Elevation: 2,875 ft (overall) 3,542 ft (total)
Time: 1:24 (Wild River Trail) 2:23 (Rainbow Trail) 4:03 (Height of Land/View) 4:56 (Summit) 6:13 (Hut) 8:46 (Total)
Trails: Bog Brook Trail, Wildcat River Trail, Wild River Trail, Rainbow Trail, Carter-Moriah Trail
After discussing trails with a hiking friend and them suggesting using the Rainbow Trail to hike Carter Dome during foliage, I have been wanting to do some version of this hike. I came up with a loop that would get me all new miles for redlining other than the distance from Carter Dome down to Carter Notch Hut. My initial plan was to do a bit of a figure 8 starting from the Bog Brook Trailhead, but that did change slightly by the end of the day.
I started out on the Bog Brook Trail, which enters the woods just before the parking area for the trailhead. This was a nice gentle walk to start getting warmed up that included a few stream crossings that were easy to navigate today with dry feet. In the spring time it could be a bit harder to stay dry though. Down low the foliage was a nice mix of green with some leaves on smaller trees and plants that have started to change.
The second brook crossing. All crossings were easy like this today
At the junction with the Wildcat River Trail, I turned left onto that instead of staying on the Bog Brook Trail which would have been the shorter way to get to the Rainbow Trail. This was where my figure 8 shape came into play, trying to hike across the Wild River Trail to get back to the Bog Brook Trail so that I wouldn't have a 1.1 mile trail hanging out in the middle of this loop of trails afterwards.
The Wildcat River Trail starts off pretty gentle with good footing before getting a little bit steeper with more roots many places later on. The trail stays pretty close to the Wildcat River itself, all while traversing along the side hill above it. There is one brook crossing to navigate on this section of trail, but like the others earlier, it was easy to get across with dry feet. As I got higher in elevation, the leaves started to turn more yellow on the birch and beach trees as well as the smaller plants like hobblebush and ferns. Nearing the junction with the Wild River Trail, there starts to become a number of bog bridges in wet/muddy areas. Some of these are getting old and deteriorated, but I was still able to stay out of the mud just fine.
Fallen foliage on an easy section of trail
After a short break and snack at the junction, I turned right onto the Wild River Trail, where the foliage really started to pop for the day. There was lots of yellow and some orange through here, and the way the sun was coming in just amplified it all. For the most part this trail doesn't really gain much elevation, it just provides a way back across east to the Bog Brook Trail. It was pretty easy walking through this section, but there were a couple of muddy spots to navigate. It didn't seem to take long to get to the upper end of the Bog Brook Trail.
Bright colors on a section of the Wild River Trail
From the junction with the Bog Brook Trail to the junction with the Rainbow Trail, it was a nice walk through some good hardwood forest with more nice foliage. The trail slowly gains some elevation through this section while doing a few small ups and downs along the way. It was another enjoyable section to hike through.
The Rainbow Trail starts off with some gentle climbing through more hardwood forest. With other types of trees in here, there were small bursts of other colors in the foliage. Soon enough though, the trail gets steeper and climbs more steadily. Continuing further up the trail, it eventually comes to an opening in the trees in a section of birch glades where the trees unfortunately appear to have suffered lots of damage over the years since they have few to no branches remaining on them. The clear blue sky above the colorful leaves though made for a nice scene.
More variety in colors heading up the Rainbow Trail
The trail heading up through an open birch glade
Once you exit the open birch glades area, you are back into thicker trees that are now predominently softwoods. This is where the trail gets the steepest too. It is a pretty steady climbing with no real breaks until you start to get closer to the height of land where the view is. Through this section I was really starting to feel tired, I think in large part because of how early I needed to get up for the long drive to the trailhead. Once I reached the height of land though, I was rewarded nicely with some good views in a very pleasant location. Since I was a bit tired and sweaty, I found a large flatish rock and layed down on it to rest a bit and dry my shirt in the sun. After that break, I spent a good amount of time taking pictures and just enjoying the view.
Mostly back in the trees with steeper climbing
View towards the Presidential Range from the height of land
View of Carter Dome for the height of land
Once leaving the height of land, you go downhill briefly through some thick trees that leave a bit of a narrow path. Then the trail climbs steadily to the summit of Carter Dome. Shortly before the summit, the trail turns to the left and follows the sidehill a bit before coming out of the trees at the small opening at the summit of Carter Dome. The summit itself doesn't have much for views, but there are some to the north at a small opening through the trees. Since there once was a fire tower here (there are still remnants), there is a decent sized opening to spend some time resting.
Summit of Carter Dome at the top of the Rainbow Trail
I had thought about doing the out and back hike to Mt. Hight so that I could enjoy more views, but since I was more tired than I was expecting today, I decided to not do this and just take my time doing the descent. From the summit, I headed down the steep trail down into Carter Notch and the lakes and hut that are down there. The trail starts to descend nicely, but gradually becomes pretty steep. I took my time through here and didn't take many pictures. I did do the short spur trail on the left side of the trail that leads back uphill to a nice view point that overlooks the notch nicely. I then continued the steep descent down into the notch, where I stopped along side of the lakes to take some pictures there.
View from a side path dropping down into Carter Notch
It was feeling a bit hot out and I was still a little tired, so I took a nice rest on the bench outside of the hut. I have been inside multiple times before, so I didn't need to go in to see anything I haven't seen before. From the bench, there was a nice view up over the trees to the rocky cliffs that make up the southern side of Carter Dome, and the northern side of Carter Notch. After I was feeling better, I headed past the hut and the bunkhouses to make my way down the trail and back to my truck.
Looking back up Carter Dome from a bench in front of the hut
The trail leaving the hut area starts with a moderate descent, but then becomes pretty gradual for pretty much the rest of the hike back to the parking area. There are some bog bridges in wet areas that you will cross as you work your way back out of the softwood forest and back into the hardwoods. As I got lower down the mountains, I was starting to feel better again with some nice easy walking for the most part. I took advantage of the brook crossings along the way to splash some cool water and my face and head to help cool myself down some and feel a little bit better.
Mostly back into the hardwoods along the Wildcat River Trail
The crossing of Wildcat River just before the junction with the Wild River Trail
My initial plan was to take the Wild River Trail again so that I could make a figure 8 shape of the trails and get the 2.1 miles of the Bog Brook Trail that I went around this morning. But with how I wasn't feeling as energetic as normal, I decided not to do this and to save it for a later date. With the plans I have for the future and continuing past the Rainbow Trail and going further into Perkins Notch later on, I would be back in this area again. I will just hike that section of trail when I do those plans, and check it off then instead of rehiking a second time at that time. So because of this, I knew just what the trail conditions would be like for the rest of the hike out, and I just made it the shortest hike back to the truck that I could, while taking some time to splash up at the brook crossings and just relax at a couple of them to sit in a peaceful location and listen to the woods around me.
Google Earth representation of the hike
For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE
