Mt. Cardigan & Firescrew



Mt. Cardigan & Firescrew, Alexandria, New Hampshire (6/9/2008)

This is hike #8 ("Mount Cardigan: East Side Loop") in the Central & Southern New Hampshire section of the book New Hampshire Hiking (First Edition).

This was the first of six hikes we did over four days in beautiful New Hampshire the week of June 9. Our timing wasn't the best since New Hampshire, like the entire east coast, was experiencing a heat wave which lasted from June 7 to June 11, making hiking even more difficult. There was a pouring rain the previous night, which made the rocks very slippery. A sign near the beginning of the serious climbing warned of danger when the rocks were slippery. But we thought the sun would have dried the rocks on the exposed face. We were wrong! This was by far the toughest, most dangerous hike we ever did! There were several points on the daunting, slippery bare face where we almost decided to turn back, though turning back would have been much more dangerous than climbing forward. There are no photos from those points because the camera went in my backpack; it was a hindrance otherwise.

When we finally reached the summmit, we chatted with Steve who worked in the fire tower. He told us that the path we took was a Class 4 on the scale of rock climbing difficulty (the highest is Class 5). Rock climbing! Wow! We had no idea! (A web source I found, however, indicated that the trail was a Class 3, which is still quite difficult). The descent from Firescrew was much more manageable. And the end of this terrific hike was punctuated by the sighting of a moose drinking water on a pond just as we reached the end.

(Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)


AMC lodge at the trailhead



Mushroom on first leg



Bridge over Bailey Brook


 

Slippery rocks

Dense vegetation on Holt trail

Much steeper than it looks

Enervating climb
 


Climbing


And climbing

 


First views south


Going up on all fours

 



Look at the view behind her


View of Firescrew
 


Firescrew

Impossible to stand here

[photo by Laura]

 


A much needed break

Like tiny mirrors in the rock

Roots and trees were helpful here

 




Another break with Firescrew in rear

More scrambling
 


First view of the fire tower

A breather near the top


 


View of cairns to the west


Our new friend Steve

Hikers ascending from the easier west side
 


Looking for graffiti

On top of Cardigan [photo by Laura]


 


Easier descent



 


Fire tower from below



View northwest
 



At an intersection [photo by Laura]


Our lunch spot
 



Modern art


On top of Firescrew [photo by Laura]
 


Descending Firescrew



 



Toad

Our first moose!

 

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