wardsgirl
Active member
How I Backpacked Twenty-Five Miles Through the White Mountains on Memorial Day Weekend Without Seeing Hardly Anyone
Nothing is more wonderful than having a three day weekend to spend in the mountains, until you consider the hordes of people vying for that special campsite, magnificent stand of birches, or that great view. To find some solitude, one can only try to plan a trip that will circumvent the crowds. What better than to traipse around the focal point that captures all of our hearts? Of course I am talking about the Mecca of the Northeast- The Captain.
We parked at the far end of Sawyer River Road and applied a good dose of bug dope for the walk up the overgrown logging road toward Signal Ridge Trail. Remind me to never walk on a logging road during summer. It sucked. Mosquitoes, black flies, an annoyed teenager threatened to end our trip at any turn. Fortunately, we reached the Signal Ridge Trail and continued on our merry way to Carrigain Notch Trail.
It was here, beyond the height of land, where we met our first hikers of the trip... none other than Unadogger, Michael J, and their friend Val. After the customary greetings, which made no mention of alligator eggs, strangely enough, but involved mutual swatting of mosquitoes, we continued on to a lovely spot which we claimed for the night. After a swim, dinner consisted of linguini with clam sauce, washed down with a cold beer and accompanied by chocolate frosted brownies for dessert.
On Sunday, we took a turn down the blowdown-strewn eastern Wilderness Trail. This area had the highest concentration of blowdowns on our loop. When all was said and done for the weekend, we estimated that we had negotiated more than 100 blowdowns over the course of the 25 miles.
Near the intersection with the Cedar Brook Trail, we encountered a few straggling dayhikers looking for the non-bridge and a pair of backpackers with impossibly small matching camouflage packs.
The Cedar Brook Trail was lovely and remote. We camped a short distance before the Hancock Loop to maximize our Wilderness experience. Here, we enjoyed the stream and consumed an entire cheesecake for dessert, after a Mexican-German fusion dinner of burritos and Heineken.
In the morning, we saw our highest concentration of people during the short stretch around the Hancock Loop, all dayhikers tackling the Hancocks. We soon departed the main trail and set out on the Hancock Notch Trail.
Warning! The Hancock Notch Trail was severely overgrown and nearly impossible to follow. The trail is a mess of blowdowns and hasn't been maintained for some time, judging from the 0" wide trail corridor. My son did fine and was a good distance ahead of me most of the time. I was quite surprised he was able to find his way without becoming hopelessly off trail. I think I spent more time off-trail than on.
Eventually, we joined the mosquito-ridden Sawyer River Trail and after a few more twists and turns, we reached our car on Monday afternoon. Although we never saw The Captain, we were thrilled with the knowledge that we had circled it completely in relative solitude!
Nothing is more wonderful than having a three day weekend to spend in the mountains, until you consider the hordes of people vying for that special campsite, magnificent stand of birches, or that great view. To find some solitude, one can only try to plan a trip that will circumvent the crowds. What better than to traipse around the focal point that captures all of our hearts? Of course I am talking about the Mecca of the Northeast- The Captain.
We parked at the far end of Sawyer River Road and applied a good dose of bug dope for the walk up the overgrown logging road toward Signal Ridge Trail. Remind me to never walk on a logging road during summer. It sucked. Mosquitoes, black flies, an annoyed teenager threatened to end our trip at any turn. Fortunately, we reached the Signal Ridge Trail and continued on our merry way to Carrigain Notch Trail.
It was here, beyond the height of land, where we met our first hikers of the trip... none other than Unadogger, Michael J, and their friend Val. After the customary greetings, which made no mention of alligator eggs, strangely enough, but involved mutual swatting of mosquitoes, we continued on to a lovely spot which we claimed for the night. After a swim, dinner consisted of linguini with clam sauce, washed down with a cold beer and accompanied by chocolate frosted brownies for dessert.
On Sunday, we took a turn down the blowdown-strewn eastern Wilderness Trail. This area had the highest concentration of blowdowns on our loop. When all was said and done for the weekend, we estimated that we had negotiated more than 100 blowdowns over the course of the 25 miles.
Near the intersection with the Cedar Brook Trail, we encountered a few straggling dayhikers looking for the non-bridge and a pair of backpackers with impossibly small matching camouflage packs.
The Cedar Brook Trail was lovely and remote. We camped a short distance before the Hancock Loop to maximize our Wilderness experience. Here, we enjoyed the stream and consumed an entire cheesecake for dessert, after a Mexican-German fusion dinner of burritos and Heineken.
In the morning, we saw our highest concentration of people during the short stretch around the Hancock Loop, all dayhikers tackling the Hancocks. We soon departed the main trail and set out on the Hancock Notch Trail.
Warning! The Hancock Notch Trail was severely overgrown and nearly impossible to follow. The trail is a mess of blowdowns and hasn't been maintained for some time, judging from the 0" wide trail corridor. My son did fine and was a good distance ahead of me most of the time. I was quite surprised he was able to find his way without becoming hopelessly off trail. I think I spent more time off-trail than on.
Eventually, we joined the mosquito-ridden Sawyer River Trail and after a few more twists and turns, we reached our car on Monday afternoon. Although we never saw The Captain, we were thrilled with the knowledge that we had circled it completely in relative solitude!
Last edited:
