| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Carter Dome, Mt. Hight, South Carter, Middle Carter, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Nineteen Mile Brook Trail, Carter-Moriah Trail, North Carter Trail, Imp Trail, Camp Dodge Cutoff, Route 16 |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, September 15, 2013 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of room at 19-Mile Brook Trailhead at 7:45 (fee area). Spilled out along the highway at some point during the day. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Bridged or straight-forward rock hops. The remnants of the bridge on 19-mile Brook Trail that got smashed by Hurricane Irene have been removed since my last non-snow trip here. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
19-Mile Brook Trail had a couple leaners way up in the trees, seem solid there for now. Trail itself has seen a lot of recent work due to the damage from Hurricane Irene. Reroute must have been complete, forgot to look for it until I passed where the flagging was this April. A bit more work likely pending at a few of the washout spots. Not sure if the bridge that Irene took out is going to be replaced, the remnants have been removed.
Carter-Moriah Trail in good shape overall except between Carter Dome and Hight is a mess. One major mud pit (really a swamp) with a well-established bypass around it, but that will become a mudpit in time too. Couple other less severe mud pits in the area too.
North Carter could use brushing on the upper 1/2-mile or so. The same section is also lacking in water bars, much of it was a running stream (I'm sure the heavy rain earlier in the week didn't help). The couple of water bars that are present were clear of debris and flowing fine though. Couple minor step-over blowdowns here and there.
Upper part of the South Imp Loop was stream-like as it always is, water bars were running, but not many of them initially. Otherwise, trail was in good shape. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Saw only 1, interestingly. Nothing on this route should pose much trouble for an experienced trail dog. |
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 | Bugs: |
TONS of gnats flitting about in the sun. Thought we were done with that? |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Article of clothing in a tree at the dam. Left in place in case the owner was swimming nearby. |
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 | Comments: |
Big difference in weather from the day before. Blue skies dominated, with some high clouds filling in in the afternoon. Light breeze. Simply an awesome day. The birches in the Wild River Valley are mostly all turned to yellow already. Fall is here.
Headed all the way to the notch and then up the steep way to Carter Dome. Steep as I remembered, but I made better time than I would have expected to the top. Nice views from Pulpit Rock, got a shot of someone taking a picture from the Wildcat A summit overlook. Trees are overtaking the NW overlook on Carter Dome (of course my last visit had a few feet of snow here helping!).
Hight was awesome as always, with terrific 360-views, it was my only long stop of the day. Otherwise, mostly kept moving. Had a great conversation with a gentleman on South Carter who is now only a couple away from finishing his 4Ks. Saw no one after the shoulder half-way up to Middle Carter. That said, a ton of people on the Carters today, I probably saw 2+ dozen just between Zeta Pass and Middle Carter, and nearly that amount near/on Hight. I figured they'd all be across the road in the Presis. Took the old logging road to Camp Dodge, netting a short ~3/10-mile roadwalk back to the car. Camp Dodge is a ghost town now, almost all the tents are down for the winter now.
Awesome day out for #s 42-44 on my 3rd round. |
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 | Name: |
madmattd |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2013-09-18 |
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 | Link: |
 https://mattshikes.blogspot.com/ |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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