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.

 

Jewell Trail and Jefferson Brook Slide

On a morning when the Mount Washington Observatory reported 100-mile visibility, with a prediction of light winds by afternoon, I headed back to the Cog Railway Base Road for a snowshoe trek up the moderately graded Jewell Trail to treeline at 4600 ft., where after three miles in the woods you are suddenly treated to panoramic views. It's not a peak, but the views are better than those from many 4000-footers. On the way down I bushwhacked through deep heavy snow to the top of a slide in the drainage of Jefferson Brook's south fork.

Near the start the Jewell Trail crosses the Ammonoosuc River on a sturdy footbridge.

Conditions were quite different from what I found on Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail two days earlier. All the snow had melted off the trees, and cover was thin in places down low. The top layer of the track was soft, and I found snowshoes to be the most efficient footwear.

There were a few minor icy spots but they were easy to traverse.

Bridge over Clay Brook.

A sidehill section higher up the ridge (western spur of Mt. Clay) traversed by Jewell Trail.

Passing through a blowdown patch at 3600 ft.

View of Mt. Franklin and a slide in the Franklin Brook drainage.

Monroe Brook Slide under Little Monroe.

Screened view out towards Bretton Woods, the Twins and Mt. Lafayette.

Higher up, around 4000 ft., the trail makes a long, easy-graded climb through a beautiful open balsam fir forest.

Great snowshoeing through here.

Into the scrub at 4450 ft.

Serious snow depth up here.

Final approach to treeline.

It was an amazing afternoon on this perch at the edge of treeline. Temp in the high 20s and zero wind. This view looks west down the ridge and out past the Base Station to the Twin-Bond Range and Willey Range.

The nearby Dartmouth Range with Cherry Mountain and vast Vermont horizons beyond.

Mt. Jefferson and Caps Ridge.

The Pliny Range with Mt. Cabot and The Horn peering over in back.

Mts. Bond and Guyot and the Twins. Mt. Lafayette in back.

Great angle on four of the Southern Presidentials: Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower and Pierce. The 2017 slide in Burt Ravine is prominent in the foreground.

Monroe Brook Slide.

Looking up at Mt. Washington. The Jewell Trail looked quite bony above treeline.

Monroe and Little Monroe.

Eisenhower and Pierce, with the Hancocks and Mt. Willey to the right. The Osceolas and the tip of Mt. Tecumseh can be seen behind Pierce.

The distant views were quite clear. Here the long Abraham-Ellen ridge is seen beyond the Signal Mountain Range. Thanks to the Peakfinder app, with binoculars I could spot the tip of Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks off the north slope of Camel's Hump.

Parting shot after an hour-plus stay. The only hikers I saw all day was a descending group that included Steve Kenney and Tonia Sterling, who I knew from the store. We had a nice visit.

After descending a couple hundred feet I headed off-trail and downhill, seeking the top of a slide that fell in the south fork drainage of Jefferson Brook during the 2017 Halloween storm. I had visited this in summer a couple of years ago and wanted to see it in its winter guise. I had my doubts as on the way up the trail I had tested the snow off trail and found it deep, soft and wet. But the woods were wide-open, so it was worth a try.

I proceeded deliberately, letting each snowshoe step set in the wet snow, not wanting to plunge waist-deep into a spruce trap or hidden blowdown hole.

Found it! The unique view was as I remembered - Mt. Jefferson and Caps Ridge close in, and the Pliny Range in the distance.

Down-look. While the snow in the woods was deep and soft, on the open slide there was a hard crust under a thin soft layer. So I did not attempt to go down a bit on the slide.

Mt. Jefferson rises impressively, with the Caps in profile.

A more centered view looking down the slide.

 

Snow depth just above the slide.

I did drop into one good trap.

For the 150-ft. ascent back to the trail, I stepped in my tracks, which had set up nicely.

Glad to get back to the trail.

For variety, I took the Cog spur (Jewell Link) on the way out.

Dusk view from above the tracks.

The downside to the Jewell Link is the crawl/duck under the tracks. At least it is a somewhat unique experience. All was quiet as I walked down the road back to the icy Forest Service parking lot.