Mt. Carrigain

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Joined
Jan 15, 2013
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Location
Vernon, Conn.
I spent the first three days of 2015 bagging peaks for the Winter NH4K list. This report is for Carrigain on Friday the Second.

This was my third time on Carrigain, the second time on snow. My first time on the mountain, which was also on snow, was one of my hardest hikes ever; I got back to my car after midnight. That was in April, however, on a soft monorail. This hike was much different, on hard packed snow, and without any shin high fir saplings at all. I also only got lost once, and then only briefly.

Sawyer Road is closed for the winter, so I had to walk it, resulting in a 14 mile hike. I started, like the day before, by headlamp at about 6:30. The sky was already starting to lighten then, and it soon became day.

This was the first time I've done Carrigain since they relocated the trailhead to the other side of the bridge. This eliminates one of the brook crossings. The remaining crossing wasn't hard at all that day.

Signal Ridge Trail is pretty flat for a while, then goes up thirteen switchbacks, then crosses Signal Ridge, and then goes up a final push to the summit. I did the first part, through the switchbacks, on microspikes. It was snowing lightly most of the way. When I got to Signal Ridge itself, which is exposed, the snow had gotten a few inches deep and I started hitting drifts, so I switched to snowshoes. There were only limited views from the ridge. I could see Carrigain's summit, Vose Spur, Mt. Lowell, and little else. The ridge was a great immersion into a total winter environment, though.

The final climb to the summit was short. I had even less of a view by then, though. I climbed the tower to see if there would be any views up there, but there was just more wind.

On the way down, before I got to the ridge, I met a man and a woman coming up. They would be the only other people I'd see on the trail that day.

About halfway down I switched back from snowshoes to microspikes. It also stopped flurrying, and cleared up a bit. The couple I'd met passed me somewhere on the flat section. When I got to my car it was starting to get dark. I would have put my headlamp back on if I'd had to go any further.

Here are the pictures.

Carrigain was 34 out of 48 for me in the Winter NH4K list.

--

Cumulus

NE111: 115/115 (67/67, 46/46, 2/2); Cat35: 33/39; WNH4K: 35/48; NEFF: 43/50
LT NB 2009

"I don't much care where [I get to] --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
 
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