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)
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AMC lodge at the trailhead |
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Mushroom on first leg |
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Bridge over Bailey Brook |
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Slippery rocks |
Dense vegetation on Holt trail |
Much steeper than it looks |
Enervating climb |
Climbing |
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And climbing |
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First views south |
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Going up on all fours |
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Look at the view behind her |
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View of Firescrew |
Firescrew |
Impossible to stand here |
[photo by Laura] |
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A much needed break |
Like tiny mirrors in the rock |
Roots and trees were helpful here |
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Another break with Firescrew in rear |
More scrambling |
First view of the fire tower |
A breather near the top |
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View of cairns to the west |
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Our new friend Steve |
Hikers ascending from the easier west side |
Looking for graffiti |
On top of Cardigan [photo by Laura] |
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Easier descent |
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Fire tower from below |
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View northwest |
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At an intersection [photo by Laura] |
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Our lunch spot |
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Modern art |
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On top of Firescrew [photo by Laura] |
Descending Firescrew |
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Toad |
Our first moose! |
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Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |