.March 3, 2007
The last few days, temperatures were in the 30's and one day we even reached 40. The snow was beginning to melt a little. Was this the beginning of spring? Then WHAM!! We were hit with another big snowstorm. It stopped snowing last night, so it was no surprise to me that I would be breaking trail today. Arriving at the trailhead for the Carter Moriah Trail at 8:45, I headed off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ My goal today was to check off Mount Moriah on my winter list. I've done it in the summer via the Appalachian Trail. This is a new trail for me. I'll go up and over Mount Surprise along the way.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ At least I could see a slight indentation of where the packed trail used to be. This made it a little easier to follow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Lots of blue skies today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I knew I would be wearing my snowshoes all day today, so I left my crampons in my car to lighten my load a bit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Mount Adams and Mount Madison
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Mount Washington
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I went up and over Mount Surprise (elevation 2194'). If you blink you will miss it. After the summit the trail dips just slightly before continuing up. It was a great day for views.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Overlooking Gorham, New Hampshire.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All morning I had great views of the Presidential Range.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ How quickly the weather can change in the Whites. Looks like some storm clouds are moving in.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Where's the trail?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ There were several fairly open areas like in the picture above. It made finding the trail very difficult at times. On semi open ledges like this, the trail is usually marked by small cairns or the blazes are painted right on the rock ledges. As you can imagine, all of that is hidden in the winter. The snow was a lot deeper the further up the mountain I went. Several times I went off track and had to head back. On one of my wrong turns, I got a view of the summit of Moriah.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I got back on track and came up against a very steep section. In summer I would walk up it no problem. It was probably only 50 feet of trail, but it was steep and the snow was several feet deep. Even with snowshoes I was sinking well past my knees. I would take a step forward and then slide back. This 50 foot section of trail took me about 10 minutes and was completely exhausting. My hopes of reaching the summit were beginning to fade.
I kept going but lost the trail again. I spent about 45 minutes trying different routes. I backtracked to my last blue blaze and tried again. I finally got back on the trail. I had set 2 o'clock as my turn around time. I prefer not to hike after dark if I can help it. I kept moving up and forward, one foot at time packing down the fresh powder. I got another glimpse of the summit through the trees. Judging from my map I guess-timated that I had a mile to go, but it looked more like 10. I would never reach the summit by 2 o'clock. I had been breaking trail for about 3.5 miles and it took me nearly 4 hours. I decided to call it quits and turned around.
About 15 minutes after turning back, I met a hiker named Ron.
"Are those your footprints I've been following?" he said.
"They sure are," I replied.
"You've done a great job breaking trail."
"Thanks. I had some trouble finding the trail in a couple spots."
"I could tell the person ahead of me was very determined," said Ron.
"I didn't reach the summit. You've got about 15 more minutes and then you will have to break trail."
"If you want to give it another go, I'll break trail for awhile," Ron offered.
This was all the encouragement I needed. I gave Lynn a call to let her know I would be later than expected and headed back up the mountain. We reached the spot where I had stopped earlier. From there, we took turns breaking trail. The weather had definitely turned for the worse, and it was snowing quite hard.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
But we pushed on and reached the 4049' foot summit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Only the very extreme tip of the summit was above the trees. The weather was down right nasty. Below, this is my "quick take my picture so I can got off this freezing summit" look.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ We returned over the same route. Going downhill on a broken trail, we made it down in a fraction of the time, finishing just 30 minutes after dark. This was my 5th winter 4,000 footer in the Whites. Breaking trail for about 4 of the 4.5 miles to the summit made this the most exhausting hike I've ever done. Thanks Ron, you came by at just the right time.
| 
