Carter Dome (4,832 ft) 9-29-25

Distance: 13.6 mi.
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

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Mt. Paugus (3,100 ft) 12-16-23

Distance: 8.81 mi. (9.88 with road walk)
Elevation: 1,908 ft (overall) 3,000 ft (total)
Time: 3:11 (Mt. Paugus) 5:14 (Big Rock Cave) 6:25 (Road) 6:55 (Parking Lot)
Trails: Old Mast Rd, Lawrence Trail, Old Paugus Trail, Big Rock Cave Trail, Cabin Trail, Road Walk

It is nearing the end of the year and I needed to get in another hike with some redlining since I didn't do as much as I wanted so far. With all the trails that are in the area around the Ferncroft Trailhead, I decided to pick a route around there that would get me a peak while using all new to me trails. I hadn't been to Mt. Paugus before, and there were lots of options I could use for trails with maybe a bit of road walking at the end.

I started off from the parking lot using the Old Mast Rd. This trail has a gradual incline when it wasn't just flat and the trail is pretty wide, while only narrowing up towards the upper end of it. Being mostly in the hardwoods, the trail had the extra benefit of plenty of sun with no leaves on the trees this time of year. I didn't run into any snow until the upper portion of the trail, and it was never that deep when it was on the trail.

Easy going still on Old Mast Rd

At the upper junction, I turned right onto the Lawrence Trail. Along the ridge now, there was steady snow on the ground. It wasn't very deep and was also pretty hard from melting and refreezing, so I wasn't really sinking in. I don't think it was until after the Whittin Brook Trail that I put on my microspikes. I probably should have done so earlier, but I was trying to hold off. Once I slipped while coming downhill and took a bit of a spill, I decided I should just put them on finally. Of course, it wasn't too long before I was back on south facing slopes in the sunny hardwoods and the snow disappeared, so I took them back off.

Steady snow once up to the Lawrence Trail

Back to no snow on the southern slopes

Once the Lawrence Trail got back into the softwoods and started climbing again, the snow returned to the trail and stayed until after the summit. I put my spikes back on as soon as the snow was steady again so as to avoid another fall and to make the steady climb of the trail easier. As the trail gets close to the summit, it levels out a lot. Spikes could have come off again here, but it was easier to just leave them on.

Snow again nearing the summit

The trail doesn't actually go over the summit of Mt. Paugus, but does come to a high spot with some open cliffs nearby and that is all that is required if you are hiking the NH 52 With a View list. There is a sign post at this high point as the trail going down the other side has a different name. There is also a small sign on the post that points in the direction of the views. I am sure the herdpath is easier to follow in summer where you can see the wear in the dirt and plants to lead you along, but even covered in snow I was able to walk out to the ledges just fine with no other tracks in the snow.

The ledges make for some nice views mostly to the west. The rocks were just a bit icey, so I didn't wander around too much not wanting to risk slipping and not being able to stop. The only odd thing I found was that is almost seemed like there was a phone or something that was making noises somewhere in the area even though there was no one else around. I'm not sure if a bird managed to mimic the sound of if my mind was just playing tricks on me, but it sure seemed odd to randomly hear this noise for a few seconds on multiple occasions. After quite some time here, plenty of pictures, and some lunch I was headed down the Old Paugus Trail.

High point on the trail, go right for the view

Mt. Paugus view

Looking over at Mt. Passaconaway

Panoramic view from Mt. Paugus

The guide book mentions one possibly tricky turn to find on the descent in this direction, and with snow on the ground and no other tracks, I found that to be the case. I went past the turn in the trail, turned back and retraced my steps without seeing it, then went back most of the way to the summit to try again incase I missed something I would see the second time. I still wasn't having much luck the second time around and was wondering if I should turn around and just head back down the way I came up. I finally found where the trail heads down over some open rock and into the thicker trees just before making a steep icey descent into the spruce. I was glad to find the trail, but the climb down this section was a bit tricky.

A hard to descend steep icy section

After this, the trail was pretty easy to follow. Eventually it starts to follow a path that resembles what you would expect of a small brook that forms when there is a lot of rain or snow melt. I wondered at times if I veered off the trail, but occasional brush trimmings let me know I was still on the trail. Once you come out to a small view point, the trail is back to being easy to follow. At this viewpoint I was ready to remove my spikes, but there was just enough ice on the short steep descent after it to keep them on for another couple minutes. After that though, I took them back off.

For probably another half mile or so, there was small patches of very thin ice along the trail. It was just enough to be slippery or make you go slow, but not really enough that you wanted to put spikes back on. After a couple slips and one fall onto my knee, I decided to put the spikes back on for a while and deal with the hassle of walking on them when there wasn't either snow or ice on the ground. This was the right decision as I was able to keep crusing along after this without needing to slow down repeatedly in bad sections.

Just enough ice to cause you to slip and fall

A cool rock face next to the trail

I hiked down to cross the Whittin Brook Trail and corresponding brook. After the crossing, the trail climbs uphill again as it goes over Mt. Mexico near the summit. On the way up, the trail goes past Big Rock Cave. Since I hadn't done a lot of research about this, I wasn't sure how big it would actually be. There is a pretty good size glacial erratic next to the trail that has an overhang on the lower side and I was wondering if this was supposed to be the rock and cave. If it was, I was pretty dissapointed. I took a few quick pictures, and headed up the trail again. Soon after this, I would find out that the big rock and cave were MUCH bigger than the one I had recently past. The rock was the size of a house, and the cave looked big enough to stand up in. I'll be bringing my kids back here sometime in the future.

Big Rock Cave

After passing Big Rock Cave, it wasn't too much longer before the trail leads you up and over Mt. Mexico (not quite at the summit though). From here on out it was smooth hiking to the junction with the Cabin Trail. And a short 0.3 miles later, the Cabin Trail leads you to a driveway that you can then follow back down to Route 113A. I had originally planned to hike back to the Ferncroft Parking lot using the Gordon Path if I could find the driveway where it started from. I wasn't able to tell while walking by which driveway it would have been not being on it before, so I just decided to walk the road back to the parking lot. I had a nice casual walk from here on out on the flat road while there wasn't any traffic.

Smooth sailing over Mt. Mexico

All in all this turned out to be a pretty nice hike. I liked the loop and doing trails I hadn't been on before. Climbing back up from Whitten Brook was a bit tiresome to my legs with how little hiking I have been doing latetly. I also am not sure how much I like the Old Paugus Trail. I suspect that if I were to do it without the snow and ice making it slippery and harder to follow it would change my mind some. It wasn't a bad trail, just not as enjoyable as I was expecting. In the end, I think I ended up with about 8 miles of new redlining as well.

Google Earth representation of the hike - clockwise loop

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

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Mt. Morgan (2,213 ft) & Mt. Percival (2,200 ft) 10-15-23

Distance: 6.8 mi.
Elevation: 1,353 ft (overall) 1,960 ft (total)
Time: (with an 5 and 9 year old setting the pace) 3:31 (Ladders) 4:06 (Mt. Morgan) 4:55 (Mt. Percival) 5:40 (Bottom of the caves) 7:31 (Total)
Trails: Mt. Percival Trail, Morse Trail, Mt. Morgan Trail, Crawford-Ridgepole Trail, Mt. Percival Trail

The plan for today's family hike would be a clockwise loop of Mt. Morgan and Mt. Percival. We would go up the ladders and down through the caves as both of our daughters wanted to explore both of these sections when I let them pick which hike we would be doing today. To start the hike we drove past the parking lot for the Mt. Morgan Trail since it looked pretty full and instead parked at the lot for the Mt. Percival Trail which had only a couple cars in it today. My plan was to use the Morse Trail to connect the two sides of the hikeno matter which parking lot we started at, so we just picked the easier one to park in.

We made our way out from the parking lot using the wide flat trail until we hit the junctions with the Morse Trail. This trail was easy to follow and didn't gain or lose any real elevation. Once we hit the Mt. Morgan Trail, I quickly hiked to the parking lot and back just to cover the entire trail for redlining purposes while everyone else had a snack. This was very quick as you can almost see the end from the Morse Trail. We then headed up the Mt. Morgan Trail which starts off pretty wide and gentle. You gradually gain elevation which short climbs mixed in with flatter sections as well. The closer you get to the top of the trail and the Crawford-Ridgepole trail, the steeper it will get though.

The girls where the trail crosses a stone wall

A steeper section of the Mt. Morgan Trail

Once onto the Crawford-Ridgepole Trail, it is a nice hike with more sections of uphill and brief flats until you reach the junction where the trail splits to reach the summit. To the right is the easier route, and to the left is the harder route which will have you climb up some ladders, through a small cave/tunnel, then up some exposed rocks to the cliffs with great views just before the actual summit. With my daughters both wanting to climb the ladders, we went left. The ladders shouldn't be too hard for any adult unless you have issues with heights or steep drops. The actual manuevering on the ladders was only tricky for our daughters as they have shorter legs. There is one spot where you have to climb up and to the right to get onto the next ladder and their legs were just a bit short for that so I helped both of them in this spot.

The girls getting to the base of the ladders

Me helping the girls up the ladders

At the top of the ladders that trail goes through a short cave/tunnel and then pops out into an open area of rock. The trail does almost a 360 degree turn as you come out from the tunnel where you turn left and climb across a rock that helps make the tunnel under you. From here the trail follows up the exposed rocky area with some trees until you reach the opening at the top where you have great views out over the lake. We stayed here to rest and eat some lunch while we enjoyed the views. Just after you leave this spot, a short side path leads to the actual high spot of the mountain.

Where the cave at the top of the ladders emerges

Lunch with a view on Mt. Morgan cliffs

Liliana and Madison on the summit of Mt. Morgan

After leaving the summit of Mt. Morgan, the 0.8 mile hike over to Mt. Percival was pretty gentle and easy going with nice footing. There are some ups and downs between the peaks, but nothing too big. There is one final push up a steeper rocky section of trail just before the summit of Mt. Percival. My youngest daughter was starting to not have fun when we came to this section, but the reward of more views and another summit just beyond it cheered her back up.

View from Mt. Percival

All three girls at the summit

Once we were done resting and taking pictures at the summit, we headed down the trail to the right of the main view so that we could go down through the caves. We were all looking forward to seeing what they would be like. The trail is steep from the start and begins with a couple sections that are just a bit narrow or awkward to climb down without hitting your pack on rocks around you. Then you climb over some large rocks with gaps between them, so you need to keep watching your footing. Next you climb into the first part of the caves after climbing over a deep gap in the rocks. The trail then goes through a small opening in the cave leading into a lower large opening in the caves. I took my pack off to go through this opening, but I think both of our daughters were able to fit through fine with their packs on. After passing through the opening in the caves, you come out through a small hole in the rocks and back out into a completely open area again. This whole section went slow, but I was also going first myself so that I could see where the trail went and then find a good place to stand so that I could help out our daughters and my wife as needed over/down/around the obstacles. Once we were through, everyone agreed it was fun to come through the caves.

Melissa working her way through the caves

Madison emerging from the caves

Just after the caves is where the trail joins back up with the option that goes around the caves. We turned and headed down the trail which descended pretty well before getting more gradual. The trail was a mixture of smooth sections and rocks with the rocks winning out more of the time. There was also a spot where the trail crossed over a small boulder field of decent sized rocks where our oldest daughter had fun climbing from rock to rock to make her way across.

The girls traversing a boulder filled section of trail

As the trail gets lower, it becomes smoother and less steep. This would normall make for a nice section to cruise right along at, but our youngest daughter was getting a bit tired (she didn't drink enough during the day) and she kept tripping over small roots and rocks so we took a more leisurely pace through here. Eventually we made it back to the end of the trail and our waiting vehicle so that we could take off our hiking shoes and boots and get into something more comfortable while we went and got something to eat.

All in all this hike went pretty well and everyone enjoyed the ladders, the caves, and of course the views. This made for a nice family hike and others could certainly do the same. I would be more than happy to go back and do it again, and if I did, I would probably go the same direction unless I was going to go around the ladders as I think it would be easier going up the ladders than it would be coming down them. I think the caves could be done about the same in either direction though.

Madison taking a break at a brook crossing

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

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Middle Sister (3,340 ft) & Mt. Chocorua (3,500 ft) 10-1-23

Distance: 11.1 mi.
Elevation: 2,518 ft (overall) 3,320 ft (total)
Time: (with an 9 year old setting the pace) 3:35 (Jim Liberty Cabin) 5:01 (Middle Sister) 6:20 (Mt. Chocorua) 9:51 (Total)
Trails: Liberty Trail, West Side Trail, Piper Trail, Middle Sister Trail, Brook Trail

It was time to get out for another hike with my 9 year old daughter and I went for a hike from the NH 52 With a View list. This hike would get my daughter two more peaks checked off her list (I have already done them) and I picked a route that would get me some more redlining miles checked off. An added perk for my daughter would be the stop at Jim Liberty Cabin as she really like checking things like this out. For today's route I decided start from Paugus Road and come up from the southwest side of the mountain.

We started out going up the Liberty Trail which was nice and gradual to start and allowed us to get warmed up nicely before any real climbs. Today it had a section of very wet trail as enough water coming down it to turn the trail into a shallow brook basically. Before starting the real climb of the trail there was one small brook crossing that was easy to do using rocks to cross on. Both my daughter and I easily kept our feet dry while crossing. After the crossing, the trail starts to get steeper and eventually a bit rockier as well. The trail stays easy to follow and not super difficult. Near the end the trail did seem to narrow up a bit and could have used some brushing out. But that only lasted a while before we got to the intersection with the Hammond Trail.

First brook crossing

Now the Liberty Trail continues to the left from this intersection. So after a nice break and a snack, we continued up with our next planned stop being the Jim Liberty Cabin. After continuing up the trail some more, the terrain changes over to some sections of exposed rock. From small sections to large openings along the trail. Steadily we gained elevation while working our way to the cabin. It was taking longer than I remembered from last time, but we were stilling doing good and soon enough we reached the side path to the outhouse on the left side of the trail which meant we were almost there. Once to the cabin we took another nice break and sat inside out of the sun. My daughter enjoyed checking out the cabin and the area around it while also learning some of the history about it.

Jim Liberty Cabin

After leaving the cabin we continued up the Liberty Trail until the next junction. Here we took a left onto the West Side Trail instead of going up to Mt. Chocorua. The West Side Trail was another trail for me to redline, and I wanted to save the better peak for last. I didn't take any pictures along the West Side Trail, but it is mostly level and follows along the step hillside. It is narrow in places (could use some brushing at the time) and the terrain went steeply up on the right, and steeply down on the left. This trail was easy to follow and went by pretty quickly. I can see why this would be a good trail to use in order to avoid bad weather up on the summit of Chocorua as well.

From the next intersection, we headed straight for Middle Sister. It was getting a bit warm today and as the trail opened up more, my daughter was starting to get hot in the sun. We took a couple small breaks in some areas of shade, but continued moving at a steady pace to make it to the summit where we could sit in the shade around the old foundation while taking in the views and eating some lunch. This break for food and shade made my daughter's mood perk right back up.

Middle Sister summit

Welcome shade to eat lunch in

View from Middle Sister

After a nice long break and plenty of photos, we headed back the way we came towards the Piper Trail. There is some ups and downs in the trail along the ridge, but we were refreshed enough that they didn't bother us too much. Once back on the Liberty Trail and heading up the summit ridge of Mt. Chocorua, we were back into the open along the rocks that make up the ridge. To start with the trail is pretty easy to follow, but higher up there are a few places where it feels like a bit of a guessing game and you have to look around more in order to find the correct path. There could be a few more blazes or cairns through here for those not familiar with the mountain. In fact, while on the summit, I was actually yelling directions back down to a small group of hikers that couldn't find the path and were heading off trail way to early in too steep of an area to descend. The last push to the summit is steep, but can be kind of fun if you are prepared for it or like scrambles.

Nearing the summit of Mt. Chocorua

View from Mt. Chocorua

Liliana on Mt. Chocorua

My daughter and I had the summit to ourselves the entire time we were at the top. This was unexpected with how busy the mountain is, but it was also getting later in the day since we were going slower than I had expected us to. We spent a fair amount of time enjoying the view while I took pictures and pointed out things to my daughter about the surrounding area. Eventually though, we had to get headed back down so it wouldn't be too late when we got back to the truck. The descent of the Liberty Trail from the summit starts off pretty steep, so we took care to watch our footing. We followed this trail until we got to the junction with the Brook Trail. Here we turned right and went down the Brook Trail so that I could redline another trail while we were out today (plus I like loops rather than backtracking).

The Brook Trail starts off with a steep section leading further down into the trees. It wasn't too bad, but might have been easier to come up as I find my feet slip less ascending than descending. After this, the trail wasn't too bad at all, basically what you would expect of a trail in the whites. We kept making our way down the mountain as it gradually became more and more dark. The only real brook crossing on this route was an easy rock hop for bother of us. After hiking about another half mile down the trail, we decided it was time to get on our headlamps before we couldn't see to do so easily. We continued hiking into the dark as the trail gradually got easier and smoother which made for faster hiking. The last section of trail before the old woods road (leading to the parking lot) was very easy and we were able to cruise along at a nice pace while taking about what we could see in the dark. This is the first time my daughter has hiked in the dark with her headlamp and while she was a bit nervous to start, she enjoyed it once we were at it for a while and she got more use to it.

Coming down a steep section of trail

A milk snake we spotted on the trail

Google Earth representation of the hike

For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE

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