Lost Pond, October 14, 2022, Hurricane Mountain Wilderness, Adirondack Park

Lost Pond

It's always nice to revisit the Hurricane Mountain Wilderness. After all, Hurricane Mountain proper was one of our first hikes in the Adirondacks. But since the summit gets so much traffic, I much prefer some of the other trails in the area, especially the trail to Lost Pond. We first visited Lost Pond back in 2019. As we remembered it, the hike to Lost Pond was a pleasant, not too difficult uphill hike to a secluded pond with a large rocky beach on which we took a long, comfortable lunch break, skipped stones, and admired the pleasant scenery on the opposite shore. With that memory in mind, we decided to use one of our last days on a recent ADK trip to visit Lost Pond once again.

The most difficult thing about the Lost Pond hike is the parking. To get to the trailhead, you have to wind your way up a very narrow road with blind curves and washout gullies on either side which leave just enough room for one vehicle. Meeting an oncoming car, therefore, is an absolute disaster. But if you make it there, the reward is a very pleasant trail. The first mile, fully on the level, leads to a hillside lean-to and the turn off for one of the trails to Hurricane Mountain summit. It seems that most people on this trail are heading to Hurricane, so after the junction it becomes pretty quiet and lightly-trafficked. The second mile is a long, steady climb via switchbacks through a pleasant forest with the sounds of a nearby brook pretty much the whole way.

Upon reaching the pond, we turned to one another with matching looks of confusion. We both had remembered a wide open, rocky beach but no such topographical feature even remotely existed. There was no shoreline at all, the water of the pond actually pushing its way well into the woods. Thinking that our fondly-remembered destination must be farther along the trail, we continued along the path around the western shore of the pond. By the time we reached the Biesemeyer Memorial lean-to, we still had not found what we were looking for and decided to backtrack to that first point where the trail meets the pond. Returning to that spot, we scrutinized the landscape more closely and realized what had happened. There were noticeable signs of heavy beaver activity on the eastern edge of the pond at the outlet point. Indeed, beavers had decided to build a dam there, seemingly enlarging the pond and completely flooding the rocky beach that had served as our special lunch spot several years prior.

Laughing off our mistake, we found a fallen log and used that as seating for a long, much-needed lunch break and then took a bunch of photos of the pond and the beaver constructions. On the return hike, K's phone started acting funny by suddenly showing the wrong date and time. We didn't pay it too much mind until later when we realized that all of the photos that she took of the pond were completely gone, as if she never took them and/or we were never even there.

Further, when we checked our 2019 photos from the first trip to Lost Pond, they didn't show a rocky beach at all.

Worm Hole? Close Encounter? Brain Fart? Whatever. There's something strange about Lost Pond.

Destination: Lost Pond
Elevation: 2,840 feet (Gain: 650 feet)
Distance: 4.2 miles roundtrip
Route: Out and Back, Hurricane Mountain Trail to Lost Pond/Weston Mountain Trail
Conditions: Partly Sunny, 40 degrees F

Wildcat, August 19. 2022, White Mountain National Forest

Wildcat Party

Back in 2011, a Carter Ridge and Carter Notch Hut stay and Wildcat Ridge hike was one of the first overnight hikes that I did with my brother on our joint quest to complete all of the 48 NH 4,000 footers. We always recalled it fondly and recently decided to make a long-overdue return trip to the same location. But this time, we'd invite the next generation of hikers along as well. So on a rainy Wednesday in the late summer, I met my brother and two nephews at the usual White Mountain meet point and we made the long drive to our base of operations for the weekend -- The AMC Highland Center in Crawford Notch. The plan was to stay there on the first and last nights. Sandwiched in between would be a hike up the Nineteen Mile Brook Trial, an overnight stay at Carter Notch Hut, and then a climb up to the top of Wildcat.

Upper Carter Lake

At one point, it seemed like the hike to Wildcat might not even happen. It rained buckets throughout our first night at the Highland Center and we awoke to continued downpours that lasted for most of the morning. We killed as much time as possible before starting the drive over to the eastern side of the White Mountains, but the rain seemed to follow us wherever we went. Fortunately, just as we turned south into the town of Gorham, the cold front blew through and the rain suddenly started to taper. As we pulled up to the trailhead, the sky remained overcast but the rain was done. We dubbed our good fortune "Gorham Magic" and started the long, slippery climb to the hut. 

Lower Carter Lake

Once we reached the hut, the friendly staff informed us that we would have one of the 6-person rooms completely to ourselves. Carter Notch is by far my favorite hut. I like the small, homey feel of its common area and you can't beat having smaller rooms instead of the large, snorefest bunkrooms that characterize the other huts. After settling into our digs, we took our time exploring and admiring the scenery from the shores of the Carter Lakes -- two small picturesque ponds that surround the hut grounds. 

View from Wildcat climb

The last time that we stayed at Carter Notch, we left the hut before dawn and were up to the top of Wildcat by sunrise. That was in caretaker season, so we could leave as early as we wanted. For this trip, we had to wait around for the breakfast and morning skit before heading out. We finally hit the trail around 9 a.m., anxious to get moving after such a lazy morning. Even the youngest of our party had no troubles navigating the steep ascent to Wildcat Summit. He even carried his older brother's pack part of the way. The day before, I had asked him if he could "cut the mustard" on such a daunting climb, so that phrase became the oft-repeated words of the day. Once at the top, we took a long break admiring the views of massive Carter Dome across the valley and the speck-like buildings of Carter Notch Hut far below us. It really is a sensational vantage point.

View of the hut from Wildcat Summit

The climb to Wildcat had some significance to my youngest nephew -- it was his first 4,000 footer. I was also present when his older brother did his first, Mount Cabot, since we had timed it in such a way that Cabot was both his first and our last. The long descent back to the car had us all talking about making a late-summer White Mountains trip into an annual occurrence. 1 and 2 down, 47 and 46 to go. I'm confident that they can cut the mustard.

Peak: Wildcat
Elevation: 4,422 feet (Gain: 2,929 feet)
Distance: 8.6 miles roundtrip
Route: Out and Back: Nineteen Mile Brook Trail to Carter Notch Hut to Wildcat Ridge Trail
Conditions: Rainy to Partly Sunny, 65 degrees F

Cold Mountain, June 30, 2022, Shining Rock Wilderness, Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina

 

View from Cold Mountain Summit

Once we had made the decision to turn a July 4 weekend wedding in Asheville, North Carolina, into a full week vacation, I immediately got hold of some maps of Pisgah National Forest to investigate some hiking possibilities. Of course, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River - Mount Mitchell - immediately came to mind. I charted several approach options but all roads still led to the same undesirable place - a summit swamped with cars, buses, motorcycles and the hundreds of tourists that those vehicles would be bringing up the auto road with them. In the end, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. At the end of a long hike to a mountaintop, I want my one square inch of silence. So instead of achieving any bragging rights to the eastern United States' highest point, I instead decided on a hike to the top of a way more quiet peak - Cold Mountain. And for you literati, that's right, it is the same Cold Mountain of book (and movie) fame.

Cold Mountain From Blue Ridge Parkway

After snubbing my nose at Mount Mitchell, I actually had several alternate hikes in mind. I made the decision on Cold Mountain as K and I were driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway southwest of Asheville. There are many parking lot lookout points along this famous road, many with sweeping views of mountain ranges to the south. All of those were mobbed with cars, so we didn't bother to stop. Then we came to an empty, north west-facing lot with a sign "Cold Mountain Overlook" and pulled in to check it out. There, far across the hazy valley, rose a hulking mass of a mountain with no other peaks nearby. Cold Mountain. From a distance, it appeared isolated, quiet and a tad bit menacing, as if no other mountain wanted to be near it. I liked the look of it. So, I thought, Cold Mountain it is.

The Trail to Deep Gap

I chose the more difficult of the two approaches which starts on the Art Loeb Trail due south of Camp Daniel Boone, a Boy Scout camp. I arrived in the parking lot at 6 a.m. and needed a headlamp to get my bearings and find the trail, which rises steeply from the get go via switchbacks. Once high above the scout camp, the trail levels out and follows the contours of the ridges to gradually climb higher and higher. There weren't any rock hopping sections, boulder scrambles, hand-over-hand ledges or other more difficult Adirondack and White Mountain trail features. Just a sure-footed, steady ascent on a long, graded incline with a few steeper pitches through a really beautiful forest. 

Rhododendron Tunnels on Cold Mountain Trail

At the top of the ridge - a place called Deep Gap - the Art Loeb Trail turns south and the Cold Mountain trail heads north. I took my first break of the day at this point, where a fire ring and log seating suggest it to be a stopping point for backpackers heading south on the Art Loeb trail. My route to the summit climbed around the back of the summit cone and up to the top. Though 6,000 feet in elevation, the summit is fully tree-covered but there are still a few good lookout points. The first one that the trail reaches is the best, with an impressive, sweeping view to the south and the many famous peaks located along the Blue Ridge Parkway with colorful names like Shining Rock and Dog Loser Knob. I took a nice long break admiring the view and trying to figure out the exact location of the overlook where we had first glassed Cold Mountain a few days earlier. I then pressed on along the overgrown summit trail to the USGS marker indicating the true summit and another nice lookout point. On this particular summer day, it wasn't very cold on cold mountain. But I still wore the new wool hat that K knitted for me as a gift for my birthday - one stripe for each decade, lol.

Panorama View to the South from Cold Mountain Summit

I had Cold Mountain all to myself for five and a half hours of a six-hour-long hike. The only people who I encountered all morning were part of hiking parties just setting out as I was completing the final half hour of my hike. Just as I hit the final switchbacks leading back to the parking area, rifles and shotgun blasts from the Boy Scout gun range began to pepper the peace and quiet of the wilderness. As my hike came to a close, I recalled an excellent trail, not terribly difficult, with beautiful scenery and tons of wildlife. But when the shooting starts, it's time to get the hell off of Cold Mountain.

Peak: Cold Mountain
Elevation: 6,030 feet (Total Gain: 2,800 feet)
Distance: 10.6 miles roundtrip
Route: Out and Back: Art Loeb Trail from Camp Daniel Boone to Cold Mountain summit trail
Conditions: Partly cloudy, 75 degrees F