WeRmudfun
New member
We first hiked Mt Cardigan back in November for the NH Fire Outlook Tower Quest (it is also on 52 with a View). When we started hiking the View and Brew list, it came up again, so off we went to hike it once more. This time we decided to do a loop that included Firescrew Mountain to change it up a bit.
We started at about 8:45AM from the AMC Cardigan Lodge where there was plenty of parking. We headed out on the Back 80 Trail, after about .8 miles we came to Cellar Hole. While researching we learned of a geocache in the hole. We found it, it's not that hard. LOL Once leaving Cellar Hole, the trail has many new blazes. The Back 80 Trail quickly became a favorite trail of ours. Very scenic and plenty of solitude, we saw no one the whole time we were on the trail and for the most part it is also relatively flat just a nice walk in the woods where you past by a beaver pond, a bog and some views. Around this area there is some mud and water to deal with on the trail. There are plenty of signs of moose activity (tracks and poop), although we didn't see one. The only con was the 'In Your Face' spider webs, due to the fact that it's not used too much but that is a guess.. It's a little over a mile and a half to the Elwell Trail.
Once we were on the Elwell Trail, we encountered some steeper sections; we were only on this trail for a little over a half of mile. At the trail junction with the Mowglis Trail, there is an old sign that points back down the Elwell Trail stating that Cilly's Cave is .1 miles back down Elwell. Believe it if you want to, we did, and you'll be lucky if you find it. We ended up coming in on the opposite side of where the rope is tied to the tree. That's pretty much how we get to these places...the wrong way. LOL Anyway Cilley's Cave was a pretty cool sight to see. We took a break there and checked out every nook and cranny in the place.
We got back on the Mowglis Trail and it seemed to keep changing scenery from colorful, to not so colorful. It also started out without much incline. There will be some incline, but it's not too bad before the Crag Shelter. We took another break here and explored everything. There are 2 log books, we only signed the small one. After the shelter is when the 'UP' really begins, pretty much all the way to the summit of Firescrew Mountain. The views for the summit were great and we could see Mt Cardigans fire tower easily. We took our video from the summit and then headed off to Mt Cardigan, but we had one more stop planned...Grotto Cave.
We were looking for the side path with the cairns and of course we turned too early, we think, but ended up finding them anyway. As far we could see there are only 3 cairns and they lead you to a cliff, basically. The key is finding the way down and trying to find the herd path (not easy, well for us it wasn't). We found what we believed to be Grotto Cave, seeing as how we haven't seen a video or a picture of it. We came to this large overhanging rock and someone built a fire pit in front to it. To be sure we kept going and we found 3 more 'caves', one was up high that we had to climb to and there was a fire pit built there too. From what info we could find while researching we figured the first one was Grotto Cave, so we went back and explored the whole thing. It wasn't the most impressive cave we have explored, but the journey to get to it, made it a pretty good adventure. The trick then was remembering how to get back out.
When we got back out to the Mowglis Trail (which is marked with cairns now), we headed for the final destination...Mt Cardigan. It's pretty much just open ledge getting to the summit. Like Firescrew the summit is completely open with 360 degree views. We took some video, but we had already hiked this mountain and now we just wanted to hike down. We took Clark Trail to Holt Clark Cutoff Trail, Vistamont Trail, Holt Trail, and Manning Trails. These trails pretty much just offer an easy way down. That was the reason we ran into lots of families, unprepared families. We heard a child start screaming and when we caught up to see what was going on, we saw the child had fell and hit his head on a rock. He was bleeding and the father was trying to hold the blood back with his hand. We gave them an ice pack a, gauze and tape from our supply then continued on after we were sure the child was going to be OK.
It was nice to get back to the lodge and head to the brewery. The loop we took is about 7.6 miles long, not counting the side trips we took, but well worth it.
We did post a video of our day's adventure if anyone would be interested to see this hike and trail conditions...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKywAd__lTg&feature=c4-
We started at about 8:45AM from the AMC Cardigan Lodge where there was plenty of parking. We headed out on the Back 80 Trail, after about .8 miles we came to Cellar Hole. While researching we learned of a geocache in the hole. We found it, it's not that hard. LOL Once leaving Cellar Hole, the trail has many new blazes. The Back 80 Trail quickly became a favorite trail of ours. Very scenic and plenty of solitude, we saw no one the whole time we were on the trail and for the most part it is also relatively flat just a nice walk in the woods where you past by a beaver pond, a bog and some views. Around this area there is some mud and water to deal with on the trail. There are plenty of signs of moose activity (tracks and poop), although we didn't see one. The only con was the 'In Your Face' spider webs, due to the fact that it's not used too much but that is a guess.. It's a little over a mile and a half to the Elwell Trail.
Once we were on the Elwell Trail, we encountered some steeper sections; we were only on this trail for a little over a half of mile. At the trail junction with the Mowglis Trail, there is an old sign that points back down the Elwell Trail stating that Cilly's Cave is .1 miles back down Elwell. Believe it if you want to, we did, and you'll be lucky if you find it. We ended up coming in on the opposite side of where the rope is tied to the tree. That's pretty much how we get to these places...the wrong way. LOL Anyway Cilley's Cave was a pretty cool sight to see. We took a break there and checked out every nook and cranny in the place.
We got back on the Mowglis Trail and it seemed to keep changing scenery from colorful, to not so colorful. It also started out without much incline. There will be some incline, but it's not too bad before the Crag Shelter. We took another break here and explored everything. There are 2 log books, we only signed the small one. After the shelter is when the 'UP' really begins, pretty much all the way to the summit of Firescrew Mountain. The views for the summit were great and we could see Mt Cardigans fire tower easily. We took our video from the summit and then headed off to Mt Cardigan, but we had one more stop planned...Grotto Cave.
We were looking for the side path with the cairns and of course we turned too early, we think, but ended up finding them anyway. As far we could see there are only 3 cairns and they lead you to a cliff, basically. The key is finding the way down and trying to find the herd path (not easy, well for us it wasn't). We found what we believed to be Grotto Cave, seeing as how we haven't seen a video or a picture of it. We came to this large overhanging rock and someone built a fire pit in front to it. To be sure we kept going and we found 3 more 'caves', one was up high that we had to climb to and there was a fire pit built there too. From what info we could find while researching we figured the first one was Grotto Cave, so we went back and explored the whole thing. It wasn't the most impressive cave we have explored, but the journey to get to it, made it a pretty good adventure. The trick then was remembering how to get back out.
When we got back out to the Mowglis Trail (which is marked with cairns now), we headed for the final destination...Mt Cardigan. It's pretty much just open ledge getting to the summit. Like Firescrew the summit is completely open with 360 degree views. We took some video, but we had already hiked this mountain and now we just wanted to hike down. We took Clark Trail to Holt Clark Cutoff Trail, Vistamont Trail, Holt Trail, and Manning Trails. These trails pretty much just offer an easy way down. That was the reason we ran into lots of families, unprepared families. We heard a child start screaming and when we caught up to see what was going on, we saw the child had fell and hit his head on a rock. He was bleeding and the father was trying to hold the blood back with his hand. We gave them an ice pack a, gauze and tape from our supply then continued on after we were sure the child was going to be OK.
It was nice to get back to the lodge and head to the brewery. The loop we took is about 7.6 miles long, not counting the side trips we took, but well worth it.
We did post a video of our day's adventure if anyone would be interested to see this hike and trail conditions...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKywAd__lTg&feature=c4-
