the Moats

an underrated hike, IMO...

BeccaM and I hiked the Moat Range from south to north on Sunday.

trail climbs through beautiful beech forest...here's a view looking up a beech with scars from the claws of a bear, who climbed it for beech nuts...






We spotted a hornet nest so I went for a picture. Hornets started to emerge from the door.

me: "do you think I'm in trouble?"
Becca: "na, I have bees at my house...they won't bother you"

Well.....they decided to move me along. I've been charged by moose and never ran for so long. Finally one of them gave me a little kiss. That hurt. My arm is still swollen...






purple flowering raspberry...






the south slopes of South Moat are good habitat for oaks and red pines...






These lillies grow around the open ledges...











The blueberries are incredible right now! The area is loaded with two varieties. It seems like an exceptional year for blueberries...





note swollen hand from the wasp venom...






lunch break on South Moat summit...






I've never seen so many swarming dragonflies! They were with us the entire hike whenever we were in open areas...so beautiful!!!







view from Middle Moat north toward Mt. Washington...






After Middle Moat, the trail descends deeply into a nice saddle of beautiful conifers. This is a nice area for wildlife travelling from one side of the range to the other.




continiued...

The trail has lots of blowdowns between Middle and North Moat...






climbing up North Moat...






views from North Moat summit, one of the best in the White Mtns., IMO...










descending the many open ledge areas on North Moat...






bunchberries...





nice hemlock forest on the north slopes of North Moat...






a pretty cascade on the Lucy Brook, along the Attitash Trail...





Thanks Becca for another awesome hike!

more detailed trail conditions here: http://www.newenglandtrailconditions.com/nh/viewreport.php?entryid=5450

happy trails

Holy smokes! Great pics and report. Those red lilies are amazing, I saw a similar one on Ragged Mountain in Maine last weekend and freaked because it was so lovely and I so had forgotten a camera!

The Moats are now hereby high on the list... Hope your sting heals soon, them things can be nasty.

Sunday was SO nice! Beautiful pictures. Especially the fruit, so vivid.

MichaelJ, Eric and I traversed Table, Big Attitash and The Moats a few weeks ago -- I agree -- a much under rated area!

Wish we had the bright sunshine you and BeccaM had!!

Great report and pics. Your interaction with the hornets reminds me of a little fictional bear:

“That buzzing-noise means something. If there's a buzzing noise, somebody's making a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you're a bee.” Winnie the Pooh

I love hiking the Moats. I did a bit of trail clearing and brushing between Middle and Red Ridge jnct in June but ran out of water on a hot day.

Thanks for sharing.

OK, bad advice about the wasps - as it turns out, when they start to gather on their front porch, *apparently* that is an indication they are about to attack - who knew????? you did well to run that fast!!!!

That was a great time on the Moats for this first-timer!!!! Thanks for not showing the pic of me filling my bladder directly out of Lucy Brook.

Your photos and report are first-rate, as always!

Just as a side-note, it's terrific to see from one of your photos that both you and Becca are "gaiter fans"! (And I'm not talking about the Univ. of FL "Gators"!). I detest having to take time to stop and unlace/re-lace my boot to remove a pebble, etc. Gaiters do such a great job of keeping all sorts of debris out of your footwear.

1HappyHiker said:

Your photos and report are first-rate, as always!

Just as a side-note, it's terrific to see from one of your photos that both you and Becca are "gaiter fans"! (And I'm not talking about the Univ. of FL "Gators"!). I detest having to take time to stop and unlace/re-lace my boot to remove a pebble, etc. Gaiters do such a great job of keeping all sorts of debris out of your footwear.

Click to expand...

HAH!!!!! That's too funny!!!! Forestgnome is the REAL gaiter fan - I really prefer them for bushwhacks only unless I'm hiking with a crazy-gaiter-lover

John, agreed....keeps stuff out all day, and it also helps on a quick dunk of the foot if you slip while crossing a stream

Becca, thanks for not telling everyone I call them my "ankle binkies"

Great photos, especially the one of the hornets. Only the greatest suffer for their art. Your report and pics put the Moats on my must-do list.

P.S. I am also a year-round gaiter fan.

Becca M said:

Thanks for not showing the pic of me filling my bladder directly out of Lucy Brook.

Click to expand...

Better filling than draining.

The Moats are a real gem of a hike. We did them "the long way" but an out-and-back of South & Middle is a very mellow hike. In fact, the whole way I was wondering where the stretch was that the newsman got lost on many years ago. We found the whole trail to be easy to follow and in excellent condition.

Now, all that said, Shhhh!!!! Let the hordes go to Chocorua, keep the Moats quiet.

MichaelJ said:

In fact, the whole way I was wondering where the stretch was that the newsman got lost on many years ago. We found the whole trail to be easy to follow and in excellent condition.

Click to expand...

Ted O'Brien didn't get anywhere near the Moat Ridge. It appears he wandered off the Attitash Trail near Lucy Brook and never got very far along to Bear Notch. It still puzzles me.

Forestgnome - that grape looks like a purple flowering raspberry. You can eat the fruit but it's blah.

I agree on the purple-flowering raspberry. Grapes have small, yellowish flowers in thick, grape-bunch-shaped clusters.

Great report and pics as usual. It must have been great to see all those dragon flies. I believe they're good luck (some think they're bad luck...don't believe them!).

It looks like the views from North Moat are wonderful. I've only sat on South Moat myself...but maybe I need to make the hike over the whole ridge. Is the does the trail descend much between south and middle or middle and north?

Again, great report and pics. It's fun to follow someone red line!

Karl

Can't wait to do the Moats at some point. It's been on my list for a while but I keep seeing great trip reports like this and know I must take this trip!

Good stuff!

Awesome pics as usual - I am pretty sure Ansel Adams took more bad pictures than you ever have! Incredible stuff Patrick

thanks for all the nice comments....keeps me going

Audrey and Nartreb, thanks for ID correction on purple flowering raspberry...much appreciated

Caldera

The Moats are the remains of a volcanic caldera sitting within the Albany ring dike and on the former magma chamber represented by the Conway granite. There is great volcanic stratigraphy visible going up South Moat including layers of breccias, tuffs, rhyolites, trachytes, commendites etc. There are large blocks of volcanic rocks caught up in layers visible on North Moat that likely tumbled down the caldera walls. There is a breccia on the very top of North Moat that includes schist from the pre-existing "country rock" near the area when volcanism was occurring.

The falls shown in the picture at Lucy Brook are very close to the contact between the Conway Granite (magma chamber) and the overlying volcanic pile (Moat volcanic rocks).

You can hike here in New England and be transported to a much more exotic volcanic terrain.

Enjoy.

Fantastic photos Patrick! What a gorgeous day up there. We walked the first couple of miles of the north end of the Moat Mountain trail Sunday. I was walking off a sore knee so we didn't make it past the flats. Now I wish we'd kept going and made it to those views! Would have been nice to run into you guys too. The Moats are definitely on our short list and they just moved closer to the top!