Wildcats question.

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richard

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manchester nh
I’m attempting to finish the 48 over 70 list. I’ve got most of them done,but I noticed how the trails have all become significantly longer and higher. My question is, would it be a lot tougher for me to hike the wildcats from the 19 mile brook trail as opposed to the ski trail. I’ve used the glen Ellis falls trail and the ski trails before, but never used the 19 mile brook trail to reach the wildcats. Thanks
 
I've never used the ski trails, but round trip via 19 Mile Brook is a pretty long day. Somewhere near 14 miles roughly. If you just use Wildcat Ridge Trail from Glen Ellis, it's around 8 miles RT. The elevation gain is about the same also. Not sure why you would use the ski trail unless the ledges on WRT are a concern The climb up from Carter Hut is no piece of cake either.
 
Ideally its a car spot using 19 mile Brook up and then down the ski trail. The hike up to C notch is as well graded as you can get, so much of the elevation gain has been eaten up by the time you get to C notch. Its a very steep steady climb up from C Notch but no significant exposure but once you are on the ridge line its just PUDS. If you cant set up a car spot, dropping a bike at Wildcat is not a bad option as its a downhill coast most of the way (one minor hill at the auto road). Its a long not particularly pleasant road walk in the sun. Adding the hike down to Pinkham notch is the steepest part of the hike with some ledge exposure. (pin steps in ledge in some spots) I have also done it up and back via the ski trails and expect its the fastest way to do it. The ridge walk is in the trees with occasional views typical of the carters.
 
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My personal preference on the Wildcats is to park at my ending point, either the Ski area or at PNVC and ride my bike down to 19 Mile. All the approaches have issues. If going up from Pinkham it's pretty steep to get up the ridge and then you are doing PUDs with them getting higher as you get to Wildcat A vs. them getter shorter the other way. As Peakbagger mentioned, it's a nice walk up to C-Notch. You then have a pretty steep 1000 feet to gain but it's over pretty quickly and as it turns, it's not all in the sun. Ski area slopes are designed for speed on slippery boards over snow. There are no switchbacks and can be tiresome on old joints. (If you go up the ski slopes, put in your own switchbacks, crisscross the ski-trail, it helped when I did Sugarloaf. (I've descended the Wildcat ski slopes twice. When I biked the road, I parked at PNVC and had to walk up from Wildcat but that wasn't too bad.) I've done the road walk twice from either PNVC or Wildcat to 19 Mile, winter and summer near dark and it wasn't fun either of those two times.
 
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