Carrigain 4700'

Carrigain Notch Trail/ Signal Ridge Trail

10.6 Miles 3350' Elevation gain

Kevin, Judy & Wicket

I was mentally prepared for this one. We had done Jefferson, Adams & Madison, Washington & Owl's Head the previous four hikes, with little to no trouble. I had convinced myself Carrigain would be a walk in the park after those, despite knowing in the back of my mind that Carrigain usually kicked my ass.

It was nice on this trip to be able to use the actual trailhead parking area. On at least the previous 3 trips Sawyer River Road was either washed out from hurricane Irene, or covered deep in snow. It had been eight years since we had been there, 9/11 2011.

I was surprised and thankful that the actual trailhead had been relocated to the western side of the river where winter hikers have for years avoided the sometimes difficult crossing of Whiteface Brook. I was not armed with that knowledge on a winter attempt that went awry many years ago.

Two miles in and just starting on the trail, Emma and I went through a snow bridge over that brook, both got soaked, and our winter quest for Carrigain ended right then and there for that day. It was a long, cold slosh back down Sawyer River Road to rte. 302.

As we started out I was hoping this day was going to be better than that one, and it was. We discovered as we went along that not only had the trailhead been relocated, but a lot of the Carrigain Notch Trail had been moved away from the brook, or taken a new direction all together.

I suppose this is all old news to most of you that bother to read my reports, but it was all new to us. As we continued on we discovered that parts of the Signal Ridge Trail were rerouted as well.

I found myself breaking out of the trees on Signal Ridge sooner and seemingly easier than I had ever experienced before. The combination of sunshine, cool temps, occasional cloud cover and above all, a new hip let me actually enjoy the trail.

The rock-pounding on the Presidentials, the long slog out to Owl's Head and back had made me look forward to Carrigain as a kind of break, and with Judy & Wicket alongside what was there to not enjoy?

We stopped at several spots along Signal Ridge to take in the views. The Northern Prezzies kept their heads in the clouds which only lifted intermittently to reveal the Southern Prezzies.

More immediately and below us to the east on Mount Lowell are the great rockslides above Carrigain Notch. Despite a slight haze we can still pick out and name dozens of other mountains in the Whites and along the border with Maine.

Warm sun and a cool breeze as we crossed the ridge reminded us of the luxuries of September hiking. A quick look up to the fire tower still ahead on the summit, and we were off towards it in single file, Wicket, Kevin, Judy.

We sat in the sun on the summit under the fire-tower and had lunch while conversing with a few other hikers who came and went while we were there. Gray Jays came and begged and flew to our hands for granola.

We tried to get Wicket to climb the fire-tower, but the grate on the stairs made her balk and she would not walk across it. I don't think I've seen a dog that would. I didn't push the issue.

We took some long last looks around before heading back down. We descended reminiscing about previous hikes on the mountain, and the changes that we had seen this day, especially in the number of switchbacks.

The miles went quickly and we were soon back at the car and #43 was in the books for Wicket (& my new hip!)