Hiking the New Hampshire 4000 footers

Let me start off by saying WOW! When I say WOW, I mean in every way shape or form for Mount Carrigain. It has been known that many NH48ers have waited to end with this one and now that I have hiked it I can see why. Absolutely stunning! We started out on the trail around 7:15 am sort of knowing this would be a tough one, for one thing Kyle was feeling like crap and my foot was still bothering me but it was going to be a clear day with sunshine from morning through the evening so we had to take advantage mostly because we have had one clear hike all damn summah!

The Signal Ridge trail starts off very flat for the first two miles then begins to get steeper, then steeper. We kind of knew this buy doing our research so there was no surprise a few miles in but when you begin to climb it seems like the last 3 miles are never ending and absolutely relentless. Both feeling like crap we probably took more breaks on this hike than any other, it is just a constant climb from mile 3 to mile 5 which is the summit. After a good number of breaks and meeting about 5 other black and white dog (we and fellow hikers jokingly called it black and white dog day) we finally made it to the ridge. Although windy this was absolutely amazing! I just love ridge trails and traverses and this one was at the top of the list. This ridge stands at about 4200 feet. Just looking out at the presidentials on one side and all of the mountains in the Lincoln/Franconia range from the other side. I mean this was just surreal! We took a few pictures, saw the fire tower in front of us rising another 400 feet and were pretty anxious to get up there to summit #22/48. This was a pretty easy ascent and you meet the summit directly in front of the tower. HOLY SHIT!!!! I can’t actually come up with the words to describe this view. Well I guess I just did. It is so impressive, we then climbed up the fire tower to see what all the fuss was about. You are literally in the middle of the white mountains surrounded by ranges like The Presidentials, Franconia, Crawford Notch, Tripyramids, Osceola’s and the Pemigewasset wilderness including the Bonds, Owl’s Head, Lincoln, Lafayette and the list goes on. This view catches 43 of the 48 4000 footers. It is the most impressive view to date and Carrigain did not disappoint!

After a steady, steep descent for 3 miles we finally hit the flats again and although it felt like it lasted forever the last two miles were what we needed. Flat, dirt and straight. We definitely found a few swimming holes within Whiteface Brook on the way up and down and will be back to use them on a hot summer day. This was a tough hike, granted we both felt like shit but it is a tough hike no matter what. We were so glad we conquered this one and the views will be etched in my brain for life!

Mount Carrigain

The Kinsmans

Mount Waumbek