A Moose Mtn Afternoon 11-13-10

I had a free afternoon, so the decision was made to head up to Moose mtn and check out the ridge, (at least the AT part) which I haven't hiked since Sept of 07, on a very warm and humid day. Temps were absolutely perfect yesterday, in the 50s pretty much from top to bottom, and as the day wore on towards sunset, a temp inversion took hold, where it was much warmer higher up on the hill than the bottom...like in the 50s higher up, and in the upper 30s in the little nooks. Gotta love microclimates. We didn't have a whole lot of time thanks to the 4:30 sunset, but it made for interesting light, thats for sure. Even my trail sign picture makes it look like the sun was ready to set, and it was at high noon. Anyways, I will let the pics tell the rest of the story.

at the crossing down in the little nook, in the first 5 min.


some magnificent birches, and Hunter, our fearless leader


Onward, humans!!


view from south moose mtn, really growing in at this point. where is my chainsaw? just kidding...i dont know how to use one. haha


We kept going over to North Moose, to check out a couple more view points, till the trail started descending. I wanted to get to the view where you could see smarts and cube, but it was getting too late in the day. So instead we settled for some other interesting vistas.


Goose pond


Looking west


This one is prob one of my favorite shots of the day. Are we in the Smokies?


It was gettin towards 4pm, and after a short break at the Moose Mtn shelter, we headed down the mtn along the old class 6 road in the col below South Moose Mtn. There was a lot of water and mud up high, but it eventually got redirected off the road, and then it was a dry path the rest of the way, to Three Mile Rd. If it had been earlier, we could have attempted to make a loop along some other trails back to the AT, but we just took the road all the way down, then back onto the main drag to the car.

the scene



the quiet calm of night setting in


and finally, this was after sunset, but we had yet another amazing color display.

whoever lives at the house I trespassed onto to get this pic, I am jealous. no one was home...i think it was a summer place.


enjoy! http://grouseking.smugmug.com/gallery/14648203_KrsqM#1089986624_omn9h

grouseking

Nice report! At some point we should get a group together to clear out that view. DOC has permission to "reclaim" it...we just need to get out there and do it! Near the top of S. peak, there is a small clearing with a nice view to Mt. Washington. It's just NE of the trail as you leave the summit, maybe 40yds down the trail from the summit, and about 30yds off the trail.

Jason Berard said:

Nice report! At some point we should get a group together to clear out that view. DOC has permission to "reclaim" it...we just need to get out there and do it! Near the top of S. peak, there is a small clearing with a nice view to Mt. Washington. It's just NE of the trail as you leave the summit, maybe 40yds down the trail from the summit, and about 30yds off the trail.

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That sounds great! There will be no more view in a couple years. Perhaps we can find people to get together. I dont know how to use any tools, but I'm a quicker learner...and I'm 6 foot 2, so I suppose I can be an ox as well!

I tell ya, that whole ridge really is interesting. It is so narrow in parts....I think some parts are no more than 100 or 200 feet wide. I never noticed it before when leaves were on the trees, but yesterday I could see the treed in view, and was quite surprised. Now I need to explore the rest of the mountain, that doesnt have the AT traversing it.

grouseking said:

This one is prob one of my favorite shots of the day. Are we in the Smokies?

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Phil . . . I think those are your basic "purple mountain majesties"!
Thanks for posting!

1HappyHiker said:

Phil . . . I think those are your basic "purple mountain majesties"!
Thanks for posting!

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Its funny, I posted a similar shot on weather underground titled..."Smoky Mtns...?" and one of the comments someone wrote thought this was the Smokies. Good stuff

http://www.wunderground.com/wximage...mage&handle=FromChester&number=291#commenttop

I am all about tasteful clearing of mountain views, nice pictures!

Phil,
A story well told! Boy, has Hunter grown since the last time we saw pictures of him.

Donna