June 24, 2007
It's time for a Sunday afternoon hike. I love this time of year. I can get a late start on a hike and still have plenty of time. After church, I drove home, changed, picked up Madison, and headed off to the White Mountains. Today, Madison and I would climb Mount Carrigain. Here's today's track from my Delorme GPS.
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There were several vehicles in the parking lot. It was already 1:30 in the afternoon, and I was just starting. I imagine I will see the owners of these vehicles coming down as I am going up. Madison and I started out on Signal Ridge Trail.
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The trail was starting off easy enough.
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We flew through the first 1.7 miles up to the trail junction.
We continued on the Signal Ridge Trail. I hope on another hike to do a loop over Carrigain and return on the Carrigain Notch Trail. I definitely don't have time for that today.
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This is a big mountain. I know this flat, smooth trail won't last.
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Crossing Whiteface Brook
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Then the climbing started. Up, up, and up. I met some hikers coming down.
"How's the view up there today?" I asked.
"It's terrific, but a little cold on the platform," one of them replied.
Platform? This was my first time on Carrigain. There must be an observation platform at the top. Then I continued up, up, and up before coming to my first outlook.
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We stopped for a moment to enjoy the view. "Let's go Madison." Off she ran up the steep, rocky trail. Next we neared Signal Ridge.
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A look back
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The trail opens up across Signal Ridge offering great views.
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Here's a view of Mount Washington way in the back.
The mountain in the foreground to the left is Vose Spur. It is on the New England 100 highest list and will require a bushwack, but that's another hike.
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There's the observation platform that I heard about earlier.
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I went back under tree cover and the trail went up again. I found a covered spring.
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I met some more people coming down. Madison scared one of them a little.
"I thought it was a bear," one of them said.
"Sorry, about that," I said.
"That's OK. I love dogs. You're almost to the top."
Up some more stone steps.
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I finally reached the top. There was a couple more hikers who were just about to start down. It was such a nice day they said that they had stayed at the top for an hour and a half. I'm planning a long stop as well. This is my 42nd White Mountains 4000 footers. Just 6 to go. The 4700' summit of Mount Carrigain is on the very edge of the Pemigewasset Wilderness.
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Because you could see inbetween the steps, Maddie wasn't too crazy about going up the tower, but I got her up there.
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There wasn't a good spot to lay the camera down to use the self-timer function, so I did my best to get a picture of myself and Mount Washington by holding the camera as far away as I could.
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If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, then here's 5,000 words worth of pictures from the summit.
Looking north to Washington
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Looking east
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Looking southeast. You can see part of the Signal Ridge trail on the mountain in the foreground.
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Looking to the southwest
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Looking west
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What a gorgeous day this was! I spent about 45 minutes enjoying the summit. I pulled out my map which was a feat in itself, because it was very windy. I began identifying some of the peaks. I read that you can see 40 of the 48 White Mountain 4000 footers from here. I missed a few, but I found most of them. In my opinion, this is one of the best spots in the Whites. After 45 minutes in the wind, I was beginning to get cold. I didn't want to leave, but knew it was time. Madison and I returned over the same route. Wait. I guess I should rephrase that. I returned over the same route. Madison never returns over the same route as she twists and turns through the woods on countless little excursions. We made our way back to the parking lot to find just one vehicle, mine. Looks like I was the last man on the mountain today.
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