.May 28, 2006
The sun is shining and after two days of hiking in the fog I can't wait to get out there. I wasn't planning on hiking today (Sunday) but with the sun out I can't resist. After church in the morning, I got in the truck and headed to the Whites. I arrived about 1:15. There is a 2.3 mile section of the AT that has been giving me a lot of grief since late October of last year. It is a long 3.6 mile hike just to get to the trail and I have been snowed out, iced out, and washed out in a few different attempts to get to it. I think the snow will finally be gone. Getting such a late start, my nemesis today will be time. Snoopy will be attempting this with me. I have been hesitant to bring him up until now because there has still been ice and snow in the Whites. We headed off on the Stony Brook Trail
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About 1 mile into the hike I had to cross Stony Brook.
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As I crossed the small, peaceful brook, it was hard to imagine that I could not find a way across it just two weeks earlier. Below is a picture of what the 'brook' looked like then.
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About halfway up the mountain, Snoopy and I found a nice spot to relax. The black flies are out in force so we didn't stay long.
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The trail became very steep after this. I met two hikers coming down. They saw all the black flies buzzing around my head.
"I see you brought the flies up with you."
"Yes. Feel free to take them back down with you."
"No that's all right."
The fact that they didn't have flies buzzing around them told me that as I got higher the bugs would leave and they did.
"How is it crossing the brook?" one of them asked.
"No problem. It's not at all like it was 2 weeks ago."
"Great."
"How far to the junction with the Appalachian Trail."
"Just a few minutes."
"Thanks."
They were right, within about 5 minutes I reached the junction with the Carter-Moriah Trail(AT). More importantly the flies were gone. I looked off to the left. I had hiked that section last year, so I turned to the right. This was it, my opportunity to finish this 2 mile section of the AT. I came to a rocky area where I was able to look ahead to North Carter, my goal for the day. Although North Carter is over 4,000 feet it is not an official 4,000 footer. Nearby Middle Carter steals the glory. Middle Carter actually looks lower in this picture, but that is just because it is further away.
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From here I could also see Gorham, NH to the northwest.
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Snoopy and I crossed a series of bog bridges.
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Snoopy and I passed the side trail to the Imp Shelter. If we have enough time, we'll stop on the way back. We passed on the side of Imp Mountain. As far as I know, there are no trails to the summit. Then the trail got steep, then steeper, and then even steeper. There were several places where I had to pick Snoopy up. Some major scrambling was necessary here. It assured me that I did the right thing two weeks ago when after being washed out by the river, I tried to complete this section by coming up and over North Carter from the other direction. I had reached this extremely steep section and it was covered with ice. But today there was just a small patch or two here and there. I turned around for a great view to the north
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I had come part way down this trail from the summit two weeks ago, but because there was no landmark to show where I stopped, I will have to hike to the summit again. I made it and this time Snoopy also made it to the 4,530' summit. He is 13 (91 in doggie years) and I'm proud of him.
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There is no view from the summit but if you follow the trail about 1 minute south there is a rock ledge with a view to the east.
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I didn't stay at the summit long. I was pressed for time. I prefer not to hike in the dark if I can help it. I was also concerned about getting Snoopy back down the steep trail. He did great, but did get into a couple of jams.
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Although pressed for time, I took the side trail to the Imp Campsite and Shelter
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After this I made my way back to Stony Brook Trail and began the final 3.6 miles back to the parking lot. About halfway back, I realized I would have plenty of time to finish before dark. As I kept walking I noticed the trail had some high grass and it looked like tire tracks on each side. I didn't remember this, but maybe I just missed this on the way up. I kept walking and it became more obvious that atv's or jeeps use this. I was definitely not on the trail any more. The map did not show any other trails in the area. I estimated I only had about a mile left. I was going in the right direction and I could still hear the brook to my right. Normally I would go back and find where I came off the trail, but I figured worse case scenario I could bushwack my way back to the brook and follow that back to my truck. The grass road turned into a dirt road and then the dirt road came out on a paved road. I took a right and followed this about a half a mile and it took me right back to my truck. I lucked out on that one. I finished with about 45 minutes of light to spare. It took me 3 attempts to complete this 2.5 mile section of the AT. I must have put in a total of about 25 bonus miles.
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