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| Carrigain, the view from Zealand Falls Hut |
I've been reading Samuel Adams Drake's 1882 account of White Mountain hiking,
The Heart of the White Mountains: Their Legends and Scenery. Of Mount Carrigain, my third to last 4,000 footer, he wrote...
"Carrigain is solid, compact, massive. It is covered from head to foot with forest. No incident in the way diverts the attention for a single moment from the severe exertion required to overcome its steeply inclined side; no breathing levels; no restful outlooks; no gorges; no precipices; no cascades break the monotony of the escalade. We conquer, as Napoleon's grenadiers did, by our legs. It is the most inexorable of mountains, and the most exasperating."
True that.
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| View from fire tower on Carrigain |
Although it is unclear if his account referred to my route or another earlier approach, the up and back hike via the Signal Ridge Trail to the summit of Mount Carrigain certainly makes for a big day. The relatively flat approach route from Sawyer River Road and across Carrigain Brook covers nearly two tedious miles. Then the climbing begins. As Drake describes, the climb is unrelenting and noticeably devoid of vista points, waterfalls, and other natural landmarks. One just has to slog along, steeply and consistently, until reaching the 4.5 mile post, where the open ridge line is (finally) reached and the hiker is rewarded with great views to the east. That point marks the home stretch, as the fire tower on Carrigain's summit peaks out over the partially-wooded summit just a half mile to the north.
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| Looking to the fire tower, along the final ridge approach |
It took me 6 hours round trip for an up and back to the summit, which included a nice break underneath the fire tower for a snack and rest in the warm October sun. The early hour on a Monday meant that I had the summit all to myself.
It made the hike up the most "inexorable and exasperating" of mountains worthwhile.
Kind of.
Peak: Mount Carrigain
Elevation: 4,700 feet (Gain: 3,300 feet)
Distance: 10 miles
Route: Up and back, Signal Ridge Trail
Conditions: Partly Cloudy, 40 degrees F
