1869 Slide, Carter Dome

Made the long drive over to the north end of Pinkham Notch for a hike up Nineteen Mile Brook Trail and a bushwhack to a large open slab on the track of a slide that fell off Carter Dome in 1869. I had visited this slab a couple of years ago on a rainy summer day with no views, so a return visit was in order.

 

Nineteen Mile Brook was fairly well locked in.

Cover was thin on the lower half of the trail, with plenty of ice. 

Was glad to have Hillsounds for this slightly exposed icy spot on the brookbank.

The large footbridge built as part of a relocation a few years ago.

The last half-mile or so before the junction with Carter Dome Trail has many little ups and downs, and there were a few icy pitches.

A major traffic split at this junction - left for the Carters, ahead for Carter Notch Hut and Wildcat.

 

A new footbridge over the tributary just beyond the junction.

And another new footbridge for the tributary 0.2 mile farther along.

 

There was more snow farther up the valley. Time to put the snowshoes on.

I always enjoy this flat stretch through open woods.

This small brook at 3.1 miles comes down from the track of the 1869 Carter Dome slide.

Heading off-trail for the largest remaining open slab on the slide track.

Grouse tracks.

Breaking trail. Depending on tree cover, the depth varied from under a foot to two feet plus.

It was deep and heavy in this sunny spot.

Nice open woods.

Looking back.

Circling up, around and down to avoid some steep terrain.

Emerging at the top of the big slab, at 3240 ft., with an excellent view of the Northern Presidentials.

Closer view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Down-look. This slide provided an exciting descent route from the summit of Carter Dome (then trailless) for a trio of AMC explorers - William Nowell, guide Charles Lowe and Dr. F.I.R. Stafford - in 1876. In his account of the trip in Appalachia (March 1877), Nowell reported his measurements of the slide, which had a maximum slope of 42 degrees in both its upper and lower sections. He estimated that 20 acres of rock, soil and forest growth had been stripped away. The lower part was mostly “perfectly bare” ledge, from 30 to 60 meters wide. After a “rough and difficult descent” that took two hours, they climbed over a terminal moraine and continued down the picturesque brook below, catching a “baker’s dozen” of trout, and took the Aqueduct Path to the Glen House. Accompanying Nowell's Appalachia account were several profile sketches of Carter Dome, with the slide prominently shown as a curving double line. In 1877, Nowell, Lowe and others opened the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail up the valley to Carter Notch. One of the landmarks noted along the new trail was "the foot of the Great Slide."

One of the sketches accompanying the Appalachia article. The outline of the curving slide is seen top center. The slide fell on October 4, 1869, in the same storm that triggered the first South Slide on Mt. Tripyramid.

Looking out from the top center of the slab, where there was a comfortable shelf..

Side view.

How the slab looked on a wet summer day. This is a big expanse of rock, 150 feet long and up to 70 feet wide.

 

A steep spur ridge of Carter Dome on the north side of the slide.

There's a wild crag up there.

Above the slab the old slide is almost completely revegetated, save for one smaller ledge a bit higher up the track.

Tracks. 

Jefferson Ravine and Jefferson's Knee, the improbable route of the Six Husbands Trail.

Mt. Adams, John Quincy Adams, and the ice-draped headwall of Madison Gulf.

The northern ridge of Wildcat Mountain across the valley.

A much more recent slide that has fallen on that ridge. Note the huge boulder in the center.

Heading back down.

Rejoining Nineteen Mile Brook Trail.

Homeward bound.