Mt Moriah (12/27/22)
My winter adventures continued this week with a tough decision to make. Did I want to go to attempt Sugarloaf and Spaulding in northern Maine for my Winter 67, or did I want to continue to work on the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire? I don't feel ready for the sheer exertion of the Maine hike, and I am worried about how little daylight there is right now, so I decided to keep hiking in New Hampshire to build my legs back up. Maybe I will go after Sugarloaf over February break.
Dragonfly and I looked at the various paths available up Moriah, and I decided on the Carter-Moriah Trail. This was for several reasons. First, I had never done it before, so it would give me the chance to try something new. Second, it seemed like the most direct route to where I wanted to go. Third, there were recent trail reports about it. Those trail reports said that the trail was better hiked in spikes rather than snowshoes, so that was music to my ears. I did strap the snowshoes to my pack, though, as I figured I would need them for the AT section at the top.
There are two places to park for the Carter-Moriah trail. You can park at the trailhead itself, or at the trailhead of a snowmobile trail a short distance away. The snowmobile area looked like the safer place. It was off the street, and generally looked more like a parking lot. Thus, I parked there, pulling in right behind an older couple who were also gearing up for a hike. I watched them gear up while I ate my Big Dave's bagel. However, then they did something surprising. They put everything back in the car, turned around, and left. I figured maybe they forgot something.
The Carter-Moriah Trail begins by ascending Mt. Surprise, and let me tell you, it was quite an unpleasant surprise for me. The trail climbed hard right out of the trailhead, and only had small sections where it leveled off. It even went down a bit, which is always bad, because then you have to gain yet more elevation to make up for it. Also, you know you're going to have to climb back up those downs on the way back.
The other unpleasant surprise was the snow. It was snowing a bit in Gorham when I parked at the snowmobile lot, but it got worse as I ascended the mountain. You couldn't see a lot, either, on account of the poor weather. It wasn't terribly cold, but it was chilly, and I worried about how much I was sweating on account of the constant ascent.
It took a few hours of hard climbing to get to the summit of Mt. Moriah. The trail was long, and the constant climbing slowed me down. At one point, I looked at Farout to figure out high I had climbed, figuring that I must be near 2,500 feet, and discovered that I was at 1,600. That was demoralizing.
Nonetheless, I eventually made it to the summit of Mt. Moriah. Thankfully, the sun broke through a bit and I got some nice views. Moriah has a weird summit, just a little bit of rock that juts out. It can be difficult for groups, as there aren't a lot of places to stand. Nonetheless, it does offer some nice views because of its unique shape. From there, you can look eastwards into Maine or westwards into the rest of the Whites, or I suppose southwards towards the Carters.
Once I had enjoyed the Moriah summit for a minute or so, I turned towards my other objective, the Appalachian Trail. I knew I was in trouble immediately when I saw pristine, unbroken trail in front of me.
I also noticed on Farout that the trail was likely to be very steep. The combination of steep and unbroken was a bad one, and I was already exhausted from hauling my heavy winter pack up Moriah. I thought about it, and realized that I could always get the AT another day. I just didn't think that traverse was going to be safe on this day in the condition I was in. Even if I managed to do it successfully, it was going to take a lot out of me, and I still had to get back down. The short days of late December made that even more problematic. I guess I tend to err on the side of caution a lot more often than I used to.
As I started on my way down the mountain, I ran into an older hiker, and we got to chatting. It turned out that he was one of the two hikers who had been in the car next to me when I originally parked. We chatted for a long time, probably ten or fifteen minutes, about a variety of topics. We both were big fans of Ty Gagne's two books (which I highly recommend), and so we talked about those and hiking safety in general for a lot of the time. Eventually, we both had to move on with our hikes. I appreciated meeting him, though, and I hope to run into him again someday. Nice guy. Oh, and if you were wondering what happened to his wife, she decided to spend the day shopping in North Conway.
The trail down featured yet more snow. It was almost like the storm was hanging out somewhere below the summit, which it may well have been. Hopefully you can see the snow in the photo below.
I made it down the mountain in good time. There were some very steep sections, and I was running low on calories, but I managed to make it down without falling. I really need to solve the winter snack problem.
Speaking of food, I always used to go to Mountain Fire Pizza in Gorham after a hike to recharge, but then they closed. Thus, I started going to Mr. Pizza instead. Of course, now they closed, too. There's not a lot of food on the way home from Gorham, so I am going to eventually have to find another place to eat in Gorham. As usual, I hope you have enjoyed my hiking adventure, and always remember, you can't take flight until you spread your wings!
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