To Carter Dome and Mt Hight, June 4th, 2005

We packed up at the large lot for 19-Mile Brook trail, it was already getting hot but the roaring brook sent waves of cooler air. I was suprized there were no bugs. Today our hopeful destination was Carter Dome and Anne's 47th of the NH-48.19 Mile Brook was roaring with snowmelt and rain, it has been quite a spring here in the Whites.

This was probably my third or fourth trip up 19-mile, I remembered it was a flat hike with minor grades for quite a ways. Anne hadn't been to a NH 4K in 9 months or so and I was mildly concerned this 4800+ summit would be a bit too much.

As usual those concerns were unfounded, she's in great shape and took the lead setting a fast pace. The roaring brook was our companion for most of the way up the first parts, we crossed over one bridge then another. Trillium were out in abundance along with blossoming trees.

We barely paused, once to grab a bite for 30 seconds or so and adjust this or that, soon we were at the junction of the 19-mile and Carter Dome trails. The sign pointed left and so we were off. Near the junction were beautiful deep red Trillium. I'd seen lots of the purple throated white ones but few of these.

19-mile which was sometimes rock littered and sometimes nice dry dirt was different than the very rocky and wet Carter Dome Trail. We could hear a brook rushing and soon saw we'd have to cross it. I was glad to have one hiking pole, Anne was wiser and brought both. We used them and easily crossed the brook.

Lots of flowering trees with little white blossoms here called Hobblebush, a Vibernum. The trail was very wet and they seemed to thrive here. We climbed a bit more moderately now, nothing steep, just up. Anne still lead the way, she was doing great. I was just getting over a cold and was feeling a little heavy headed but managed to keep up.

The wet trail switchbacked more than it looked like on the map and soon we had a second much worse crossing. With gaitors I was able to get across dry but Anne's lower boots scooped up plenty of cold snow-melt. I wondered then just where all the snow was. I'd read the line was about at 4,500 feet.

It was hot and dipping the hat into the cool brook felt nice though I nearly got an ice cream headache. We just moved on, not too fast, not too slow, pausing very little. It was still very rocky and pretty wet.

Our next trail junction was the Carter Moriah trail in Zeta Pass. I think we were a little above 4K at that point but my map didn't say. One sign said 1.4 to Carter Dome over Mt Hight and the other sign said .9 to Carter Dome. We took the more direct approach on the CD trail as we hoped to eat lunch on Carter Dome's flat summit. Very quickly we ran into the first ice and snow. The first patches of snow and ice could be skirted around fairly easily.

The snow was piled up in shady areas and was dirty and old looking. Footing was OK but soon got worse as the entire width of the trail was coated. It was pretty slippery but despite a few slips we managed it ok without crampons.

I was glad to see more consolidated snow and less of the ice, it made the going much easier. We were now 2 hrs into the hike and about an hour since leaving 19-mile brook trail. We rejoined Carter-Moriah and could look back and see Mt Hight. Here we met the hutmaster for Carter Dome hut, he mentioned that coming up the C-M trail from the hut had been an icy mess, he wasn't looking forward to the descent.

We were now on the Carter-Moriah Trail and only a half mile or so from the summit. The snow here was soft and plentiful, who knows, 1-2 feet? In some spots it was wide enough to ski! The sun was blindingly bright as we were hiking atop the stunted forested ridge.

A few light winds accompanied us to the wide flat summit that is called Carter Dome. We touched the official top and celebrated Anne's 47th with a nice lunch on some ledges with a nice view of the snowy Presidentials.

After lunch Anne wanted to keep moving. It was moderately warm but we were both soaked and she was getting cold. So we retraced our steps down the soft boot-ski snow to the junction where we headed towards Mt Hight.

We looked back and saw Carter Dome as we approached the summit of Hight. This is a great place to seeCarter Dome. The last few feet bring you up onto the stunning panorama of this beautiful summit. We rested again on the summit, there were lots of people lounging around. The Baldfaces were east of us. We looked down on remote and beautiful beaver ponds and miles and miles of unbroken forest.

Anne was entranced with the views of the Presidentials. This might just be the best place on earth to see them, especially on a nice clear day. It was a little hazy today but you could clearly see the plumes of black smoke from the cog as it ascended the final ridge to the summit of Washington.

We spent a good half hour up there, soaking in the sun, taking a few pictures. We then continued on the Carter Moriah trail down to Zeta pass where we again picked up Carter Dome trail. The worst part of the hike was the descent along the icy parts of Carter Dome trail. We managed.

The stream crossings were pretty easy, we just retraced our steps once again and enjoyed the flat stretches of 19-mile. We stopped at a few places along the way to just snap a picture or two.

We took it slow and were back at the trailhead 6 hours after leaving it. We'd done well, Anne especially. 2 Hrs and 15 minutes from the road to the summit of Carter Dome is pretty good for a first real hike of the season.

Total elevation gain around 3,500 feet, miles traveled 11 and time spent hiking, about 6 hours.