On a beautiful sunny day I headed up to Gorham to check out the recently relocated trailhead for the Carter-Moriah Trail on Bangor Street. The trailhead has been moved from the neighborhood at the end of the street; the trail now starts at the powerline opening just down the road, with parking for several vehicles.
Start of the trail.
At 0.2 mile an access route called East Link, 0.1 mile long, comes in on the left from an alternate new trailhead.
A rough road leads from the start of Bangor Street to a spacious parking area at the alternate trailhead.
The second half of the relocated route follows a nicely graded new footpath. It meets the original route in 0.4 mile. The trail is now 0.2 mile longer.
The first mile-plus of the trail is on private land, passing through some logged areas.
Once into the WMNF, the trail meanders upward through nice hardwood forest.
Spruce forest on the approach to the minor summit of Mt. Surprise.
A ledge to the right of the trail opens a grand view of the wintry Presidentials.
Closer look.
Boott Spur, Mt. Washington and Mt. Clay.
Mt. Adams and Mt. Madison.
The mini-flume at the summit of Mt. Surprise.
Sunny hardwoods.
Drifts!
Steep ledge climbing with evidence of early season buttsledding. Spikes were mandatory here.
Views starting to pop out.
A somewhat tricky ledge.
Looks more like February than November.
Stately spruces.
I continued up to the best view ledge on this approach to Moriah, at 2625 ft. With a late AM start the summit of Moriah was not in the cards.
The sun was warm and there was no wind, so I was able to enjoy the views for 45 minutes.
Long views to the northwest.
Clouds hovering over the Pliny and Pilot Ranges beyond the Crescent Range.
Percy Peaks and Long Mountain in the distant Nash Stream Forest.
Cabot/Bulge/Horn behind Black Crescent Mountain.
Mt. Waumbek and the Weeks peaks behind Mt. Crescent.
Three Weeks, with Terrace Mountain peeking out on the right.
Looking back on the way down.
The Mahoosucs and Reflection Pond from a lower ledge.
Mt. Success and Goose Eye.
The next day I headed down to Bartlett for an afternoon hike to Mt. Stanton on the lower end of Montalban Ridge. Mandatory stop for the view at Bretton Woods.
Hello, George. We've seen alot of you on PBS lately.
One of the reasons for heading to Stanton was to check on the parking situation, as the trailhead is in a residential neighborhood. For some reason the parking on the shoulder right next to the trailhead has been closed off.
Best parking now is around the corner.
Beyond Stanton and Pickering this trail is lightly used.
The trail starts in next to a private driveway.
It soon enters the WMNF and ascends through a beech and oak forest.
The climb to the shoulder known as White Ledge is steep.
The best outlook on White Ledge has a fine view of Kearsarge North and its northern spurs.
There's a really nice section of walking along the crest of White Ledge.
This boulder marks the start of the short but very steep final climb to the summit of Mt. Stanton.
A thin layer of crusty snow packed down to ice in places made this scramble too tricky to try without Microspikes - which I had casually left back in the car. I had to do some route improvisation to get up this pitch - and back down, later.
Above the steep pitch, this fine view ledge is found a short distance to the left of the trail.
Looking across the Saco valley to the Attitash ski slopes.
Tripyramid silhouetted in the distance.
Ascending to the summit through a red pine forest.
Wildcat and Carter Dome from a northern outlook close by the summit.
From a second northern outlook, found beside the trail as it descends to the Stanton-Pickering col, there's a good view of Mt. Davis, Mt. Isolation, Mt. Franklin and Mt. Monroe.
Iron Mountain is an impressive neighbor to the north.
The Iron Mountain cliffs.
Looking NE to Black Mountain, the Baldface Range and the Doubleheads.
Climbing back to the summit from the second northern outlook.
From the northern outlook by the summit, Mt. Washington peeks over the Iron Mountain cliffs.
This uplifted ledge is the true summit of Mt. Stanton (1716 ft.).
Late afternoon sun reflects off the fire tower atop Kearsarge North.
No comments:
Post a Comment