Elevation: 2,254 ft (overall) 2,834 ft (total)
Time: 1:27 (Carlo Col Campsite) 3:25 (Summit) 4:59 (Total)
Trails: Carlo Col Trail, Mahoosuc Trail, Goose Eye Trail
Having a group hike planned for Sunday's Flags on the 48 event, I made the most of a trip north by adding another day and another hike before hand. Goose Eye Mountain is on the short list of remaining peaks I have for the New England Hundred Highest (NEHH) list. It's also a far enough drive from home, I didn't really want to do it without adding another day/peak to the trip.
I headed north early in the morning and eventually made my way to Success Pond Rd in Berlin, NH. The start of the road was a bit rough, but soon it smoothed out some. With my car I think I only ever got up to 20 mph, but with a bigger vehicle you could have gone faster. I was impressed with how well trails and other items were marked on this road. That made it easy to find where I would be starting from today. There was a nice big trail sign right next to the road. There isn't much room for parking (about 4 vehicles easily), but I suspect this isn't that popular of a hiking spot most days.
The Carlo Col and Goose Eye Trails start out together heading up a narrow dirt road before the Goose Eye Trail turns off into the woods on the left. Wanting to save my legs for tomorrow's steep climb, I planned to descend the steeper Goose Eye Trail and head up the Carlo Col Trail. I followed the road up further until it's forks. Here there is a sign indicating that you take the left fork. Shortly after that, there is another sign on the left indicating where the trail turns into the woods.
Early section of Carlo Col Trail
There is a brook crossing just into the trees, but with the dry summer, it was very easy to cross. The trail stays gradual and easy to follow. It stays near the brook and doesn't have any real obstacles. You can see through the trees that the area just to the left was logged a while back and now is growing in with lots of new saplings. Soon you'll cross the brook again just below a nice pool. On the other side of the brook was the first set up wooden steps along the trail.
Log stairs
The trail crosses the brook a couple more times with each crossing getting smaller. It also continues to gain elevation, getting steeper near the New Hampshire and Maine border. The trail didn't get as steep as I was expecting though. In a few more places, there are more wooden stairs built. In one spot it appeared that they used trees that had been blown down to do this. The surrounding area looked nice and cleaned up. These conditions continued until the Carlo Col Campsite. At the campsite there is a nice simple shelter, a few tent platforms, and regular tent spots.
Carlo Col Campsite shelter
From the campsite, it's a short distance up to the Mahoosuc Trail (AT). The trail is a bit rockier through here as it sees more traffic, but it's not bad. At the intersection I turned left and headed north. Still climbing on the way up Mt. Carlo. The climb to the summit here seemed to take longer than I was expecting. Perhaps I was just off in my estimation of how far had been up the trail. The fact that the trail gradually levels out so you can't see a peak in front of you probably helped. The summit of Mt. Carlo has some views as it's partially open. There is an open area at the high point, but short trees are all around you and block the view a little bit in some directions.
The trail descends down Mt. Carlo with some steeper rocky spots. In a few places footing was tricky to find. In a couple though, small footsteps have been drilled/carved into the rocks. These were hard to descend facing forward as it was tricky to get just your heels into them. Eventually I just turned around and came down them backwards. After reaching the low spot between the peaks, the trail starts climbing again. It starts with some switchbacks to keep it from being too steep, but does go straight up some steeper sections of trail. After one of these sections, you'll come to a nice open spot shortly before the summit. After that, the trail will get steep again and soon go up some metal rungs attached into the rocks. After those, your climb over one rock, turn, and then see a tall ladder as well. Just past this you'll come to the junction with the Goose Eye Trail and the last few hundred feet to the summit.
View of Goose Eye from Mahoosuc Trail
Steel rungs for a ladder
Goose Eye summit
View from the summit
View north from the summit
A sign at the summit helps show what direction the trail leads down off the mountain, but blazing was pretty faded at this time. I was only able to find one or two faded blazes and had to look for the more worn path to help. Once you make your way into the trees though, the path is much easier to follow. It narrow, steep, and rocky, but easy to follow. Gradually the rocks go away, but the trail stays pretty steep for a while with a few flat sections. Gradually the trail does get less steep, but I was glad to have done the loop the direction I did. My knees are still good enough that I don't mind descending steep trails and I know that going up them will wear out my legs quicker than a longer more gradual route. Having a steep climb ahead of me tomorrow, I didn't need that today.
Descending the Goose Eye Trail
Once lower down on the mountain, you'll start to come near areas that have been logged semi-recently. Trees have grown up quite a bit, but they are much smaller than the older trees around. Coming down through here, at times I got the feeling that the trail has been moved to accommodate the logging operations. The tread way shows less wear than I would have expected, and at the crossing of a skidder trail there was an arrow made out of sticks pointing down it. Perhaps this is just a shortcut, or maybe it leads to an old trail.
Down near the bottom, the trail pretty much flattens out for a significant distance at the end. It turns to the left and then nears some logging roads. After following one briefly, the trail comes out onto it for a short distance. At a clearly marked turn, the trail ducks back into the woods on the right. From here back to the Carlo Col Trail there are two water crossings that were very easy today, but could be tricky in the spring or after a hard rain. In this section there were also a couple spot where it looked like an old trail had been blocked off. Further making me think the trail might have been moved at some point.
Google Earth representation of the hike
For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment