Wildcats, Carters, & Moriah Traverse - 5/3/15

It was a beautiful spring day for a Wildcats, Carters, Moriah Traverse. Covering six 4,000-footers, up and down we went for 18 miles, enjoying some sunshine and good views. Warm temperatures and relatively good trail conditions all combined to make it a great hike. There is still lots of snow above 3000! Although it was a little sloppy, and we walked with soaking wet boots for over 8 miles, it was a fun day.  Thanks to Jason & Brent for a great hike!

Lost Pond 

Wildcat Ridge Trail 

Wildcat Ridge Trail 

Mt. Washington from Wildcat D 

Carter Dome and Range from Wildcat A 

Carter Lake beneath Wildcat A 

Nice views from Carter Dome 

A really nice afternoon on the Carter Range, looking at the Presidentials 

Still work to do in the trees before Moriah 

Nice views still before heading down into Gorham

Highlights:
Carter Dome - 10th Round
Wildcats, Middle & South Carter, Moriah - 9th Round
Wildcat A - 100th White Mountain 4,000-footer in 2015
6th Complete Wildcats, Carters, Moriah Traverse.
Beautiful, warm, spring weather and great views and company

Trail Conditions:
We bare-booted on a surprisingly packed monorail from Lost Pond Trail, up and across Wildcat Ridge Trail, down and up through Carter Notch to approximately North Carter, where we switched to snowshoes.  We wore snowshoes to just below Mt. Surprise on the descent, where it is mostly bare ground below that. Early in the day, we had a good, dry monorail from the cooler overnight temperatures, but slowly, the snow became softer and wetter, eventually soaking our boots completely through about halfway through the hike.  There are a ton of blow-downs and loose trees and branches across the Carters to Moriah.  Its been like that since winter, but everything is melting and broken trees are becoming exposed.  We moved a few off the trail when we could.  Although it was less traveled in the area between Imp and Moriah, throughout the hike, the trail was mostly easy to follow.

Hike Stats

Trails: Lost Pond Trail, Wildcat Ridge Trail, Carter-Moriah Trail, Carter Dome Trail.

Distance: 17.4 miles

Elevation Gain: 7,053 ft.

Actual Book Time: 11:56
Garmin Adventure
Photo Album Link

Hut-to-Hut Attempt to a Windy Overnight Presidential Traverse + Wildcats - 7/5/14

About one month prior to this hike, I took on a Double Presidential Range Traverse, a 43 mile jaunt with over 18,000 feet of elevation gain going back and forth over the range.  After a couple of shorter hikes, long on my list to-do, was a Hut-to-Hut Traverse of the White Mountains.  A hut-to-hut doesn't have anything to do with 4,000-footers, but for me, trying to add all of the 4,000-footers along the way would be nothing new.  Lately, I've been connecting hikes and hike plans with the great history of the White Mountains.  All hut-to-huts prior to the 70s included Pinkham Notch (also called the MacPhail H2H), so I decided I wanted to add Pinkham Notch, and of course bag the Wildcats. To add to that, I wanted to do the full Presi Traverse, hitting every peak, so to grid the Presi's for July.  Then, I wanted Tom, Zealand, and Galehead as extras along the way.  It sure was possible, but things don't always turn out the way its planned.

River along Nineteen Mile Brook Trail

I planned to hike up to Carter Notch Hut Friday night for a midnight start, but heavy rains that never stopped kept me in my car overnight until about 8:30am on Saturday morning.  With a little under 48 hours before I have to report to work, and some additional rest, I figured I could still give this a go.  I had a nice walk up to Carter Notch Hut where I hung out for about 20 minutes, and I began my attempt to trek across the White Mountains to visit every hut, starting at 10:40am.

Nineteen Mile Brook Trail temporary bridge

Carter Notch Hut

Carter Lake and Wildcat A

I made satisfactory time over the Wildcats, down the Wildcat Ridge Trail and Lost Pond Trail to Pinkham Notch.  I refilled water and went to the bathroom, before quickly heading up the Old Jackson Road behind Pinkham Notch.  Here I was now on a bit of unfamiliar trail.  The trail climbs gradually up to the Auto Road.  When I arrived at the road, I thought it was sort of weird because I was on Mt. Washington, but headed to Madison, and crossing the auto road while on a hike for the first time ever. I pulled out the map, to make sure, and I continued onto the Madison Gulf Trail.  

Crossing the Auto Road

Things were going excellent until I got confused trying to get from Madison Gulf Trail to the Osgood Trail.  It was almost a Madison Gulf ascent, until I decided screw this, I can get across this river somehow.  However, it took a little extra ascent and scouting the river for a safe spot, which consumed precious minutes.  Then, when I got across, I had an approximately 10 minute bushwhack around a slope to the Osgood Cut-off.  Except when I arrived onto this trail, mid-trail, I questioned what trail it was, and pulled out the map.  A few people including a forest ranger came up just seconds after, and I asked if this was the Osgood Cut-off or Osgood.  I told them I just crossed the river, and came onto the middle of the trail.  With some clarification, and quick sigh of relief, I was fast continuing up the Osgood Cut-off and to the Osgood Trail.

From Osgood Ridge to Madison

The clouds appeared menacing, and it was a bit breezy at this point, but nothing out of control...yet.  This was my first time on the Osgood Ridge to Madison, and it was a fun stretch to climb.  It began to slow my progress a bit, though, but I arrived at a packed Madison Hut.  Here I re-aligned my gear for the strong winds pulling out my pretty much winter gear as those in the hut probably thought i was nuts. As I was stepping out the door, a few guys doing a northern presi traverse came in wearing jeans. Good thing they were nearly done. 

Madison Spring Hut

From Adams 

On Adams

Once I was close to Edmands Col, I started to see the sun setting. The picture doesn't do it justice, it was a defined orange ball - really pretty despite the thickening clouds above. 

Sunset from the Presi's

On Jefferson, there was the last light and a shaky summit picture. Winds really started to ramp up from here on out, likely 60-70mph as I made my way past Sphinx col and onto the Clay Loop.

Pretty eeriness on Jefferson 

Windy on Jefferson

After Clay, and once back onto the Gulfside Trail visibility went from pretty good, to almost 5-10 feet max, with the winds getting stronger. Instead of crossing the Cog, I hiked alongside it until I reached the front of the Adams summit building. I sat down on the bench for a quick break, as I watched the strongest winds I've ever experienced on Washington, blow the fog through the beams of the summit structures with such intensity. I didn't need to change any gear. I was still in shorts, but had my jacket, hat, and gloves on. The wind chill was about 25 degrees, but my legs were warm because everything around me was so intense, and my body was working hard.

I couldn't really stand up at the sign, had to hang onto rocks

I had no choice but make it to Lake of the Clouds Hut, which I knew I could do. I really didn't expect the high winds to linger so long into the night, and even the observatory posted a forecast of mostly clearing skies for the evening. As I exited the summit onto the Crawford Path, I immediately lost the trail as it takes a wide curve off the summit. I had to trust my instincts for a few minutes as I went in the general direction of the trail. Finally I found a rock where I did a quick glance at my map and GPS without falling over in the 80+mph winds, and continued about 5-10 more minutes before I came upon the recognizable trail, visible only at my feet.

A long story short, I walked into a pitch dark LOC Hut, and I found myself a cold bench among the many already sleeping on the floors and benches. I didn't sleep a wink, and was quite cold all night. I should have brought the sleeping bag instead of my hammock. I did have a decent time Sunday morning chatting with some thru and section hikers at the Hut about lots of familiar hiking.

The view back from Mt. Franklin

Around 8:30am or so, after the Hut stopped shaking from the wind, and I warmed up a lot, I got moving again with winds around 40-50 mph. Slowly, I started to feel back to normal, as if I had spent a regular night out but it was nothing like a regular night on the mountain. I continued on, hitting Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower, and Pierce, all the summits I wanted. From there, I descended to the Highland Center, where just 30 minutes later, I caught the AMC Shuttle back to my car.

Me on Eisenhower 

Lenticular clouds from the summit of Mt. Pierce

The later start than planned, along with the high winds and extra focus needed to make it over Washington safely put an end to my attempt.  The next day was really nice, which allowed me to really enjoy the rest of this epic Presidential Range Traverse plus the Wildcats, which was still almost half the distance I was attempting to do.  I hope someday soon that I will try a normal Hut-to-Hut Traverse, but I definitely wouldn't change a thing about this one. Stay safe friends, and always bring the proper gear for the extremes of the Presidentials and Mt. Washington. This was my 8th Presidential Traverse, anywhere from my 7th-11th times on the Presi's and 19th summit of Mt. Washington.

Hike Stats

Trails: 19 Mile Brook Trail, Wildcat Ridge Trail, Lost Pond Trail, Old Jackson Road, Madison Gulf Trail, Osgood Cut-off, Osgood Trail, Gulfside Trail, Airline Trail, Israel Ridge Path, Jefferson Loop, Clay Loop, Crawford Path, Monroe Loop, Eisenhower Loop, Webster-Cliff Trail (for Pierce), Crawford Path

Distance: 35 miles

Elevation Gain: 13,930 ft.

Actual Book Time: TBD

Moriah, Carters, Wildcats Traverse - 8/24/13

With meteorologists everywhere raving about perfect, cloud-free weather for Saturday, August 24th, I forced myself to make a decision on what to hike. Now that I'm well into my 4th round of the 48 and working on various other peak lists, its sometimes a tough decision! My hiking had been light so far in August, so I wanted to get into something around 20 miles. Come Thursday night though, my gear was packed and my mind was set to take on a Wildcats, Carters, Moriah Traverse, and for the first time, do it in reverse - Gorham to Pinkham Notch. For me, this traverse would knock off six more 4Ks for the month of August, five of the six peaks for my 4th round, and lastly one Trailwright 72 peak in Middle Carter.

Hiking this one solo, I brought my mountain bike along and at about 4:30AM, dashed into the woods in the parking lot of Pinkham Notch Visitor Center and secured my bike and tire to a tree. At 5:00AM on the money, I was off up the Carter-Moriah Trail in the dark from Bangor Street. It was nice and comfortable to start. The climb to Moriah is really gradual, and at the top it can be tiring once you hit the ledges. From the ledges and Mt. Surprise, the pink sky over the Presidentials was amazing. I always love when the sky is pink like that, its an awesome sight. I made relatively good time on the 4.5 miles to the summit of Moriah in 1:45. I missed sunrise by a little bit, but it was still a perfect morning.

Crap, it looks like I'm not going to make sunrise :( 

The moon and pink morning sky over the Presidential Range

Mt. Moriah summit, looking south 

The Presidentials from Mt. Moriah

The last time I did the section between Moriah and the Carters without snow was the first time I did these peaks and did the full traverse. Although I picked up my pace considerably to a run through this section and until Zeta Pass, I enjoyed the solitude as I passed atop the ledges and over the bog bridges. Eventually, I made it to the junction with the North Carter Trail and hurried up to Middle Carter. Without much delay, I took a summit photo and continued on to the summit of South Carter, doing the same

Ledge on the Carter-Moriah Trail 

The Carters (route ahead) from Carter-Moriah Trail , and the moon too!

Carter-Moriah Trail (looking back north)

Middle Carter Summit

South Carter summit 

Then, at the coolest trail junction in the mountains, Zeta Pass, I sat for about 20 minutes and woofed down my Italian sub. It was about 10am, and time for lunch. It was such the perfect day the weathermen had promised, and there was no way in heck I'd miss Mt. Hight this day. It was cool to approach it from the north, which is steeper, and when I reached the summit, I saw first-hand the view from Mt. Hight in all its glory - a much different look than my first time to the summit.

Zeta Pass, Carter Range 

The Northern Presidentials from Mt. Hight 

Looking East from Mt. Hight 

Carter Dome and Pinkham Notch from Mt. Hight 

I moved on and shortly after reached the open top of Carter Dome where I was able to get my first perfect view from its summit outlook. Every other time there has been heavy overcast. Now it was time for the grueling descent from Carter Dome. About a 1/3 of the way down, I got an emergency call for work -  someones ceiling was coming down from a water leak! About 30 minutes later after doing what I needed to do, I continued on, but shortly after, realized that my rhythm had been destroyed from dealing with the call.

Carter Dome summit outlook 

Carter Dome Summit 

Carter Notch from side of Carter Dome 

Carter Lake, Carter Notch 

The views of Carter Lake and to up above were amazing this time around, and certainly a world away from when I crossed the frozen Carter Lake in blowing snow in February. I wished I could have stayed longer, but I felt the need to push on, and without stopping, I was ascending the Wildcat Ridge Trail to A. This was my first time up this section, and I have to say it was pretty rough at this point. I was surprised at the difficulty, but it had been a few weeks since I last hiked, and I was pretty beat. The view from Wildcat A after the haul up was a nice treat. Carter Dome and Carter Notch are so impressive.

Carter Dome and boulder field from Wildcat A  

Mt. Washington from Wildcat D 

The ups and downs of the Wildcat Ridge Trail were pretty brutal. I think I can say that a north to south traverse of Moriah to Wildcats is a bit more difficult than doing it south to north. This is mainly because of the 1,050 ascent to A, and then the 400 or so additional over the Wildcats. On this hike, I mostly enjoyed Mt. Moriah and the northern sections of the Carter-Moriah Trail in the early morning. In my first few rounds, these peaks always were the last several to be done, but for my 4th round, there more in the middle of pack, and I glad to have gotten a day like this on the Carter Range, which included full views of my next objective, the Presidential Range.

Pinkham Notch from Wildcat Ridge Trail

Hike Stats

Trails: Carter-Moriah Trail, Wildcat Ridge Trail

Distance: 18.7 miles

Elevation Gain: 8,250 ft.

Actual Book Time: 11:07