I was able to get some useful insights from Bob on some of the mountains that I have not climbed yet but will summit before the end of this year.
Most of us threw on crampons for the descent and we made good time back to the cars. Unfortunately, the adventure was not over yet as two of the three vehicles had sunk slightly into the snow at the parking lot but with lots of digging and pushing we were eventually able to get them free.
I needed to be back in Boston that night and so was not able to stay on to socialize with people afterwards.
I had the good fortune to meet very nice people in the group that I hope to connect with in the future for more hikes.
Thanks so much for a fun day,
-Steve