First trip in the whites on snow. Got off to a terribly late start friday night. Planned on hitting the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail at 6:00pm, did not start until midnight. My hiking partner informed me that he did not bring an eating utensil. We had to drive back to Jackson, NH to the only open gas station at 11:00pm.
In retrospect, we should have stayed in the car and hit the trail early Sat. morning. Nonetheless, we grabbed our gear (absent crampons and snowshoes) and embarked on our trip at midnight.
Hiked about 3 miles, half way up Carter Dome Trail, to a make shift campsite. Wanted to stay 200 feet off the trail, but could not find a semi-flat area. We found a site about 100 feet off the trail, pitched a tent and slept the remaining night away.
We, unfortunately overslept, and did not break camp the next day until 11:00am. As expected we saw three or four people on the trail that day. We originally planned on bagging Mt. Hight and Carter Dome that day, however, we need to find a base camp at the junction of Carter Dome Trail and Carter Moriah Trail. This proved challenging given the 1/4 mile no camping restriction. We spent a good portion of the early afternoon scouting out the area. Without snowshoes, we postholed all day until we found a site.
After loading up on water, the clouds rolled in and it became rather clear that we were in for a raining night. We decided to save Mt. Hight and Carter Dome for Sun. Sure enough, the rain came at about 6:00PM...we powered down a quick meal and jumped in our sleeping bags for a long night.
The next morning, we awoke around 7:00, had a quick breakfeast and climbed the rather steep trail to Mount Hight. We had great views of the Presidentials. After this experience, I am convinced that Mt. Hight is the overlooked gem of the whites. After spending about a hour soaking in the views, we embarked on Carter Dome. The juant up the ridgeline was realtively easy and straightfoward. It is arguably the easiest climb that I have had in the whites.
We were disappointed with the limited views on Carter Dome, but it was expected. We wanted to head down the Carter Dome Trial rather than back over Mt. Hight but could not find the trail. Our map seemed to suggest that the trail was shortly after the Black Angel trial, but we missed it.
It all worked out in the end because we met up with a few people on Mt. Hight (a very nice female hiker, Nina) who was kind enough to take a picture of the two of us.
After the photo shoot, we headed back to base camp. The weather was perfect...nice warm wind from the south keep the tempature around 45 to 55 degrees. After a healthy dinner we called it a night around 9:00pm.
The winds were very strong that night. I awoke at 3:00am to a lound bang. Apparently, the wind was knocking down trees all around us. An eight foot top fell about 75 feet on the top of our tent. The branch missed my head by about a foot. Needless to say, I did not sleep much the remainder of the night. (truthfully, I don't know how to protect myself from that situation).
The next day, we day hiked south carter and then hiked back down to 16. The decent to the car was tough. We did not have crampons and that proved to be difficult with a full pack. The were many spots that were extremely icy and very difficult to manage. The snow and ice was melting so fast that we were presented with a difficult river crossing near the junction of Nineteen mile and Carter Dome trails.
All in all a great trip....My first experience camping in the snow...I learned a lot. The most important lesson learned....know your limitations and be willing to modify your plans...this time of the year can be very unforgiving.
In retrospect, we should have stayed in the car and hit the trail early Sat. morning. Nonetheless, we grabbed our gear (absent crampons and snowshoes) and embarked on our trip at midnight.
Hiked about 3 miles, half way up Carter Dome Trail, to a make shift campsite. Wanted to stay 200 feet off the trail, but could not find a semi-flat area. We found a site about 100 feet off the trail, pitched a tent and slept the remaining night away.
We, unfortunately overslept, and did not break camp the next day until 11:00am. As expected we saw three or four people on the trail that day. We originally planned on bagging Mt. Hight and Carter Dome that day, however, we need to find a base camp at the junction of Carter Dome Trail and Carter Moriah Trail. This proved challenging given the 1/4 mile no camping restriction. We spent a good portion of the early afternoon scouting out the area. Without snowshoes, we postholed all day until we found a site.
After loading up on water, the clouds rolled in and it became rather clear that we were in for a raining night. We decided to save Mt. Hight and Carter Dome for Sun. Sure enough, the rain came at about 6:00PM...we powered down a quick meal and jumped in our sleeping bags for a long night.
The next morning, we awoke around 7:00, had a quick breakfeast and climbed the rather steep trail to Mount Hight. We had great views of the Presidentials. After this experience, I am convinced that Mt. Hight is the overlooked gem of the whites. After spending about a hour soaking in the views, we embarked on Carter Dome. The juant up the ridgeline was realtively easy and straightfoward. It is arguably the easiest climb that I have had in the whites.
We were disappointed with the limited views on Carter Dome, but it was expected. We wanted to head down the Carter Dome Trial rather than back over Mt. Hight but could not find the trail. Our map seemed to suggest that the trail was shortly after the Black Angel trial, but we missed it.
It all worked out in the end because we met up with a few people on Mt. Hight (a very nice female hiker, Nina) who was kind enough to take a picture of the two of us.
After the photo shoot, we headed back to base camp. The weather was perfect...nice warm wind from the south keep the tempature around 45 to 55 degrees. After a healthy dinner we called it a night around 9:00pm.
The winds were very strong that night. I awoke at 3:00am to a lound bang. Apparently, the wind was knocking down trees all around us. An eight foot top fell about 75 feet on the top of our tent. The branch missed my head by about a foot. Needless to say, I did not sleep much the remainder of the night. (truthfully, I don't know how to protect myself from that situation).
The next day, we day hiked south carter and then hiked back down to 16. The decent to the car was tough. We did not have crampons and that proved to be difficult with a full pack. The were many spots that were extremely icy and very difficult to manage. The snow and ice was melting so fast that we were presented with a difficult river crossing near the junction of Nineteen mile and Carter Dome trails.
All in all a great trip....My first experience camping in the snow...I learned a lot. The most important lesson learned....know your limitations and be willing to modify your plans...this time of the year can be very unforgiving.
