Moriah via Carter-Moriah 2010-01-23
Moriah, out-and-back via Carter-Moriah Trail from Bangor Road, 9 miles, 3550, 5:30
Conditions are as good as they ever get. One bare-booter summitted (did not bring snowshoes), and a group of 3 were on Microspikes. (Lost Hiker among them - Hi Laura! Did your group get back their lost pole?)
Madison & Adams, Presidentials from Surprise
Ed and I picked up Paradox in Holderness and headed to Moriah. The first pun of the day came at 8:08am as we were turning into Bangor Road and discussing trees the punny dentist says "quit your beeching." Glad we got that out of the wayWe took the last good parking spot, geared up, and headed out on snowshoes, which we certainly did not need. The first mile is very gradual and through open hardwoods. After that it alternates between spruce and birch as it ascends to the very scenic bump known as Mount Surprise. Along the way we passed Hiker Bob, stopping only briefly to chat. The views are the same, only better, every little bit higher up you go.
Paradox on Surprise, City of Berlin
After Surprise, the trail dips just enough to legtimize the "Mount" designation, and begins the climb to Moriah. Now and again there are views to the Presidentials and back to the city of Berlin. The higher we went the more snow was on the trees, although for the most part we did not get dumped on and the passage was decent. There are a few big blowdowns which required a bit of limbo action and will take a big saw or axe to remove. When we reached the top, a group of three was spread out enjoying the sun and views, but they made room for us to do the same. I have yet to regret the weight of bringing the two steel vacuum bottles - one with hot coffee and the other with hot soup. Soup and and sandwich washed down with hot coffee hits the spot every time.
Presidentials (from Moriah), Carters (from Moriah)
From the summit, we could see Mansfield and its surrounding neighbors, to the west. To the north, it looked like you could reach out and touch the Mahoosucs. The view extended all the way to Saddleback some 75 miles away (line-of-sight.) Between the sun and the light wind we were able to enjoy a good 15-20 minutes of 360-degree, 120+ miles views. I briefly lamented not going to Washington, but Moriah is a fine peak with excellent views worthy of today's weather.
Mahoosucs & Old Spec & Saddleback (75 miles), Moon over Shelburne Moriah
On the way down, we re-encountered Hiker Bob, and met Lost Hiker (Laura) and her friends, a gentleman with a 30-year old hiking stick, carved with all the peaks he'd been to (probably over a hundred) and one or two other groups. Had we started an hour earlier, we might have tried to pick off Jackson on the way home. Back at Surprise we saw a very distant, very thin cloud. Paradox muttered "You can't be cirrus". At 5 hours 30 minutes we were back to the car. I've done 10 peaks so far this winter and have managed to be home for dinner for all of them.
All Photos
Tim
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