Our original plan for this weekend was to hike the Wildcats and Carters with an overnight stay at the Carter Notch Hut... but when I called to make reservations for the hut, they only had 1 spot left! Change of plans. Instead we decided to hike Mt. Moriah, which is in the same range as the Wildcats and Carters along the Appalachian Trail, just farther north.
It was a freezing morning at only 25 degrees at 7am but by the time we reached the trailhead at 9am, it had warmed up to 40 degrees. I think that 40 degrees was the warmest it was all day due to the elevation change and the wind chill factor. We chose to hike the Carter-Moriah trail because it was a direct route to the summit with the shortest distance, 9 miles RT. The Carter-Moriah trail is easily reached by taking route 16 to route 2 in Gorham.
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| Snow covered Mt. Washington from the scenic vista just passed North Conway! |
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| The trailhead |
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| 4.5 miles to the summit! |
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| First snow we saw of the season! |
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| I was so happy to see snow |
The trail started out moderately steep, but it was wide and flat since it used to be a logging trail. It flattened out and we were able to hike pretty quickly for the first few miles. We were wondering if we would see any snow and we did! I was so excited, but didn't expect to see ice farther up the trail.
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| Incredible view of the Presidential's |
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| Zoomed in peak of Mt. Washington and the auto road |
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Little bit of ice in front of Sean, the trail got much more ice covered later on
Before the 2 mile mark, the trail changed and we were hiking on huge rock slabs. They looked like they were formed from a volcano. This is where the ice began, small patches at first and then the entire trail being covered towards the summit. |
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| At the top of Mt. Surprise, a peak along the way |
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| Stunning views |
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| We watched the planes pull the gliders up and then let them go all day |
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| Gliding on its own! I don't know if I would be brave enough to every go in a glider |
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| Sean on a steep section of the trail |
The last section of the trail was completely covered in ice, so we had to bushwhack a little bit to avoid the trail. We were told by a few other hikers that there were already tracks off to the side of the trail which made it easier to pass by the ice. It was about 20 more minutes passed that point to the summit. The 360 degree views at the peak were extremely rewarding.
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| At the summit! |
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| Mt. Moriah, 4049 feet |
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| View of the Wildcats and Carters to the south |
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| Clouds rolling in |
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| The snow covered trees were so pretty |
This hike is definitely one of my favorites! I loved everything about the trail, especially how it changed so many times to keep it exciting. I was able to relax and not anticipate when we would reach the summit because there were no signs telling us how many miles were left.
Since the trail was very muddy and icy, I would recommend the safest time to hike this trail is in the summer. If you are going to hike it in the winter, make sure you are prepared with micro-spikes/crampons and possibly an ice ax. If you slip down one of the rock slabs on the ice, you could get really hurt. On the way down, I actually slipped on a root on a flat section of the trail and landed in a split, smashing my knee on a rock. I was fine, but my patagonia wasn't so lucky, ripping near my wrist :( I still recommend this trail, just make sure to take proper precautions depending on the weather!
Overall, our total hiking time was 5 hours and 45 minutes. Not too shabby :)
