Carrigain via Sawyer River Road, Signal Ridge Trail
14 miles, 3250' + road elevation, 8 hours - 44/48 for me in winter
Tim Lucia and Bob "The Saw" Hayes
This completes my second round of the NH48. I was just as thrilled with the views as the first time I was here, in August 2008. I have 4 more (Bonds+Zealand) for the Winter 48 list.
Second Crossing, Open Woods (YEAH!)
Continuing the string of excellent weather hikes brings Bob and Tim to Sawyer River Road for an 8:30ish start time. The road is well-traveled by snow machines and easily bare-bootable. I did not bother layering up for the start and it didn't take long to lose the hat and gloves either. We made the summer trail head in about 40 minutes and we suddenly felt like we were crashing a blowdown party. There were plenty of detours around some gnarly trees downed across the trail. All but the largest or easily stepped over are now cut up enough to allow easy passage. The first crossing is still bridged and it looks solid for some time to come. The second crossing is wide open, but easily rock-hopped. The third crossing has a suspect ice bridge, and although it held me, I would not step in the middle of it (but there is a nice rock to span an open section, and it looks solid either side of the rock.) The next stretch was through open hardwoods and not a spruce tree in sight, upright or bent over. Microspikes were the ticket here and although the snow was softening in the sun, we did not punch through.
Signal Ridge to Carrigain, Mount Lowell
Back into the spruce and the switchbacks and it was hack-and-saw mode again. We overtook a group of juniors from Holderness on an eleven-day backpacking trip. On Signal Ridge they were excited to see Waterville Valley which was their ultimate destination. Beyond Signal Ridge there is (was) another jumbled mess and a ton of snow. Previous travellers had placed downed branches across false paths and after our passage and the students, the route should be pretty obvious. The saws were busy again here removing blowdowns and brushing the trail. The last stretch to the tower was particularly nasty and included spruce traps. Breaking through at last we were greeted with the usual 360-degree views and hardly any wind. After a quick layer change we settled into eating lunch and enjoying the views. Note to self--Don't leave your backpack under the stairs to the platform
Signal Ridge to Chocorua, Franconia Ridge, Bonds and Twins
On this day, the Bonds and Zealand occupied a good part of my attention. They stand between me and my winter 48 completion.
Webster Cliff to Presidential Range, Stairs to Baldfaces
After a nice 30-minute break, we packed up and headed down. Based on the amount of sawing we did on the way up, one might think we would have flown down. Nope. All the stuff we missed going in the other direction got whacked, along with the bigger and heavier stuff we'd intentionally left. The route should be very passable now, with only a few sections of softer branches to push through.
All Photos
Tim
p.s. enjoyed a beer with Bob and Hiker Bob back at the campground post-hike. Good luck with Osceola today, Hiker Bob!
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Best of luck!
Great job guys clearing the trail. Sounds like hard work.