Middle Carter (#18), South Carter (#19), Carter Dome (#20) August 13, 2011

Trails: Rt. 16, Camp Dodge Road, Imp, North Carter, Carter-Moriah, Carter Dome, and Nineteen Mile Brook trails.

Total Distance: 13.5 miles Vertical Gain: 4550'


It had been 3 weeks since our last hike, and we had narrowed our choices to the Carters or Carter Dome. Another early start, we parked at the trailhead for Nineteen Mile Brook trail at 6:30am, and proceded to boot up. And then a weird twist of fate. Thomas was lacing up when a few cars down, a dog came into view. "Hey, it's Lauky." Sure enough, Ed comes around the vehicle. We exchange greetings and discussed itineraries. We planned on going up Nineteen Mile Brook and Carter Dome trails to Zeta Pass, and doing an out and back of the Carters. If we had enough gas, then shoot for Carter Dome. Ed says they're doing the same peaks, but doing a loop hike.
Thomas and I never want to just hook onto anyone, but Ed was planning a little bushwack. Could we tag along. Sure, he says.
Thomas, delivering our parking pass with a new 'do.


So north and down we head on Rt. 16 to AMC Camp Dodge, where a lot of the trail workers stay. We go through the camp, and with an easy little bushwack, we're on the south side of the Imp trail. Ed'N'Lauky on the trail.

Once we hit the Imp trail, Ed tells us to go ahead, he'll keep his own pace behind. We jump ahead, eager for this new loop! From our trailhead to the Imp is roughly the same as starting at the Imp trailhead, so we have to go a little over 3 miles to hit the North Carter trail. Temps were in the 50s to start, as we were on the shady, western side of the ridge. Thomas taking the lead.

We made the junction w/ North Carter trail in 1.5 hrs.

The climbing continues. We finally hit ridgeline, and the Carter-Moriah trail w/ its new sign.

And look who comes up behind us.

9:15am and we've gained over 3,000' in just over 4 miles and 2.5 hrs.

Heading south on the ridge, we walk across quite a few sections of bridges protecting soft areas and keeping our boots clean.

Most of today's hiking would be in the trees, but some tremendous views presented themselves here and there. Our first goal, Middle Carter, is the 2nd peak back.

Looking East towards Evans Notch and the Baldfaces.

The northern Pressies: Jefferson, Adams, and Madison. Hey, we just hiked those!!

We know we're close, and all of a sudden we start going down again. After 100' or so, we pull a u-turn. Did we miss it? Yes. A small rockpile on the side of the trail with no sign. Our summit pic.

And just off the trail, looking back north to the ridge we just came up.

Moving along down the ridge, came across some flats with majestic views. You know the Mtns.

This one has Washington on the left. The summit had just come out of the clouds.

Keep those feet moving, and we're on top of South Carter in 4 hours. You can just see the small summit cairn behind us in this photo.

Moving south and down the ridge, we hit the low spot, Zeta Pass. If Thomas and I had kept to our original trail plan, we would have hit the ridge here for our out and back. We also might have headed down as the ridge wouldn't have been fun doing it twice. But we felt good w/ the loop, and off we go to Carter Dome. From Zeta Pass 0.2 miles up, the trail splits.

We go left to Mt. Hight (4,675'), an unofficial 4,000 footer, but the best views of the day on an open, rocky summit. A perfect spot for lunch at 12:30. Thomas, with the Pressies and Ed'N'Lauky behind him.

We all take a relaxing break for food. Thomas gives the thumbs up for our last peak behind him, Carter Dome.

You can see the ridgeline and top, less that a mile away. Let's go! We put our heads down and bull away knowing the steep climbing is behind us. We're there before we know it. #20 in the books. It's all downhill from here.

There were a few people up top, and we said hello and talked some. Ed and I taking a picture of each other at the same time.

Clouds start to roll in.Time to go. We take in our last views from up high on the day.

The only thing between us and our sandals is 5 miles and 3300' of downhill vertical. Some quick pics on the way down. Still have a fascination w/ trail signs.

And we're down! The feet and knees are sore. We're out of water. We've been hiking all day. Why is this guy happy?

Total hike time was 8.5 hrs. Big thanks to Ed('N'Lauky). Without that different routing, we may not have gotten Carter Dome. Ed- We have to stop meeting like this! ;-)

One cool note about this hike is the fact that in doing the loop we did, out of 13.5 miles, we only backtracked on a 0.2 and 0.4 mile section. Both of them coming down from Carter Dome to Zeta Pass. Made it back to the Bethel area by 4pm, more than enough time to go hit Frenchman's Hole w/ the family, which we did. Another great day in the mountains. And 20 down. Woo-Hoo!!

And for those of you who are conspiracy theorists, and noticed that the date stamp on the pics are not all the same date, I noticed the date was wrong sometime in the morning and changed it. So there you go. :-b

'Til next time.............................................

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Jefferson (#15), Adams (#16), Madison (#17) July 23, 2011

Trails: Caps Ridge, The Cornice, Gulfside, Mt. Jefferson Loop, Lowe's Path, Airline, Osgood, and Howker Ridge


Total Distance: 12.0 miles Vertical Gain: 4300'


I took a little bit before writing this trip report. Wanted to let it sink in with some reflection time.
After all, we had just travelled over 3 of the 5 highest peaks in the White Mtns.

Along with Thomas and me, our bespeckled friend Ted Wallace agreed to hike with us and bring his car, which made this whole 1-way hike possible. Also, another friend, Don Studley, he of the gray moustache, came along with his 2 sons, Kevin and Ryan. 6 of us total. It's on !!

We got an early start to the trailhead in Jefferson Notch. Started up the Caps Ridge trail right at 7am.
Just on trail are me, Kevin, Ted, Thomas, Ryan, and Don.



It was cloudy, cool, and drizzling off and on driving over and starting up the trail. Perfect weather to gain over half of our vertical right away, considering the valleys were forecasted for 90 degrees plus and high humidity. 1 mile in, we come out on a ledge, giving us views of the 3 Caps and the summit of Jefferson.

Once we get to the Caps, some serious scrambling over damp rocks. Smile, boys.

As we gain altitude, more tremendous views present themselves. Looking south towards Monroe, Eisenhower, and Pierce. The southern Presidentials.

Ted, me, Thomas, and Don below Jefferson's false summit. Quite the rockpile.

And the junction with The Cornice.

At this junction, we managed to lose the Caps Ridge trail, and wound up on The Cornice, adding a 1/2 mile to the day. We finally gain the ridge, and the Gulfside Trail, with the cloud cover rising, and the wind howling.

Thomas, with Mt. Washington and the Great Gulf behind him. Hair just'a'blowin'!

Time for a quick snack and break. Jefferson's summit behind us on the left.

When we were heading up Caps Ridge, Thomas and I ran into someone we had met just a few months ago while doing Moosilauke. Ed, and his dog, "Lauke" from the hiking blog site "Views From The Top". Ed'n'Lauke on top of Jefferson.

Our summit photo.

Thought this plaque on top of Jefferson was a very cool thing to do for a friend who was missed. Hopefully you can zoom this to read the inscription.

Made the summit at 9:30am. Ryan and Kevin on top.

About this time, the clouds started lifting with patches of blue and spotty sunshine. Some days are just special.

Heading down to Edmunds Col with Adams, our next objective, looming in the background.

The steep walls of Jefferson Ravine are more striking the closer you get to them.

We were coming across quite a few hikers on the upper alpine zone. A couple heading towards us.

As the skies continued to clear, and the winds picked up even more, we noticed these Lenticular clouds stacking in the upper atmosphere.

Kevin and Don having a father / son moment 1 mile up. Seemed no matter where we were taking a pic, Mt. Adams kept showing up in them.

We finally hook up with Lowe's Path.

Time to scramble up some serious chunks of rock to the top.

Ted and Thomas on Adams, with Jefferson behind.

#16 in the books at 11:30am. Our summit pic, with the Great Gulf wrapping around Thomas.

From Adams' summit, we head down the Airline and once again hook up w/ the Gulfside Trail.

Very cool rock formations on the way down towards Madison Hut.

We were all getting hungry, and decided the "hut" would be our lunch spot. Here it comes into view, with Madison waiting beyond, later.

Thomas leading the way down.

Arrived at Madison Hut around 12:30. This hut just re-opened this past June. Very nice job of it. They had a kitchen inside cooking away, and all the drinkable water you want. We ate our own food, but a couple of us sampled these massive-caloried chocolate chip brownie squares. Should've got a pic of those.

It was such a relaxing 1/2 hour break, I didn't take 1 pic of inside the hut. I will amend and add a photo later if someone else got any.

Leaving the lodge was an exercise just getting the legs moving again. Basically 550' of vert straight up the rocks. Again! We hit the top in a raging wind at 1:30pm.

Here's Keith, Mick, Woodie, and Charlie atop Madison.

Ladies and gentlemen, The Rolling Stones! (Struck me as looking like a band photo!?!)
Top of the world, Ma!

Looking back at Adams.

Time to start the final descent towards Howker Ridge on the Osgood trail.

Just below the summit, we got into some more funky rock formations. Kevin, a Colorado guy now, showing us some fine bouldering techniques.

Reaching the junction w/ the Howker Ridge trail. Only 4.2 miles to freedom.

Partway down Howker Ridge, looking back up at Madison.

You could tell there's not a ton of foot traffic on this trail. It was suggested by a friend as an alternative with plenty of views up high while descending. A couple of the Howks waiting for us to hike over them. There were 3 or 4 of these knobs we negotiated on the way down.

A final view NW towards the Pliny Range, with Mts. Waumbek and Cabot in the distance. Thomas and I will be attacking those later.

And 1 final look up at Madison.

We dropped into the trees and went without views for the final 2.5 miles or so. We did come across some beautiful waterfalls and gorges, and the last mile was relatively flat.

All down safe and sound. Still smiling, although I personally had some sore and painful knees coming down from Madison.

Once again, the gang: Me, Don, Thomas, Ryan, Ted, and Kevin.

We all felt great knowing what we had hiked. 12 miles is a good distance. But the big nut wasn't the 4300' vert up; it was the 6300' vert of down!! Whoa!! About 10.5 hours total hike time.

Once again, a big thank you to Ted, whom without this pt. to pt. hike would not have been possible.

And to Don, Ryan, and Kevin. Thanks for tagging along and making this an event that was not to be missed.

Thomas just keeps getting stronger as we hike the 48s. I keep saying it; I'm proud of him.

We haven't done a big hike like this w/ that many people, and the camraderie and spirit were shared by all. So thank you all.

One last honorable mention has to go to the weather. Although windy most of the day (expected up high), what was a very hot day in the valleys was a beautiful, comfortable day in the mountains. Cool on our initial climb to ridgeline, then the sun came out and made this day one of the best in the mountains. Sometimes fate smiles upon you.

17 down - 31 to go.

'Til next time.................................

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