CrazySage
New member
April 23, 2011
Trails: 19 Mile Brook Trail, Carter Dome Trail, Carter-Moriah Trail
Trail Conditions: 19 Mile Brook Trail was an easily navigable monorail early in the morning, firm enough to stand up to microspiked boots. The Carter Dome Trail was also a nice solid trail below and a series of nasty sidehills on the switchbacks. The Carter-Moriah trail was a route-finding challenge. The wind scouring the ridge has wiped away any evidence of prior hikers, and even scoured away our footsteps in the time that it took us to go out and tag Middle Carter and return. The snow is still fairly deep and fluffy along the ridge and blazes can be hard to find. Be aware of where the trail should go. The decent had an extra challenge for us with the addition of 2 inches of snow blurring the line between what was solid monorail and what was unconsolidated snow to the side.
Equipement: We used our microspikes the whole entire hike. Snowshoes could have been broken out for a brief period in the afternoon. Crampons would have been overkill.
Comments: After an amazing day on Adams and Madison on 4/22, I had what I think may have been one of my worst days on the Carters on 4/23. Snow and sleet came down on us all day and combined with the howling winds up on the ridge to make for a very inhospitable day. However I would do it all again in a heartbeat. This is the price I pay for my hiking addiction
.
Jen English
jenglish1 at worcester.edu
Trails: 19 Mile Brook Trail, Carter Dome Trail, Carter-Moriah Trail
Trail Conditions: 19 Mile Brook Trail was an easily navigable monorail early in the morning, firm enough to stand up to microspiked boots. The Carter Dome Trail was also a nice solid trail below and a series of nasty sidehills on the switchbacks. The Carter-Moriah trail was a route-finding challenge. The wind scouring the ridge has wiped away any evidence of prior hikers, and even scoured away our footsteps in the time that it took us to go out and tag Middle Carter and return. The snow is still fairly deep and fluffy along the ridge and blazes can be hard to find. Be aware of where the trail should go. The decent had an extra challenge for us with the addition of 2 inches of snow blurring the line between what was solid monorail and what was unconsolidated snow to the side.
Equipement: We used our microspikes the whole entire hike. Snowshoes could have been broken out for a brief period in the afternoon. Crampons would have been overkill.
Comments: After an amazing day on Adams and Madison on 4/22, I had what I think may have been one of my worst days on the Carters on 4/23. Snow and sleet came down on us all day and combined with the howling winds up on the ridge to make for a very inhospitable day. However I would do it all again in a heartbeat. This is the price I pay for my hiking addiction
. Jen English
jenglish1 at worcester.edu
