bintrepidhiker
New member
Talk about shifting weather in 2 days! Went from 70 degrees in Manchester on Saturday to 20-30 on Carrigain Sunday with even cooler wind chills!
Corey and I drove up Saturday night, hoping by some stroke of luck the Sawyer River Road would be open. Drive up was uneventful until we got to Franconia Notch and ran into some mix combination that gradually turned to snow as we got further down 302. Unfortunatly the road was in fact closed so we parked in the parking lot off 302 and slept there for the night.
Next morning we were up by 6:30 and after a breakfast consisting of granola, a muffin and yogurt we were walking up the road by 7. Road itself was in pretty good shape with some patches of ice. About halfway we saw the sun beginning its rise and splashing of colors on the remaining clouds in the area. Temps were likely in the 30's but once we hit the trailhead for Signal Ridge we lost the cramps from the previous night's sleeping, were warmed up and ready to tackle this mountain.
Our main concern was the first stream crossing .2 miles in. We knew it would be high with the rain from last night and it was fairly high. Had the rocks not been icey it would be worth trying where you are supposed to cross but instead we bushwacked upstream a little bit and found a safer place. From here the ground was fairly level with a mix of mudd, ice and a dusting of snow but traction was not a problem here. Once we started heading uphill it got more interesting. Was more ice than snow and we were doing the "two steps up, one step back" routine with sliding around. Crampons would have been overkill but stabilicers might have been alright. Never-the-less we pressed on in our trail-runners. Having ran the previous day in my dead, non-supportive shoes my feet were hurting pretty good with every step. Long as the pain didn't get any worse i thought i'd be ok.
At 10 we arrived at the top of Signal Ridge and our destination was in sight. The views were very nice too looking east into Maine with clouds covering the Presis. From there we kept on going until 20 mins later we were at the top. This would be #30 for me and #43 (if i remember correctly) for Corey. That was a brutal wind, blowing to around 30 mph but i still climbed to the top of the firetower and snapped some pictures until i couldn't feel my fingers or face anymore and headed back below the trees. One of the best views i saw today was looking north into the Pemi Wilderness. Could see the entire thing just thru the opening in trees leading to the Desolation Trail. We went down a little more to escape the wind and had a snack until around 11 and started out.
I was amazed at how much the trail had improved in the short time since we walked up. We were running, almost sprinting down the trail from the top until it leveled out 3 miles later. Having worn my shoes rather than boots made that much of it easier. The bottoms of my feet didn't seem to be bothered either landing hard in the now slushy snow. Along the way we met a few more hikers heading up for the day but that was all we saw for the day. Toward the bottom there was still ice in abundance so we took our time here. All in all we probably slipped and fell a few times each. I'll be an advanced trail-runner yet! Back at the first crossing, we each slipped and got at least one foot wet but being that close to the end it didn't bother either of us. I'm just glad it was now and not at the start of the day or that would've been quite unpleasent. Finally we reached the road at 12:45 and stopped for another breather and snack up. We also took advantage of the warm sun and just soaked it in. My feet we really starting to be an issue at this point. Walking downhill seemed alright but had we had another 5 or more miles to go it would've killed me. Luckily we just had 2 more on soft dirt back to the car and we were done officially by 1:30.
Grand total: 14 miles in 6.5 hours (including stops/breaks)
Mt Carrigain Pictures
Corey and I drove up Saturday night, hoping by some stroke of luck the Sawyer River Road would be open. Drive up was uneventful until we got to Franconia Notch and ran into some mix combination that gradually turned to snow as we got further down 302. Unfortunatly the road was in fact closed so we parked in the parking lot off 302 and slept there for the night.
Next morning we were up by 6:30 and after a breakfast consisting of granola, a muffin and yogurt we were walking up the road by 7. Road itself was in pretty good shape with some patches of ice. About halfway we saw the sun beginning its rise and splashing of colors on the remaining clouds in the area. Temps were likely in the 30's but once we hit the trailhead for Signal Ridge we lost the cramps from the previous night's sleeping, were warmed up and ready to tackle this mountain.
Our main concern was the first stream crossing .2 miles in. We knew it would be high with the rain from last night and it was fairly high. Had the rocks not been icey it would be worth trying where you are supposed to cross but instead we bushwacked upstream a little bit and found a safer place. From here the ground was fairly level with a mix of mudd, ice and a dusting of snow but traction was not a problem here. Once we started heading uphill it got more interesting. Was more ice than snow and we were doing the "two steps up, one step back" routine with sliding around. Crampons would have been overkill but stabilicers might have been alright. Never-the-less we pressed on in our trail-runners. Having ran the previous day in my dead, non-supportive shoes my feet were hurting pretty good with every step. Long as the pain didn't get any worse i thought i'd be ok.
At 10 we arrived at the top of Signal Ridge and our destination was in sight. The views were very nice too looking east into Maine with clouds covering the Presis. From there we kept on going until 20 mins later we were at the top. This would be #30 for me and #43 (if i remember correctly) for Corey. That was a brutal wind, blowing to around 30 mph but i still climbed to the top of the firetower and snapped some pictures until i couldn't feel my fingers or face anymore and headed back below the trees. One of the best views i saw today was looking north into the Pemi Wilderness. Could see the entire thing just thru the opening in trees leading to the Desolation Trail. We went down a little more to escape the wind and had a snack until around 11 and started out.
I was amazed at how much the trail had improved in the short time since we walked up. We were running, almost sprinting down the trail from the top until it leveled out 3 miles later. Having worn my shoes rather than boots made that much of it easier. The bottoms of my feet didn't seem to be bothered either landing hard in the now slushy snow. Along the way we met a few more hikers heading up for the day but that was all we saw for the day. Toward the bottom there was still ice in abundance so we took our time here. All in all we probably slipped and fell a few times each. I'll be an advanced trail-runner yet! Back at the first crossing, we each slipped and got at least one foot wet but being that close to the end it didn't bother either of us. I'm just glad it was now and not at the start of the day or that would've been quite unpleasent. Finally we reached the road at 12:45 and stopped for another breather and snack up. We also took advantage of the warm sun and just soaked it in. My feet we really starting to be an issue at this point. Walking downhill seemed alright but had we had another 5 or more miles to go it would've killed me. Luckily we just had 2 more on soft dirt back to the car and we were done officially by 1:30.
Grand total: 14 miles in 6.5 hours (including stops/breaks)
Mt Carrigain Pictures
