Camping near Carter Dome

[Bluethroatedone]

Well with 22 to go I need to get my but in gear. We have yet to do any of the peaks east of the presis...so hoping to knock out a bunch while seeing foilage this weekend. It looks like Mileage wise the Carter ridge would make a great two dayer. However, the map doesn't show any tent sites, just the hut. Anyone have any recommendations on how to plan a 2 day backpack in that area?

 

[David Metsky]

You can camp at Imp Shelter, but once you're up on the ridge your choices are pretty limited. There's no water up there except at Zeta Pass, and camping isn't allowed there. The hut is caretaker only, so it's actually a nice place to stay on this trip. It's about $20/night but you get bunks, water, and a full kitchen to cook in. You can ditch the tent, stove, pots, etc and make a much lighter pack.

Otherwise a nice place is 1/4 mile from the hut down the Wildcat River trail. It's legal and relatively easy to find a spot.

-dave-

 

[MadRiver]

Several years ago my wife and I did the Wildcats and Carters during a two day adventure. We parked at Pinkham and hiked down past Lost Pond and picked up the Wildcat Ridge Trail almost across from Glen Ellis parking area.

We started around 9:00 am and reached the Carter Notch Hut around 4:00 pm. Since we didn’t want to stop there for the night we continued up and over Carter Dome. Once we passed through the Zeta Pass area and left the Forest Protection Area we were able to find several nice spots to camp. You should be able to do the same.

The next day we hiked over Middle & North Carter and hiked out via the Stony Brook Trail and hitched back to our car at Pinkham.

 

[dug]

I'll echo Dave's sentiments. I've camped a few different places while doing the Carter's in the past, and none of them were on the ridge. Once, we ended up having to climb so far down the trail that it was a waste to even camp. I've camped on the backside of Carter Dome, but we came in from the East and it was part of a longer excursion. It's really a tough area. I'd suggest making two seperate trips myself.