Monday was gorgeous, so I wrestled with spending the day hiking through the woods or sunning on a beach. Luckily for my 48er quest I had soaked up some rays doing yard work the prior day. I whipped together my hiking gear and headed towards Middle Carter. A peak that I have said, aloud to actual people, that I was going to conquer that day but have bailed on for a myriad of excuses well developed reasons. Alas, today would be the day, and I was dreading it.
For starters, it was my first hike after the horrendous, life altering, infamous Cabot hike. (I just shuddered. Read prior post if you have no idea what I'm talking about and okay, I have a flair for the melodramatic.) Secondly, it would be my second wooded summit. I mean I hike for the views. I guess I should've started my hiking career with 52 with a view, but whatever.
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| Park here, or don't. I'm not your boss. |
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| Any down trees were easy to get around. |
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| This screams, "Run me!" |
This trail literally has a little something for every hiker. I was pretty jazzed the boy and I bailed on bagging Middle Carter last fall when we did Wildcat A, Carter Dome, and South Carter. Otherwise, I would never had known the awesomeness that is the Imp Trail (well, this side, but that's for later.)
There's gentle grades for the trail runners, waterfalls for the sightseers, a wooden "ladder"/stairs for the ones that like something a little different, views for anyone that is breathing, wooden bridges for those that want a flat surface, and for those who have a love affair with rocks, welllll...rock slabs, rock stairs, dry rocks, wet rocks, rock hopping, rock beds, yadda, yadda.
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| I love a nice cascade. |
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| Soon after ohhing and ahhing the cascade and rock stepping over a stream you'll find this gem. |
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| Don't get too comfortable on the gentle grades. Who needs a stair master when you can hike? |
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| Slabbing further up, past Imp |
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| A river ran through it... |
So that's just a taste to wet your hiking chops. Let's go more into depth with the views, shall we? Little did I know (because I'm a horrible researcher...very much let's get the basic idea and then go with it) there's a spectacular view on Imp Face. I mean my eyes were wide and I literally stopped in my tracks for a moment. It totally took away the disdain and general disgust for the snake I saw crossing the trail. Feast your eyes on this.
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| See, have picnic here. On rocks over looking a huge valley and mountains. |
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| Or just enjoy the views that my camera failed to truly depict. |
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| I was like Ariel when she got her voice back. |
The best part about this surprise, giant rocky slab to sit and have a picnic on was how easy it was to get to. I have to say one of the best parts about these adventures is learning about other peaks I otherwise didn't know about. I'm pretty sure Howard is getting tired of me coming home and being like, "We have to go do this again because it was awesome!" I'm pretty sure he'd rather be there the first time, but alas, he has a real grown up person's job and is still recovering from his ACL avulsion.
So from here the trail you keep going along until you come to a crossroads, which I failed to take a picture of for here. Regardless you'll be faced with the decision to go right, leading you down the other side of the Imp trail back to Route 16 or go left, leading you up towards the Carter-Moriah Trail. Whatever your decision, don't go right (again, more on that later).
So you head on up towards the Carter-Moriah Trail on what I guess is technically called the North Carter Trail. This part of the hike is a little more technical with rocks, but nothing traumatic or even remotely close. It's like a wooded hike. It is, or was, quite wet.
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| Wet, rocky, nature. |
This part of the hike got a little monotonous for me. I think I was also hungry. Seems to happen a lot around mile 3. I should start prepping better for mile 3. I just loathe stopping and taking all my gear off and untangling my straps to grab a snack. I'll move on...
So you go up along the wet stones until you come to your next signage which tells you you can turn around, or go either right or left on the Carter-Moriah Trail.
If you're like me and looking to head to Middle Carter then go right towards the Zeta Pass. This is where the wooden bridges I mentioned earlier come into play as well.
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| Pretty cool looking if you ask me. |
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| This one was my favorite because it unexpectedly opened up and the colors just punch you in the face. |
There's even more! I just wanted to give you a sampling. It also makes the last 0.6 miles of your hike enjoyable and not very strenuous. So, you're hiking and you're going to find some rocks. Some, if you have short legs like me or are not very flexible which is starting to happen to me, you'll have to give yourself a gentle hand up or boost to get up. However, wooden bridges are not the only enjoyable part of this leg.
VIEWS! I'm talking Presidential views, too. There's a viewpoint that has a cairn on it. Stop, take it in, but keep going. That's not the summit, just a nice place to rest.
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| Not a summit cairn. |
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| Not angry about this. |
So, I found my lunch spot. I had made these AH-MAZING banana, oatmeal, chocolate chip "cookies" the night before (literally, that's all it is, banana, oatmeal, and chocolate chips) and they filled me up with energy and the knowledge that I was doing something good for my health. Yet, they're so yummy you feel guilty about it. Seriously, bananas are amazing. There's SO MANY things you can do with them that I could write a whole post about it. (And maybe I will!)
Anyway, the point of this hike was to bag Middle Carter. Between the cairn on the slab and the actual summit, try not to fall off the rocks you need to semi-scramble (again, only if you're short or inflexible) as you take in the view.
Also, hint, there's no longer a sign to announce you're arrival to the summit. There's no pretty cairn saying, "Hey, go you, you made it!" There is this:
It's off on the right side. I was checking my handy-dandy gps, which told me I had already walked by the summit, which made sense because I started to go downhill. So I backtracked and found this and assumed (I'm praying I assumed correctly) that this was the marker.
I thought, "Cool, cross it off. Let's go run that gorgeous Imp trail." HA. HAHAHAHA. Why do you laugh, you say? Well, again, I like loops so instead of going down the side that I came up, I went down the other side of the Imp Trail. I figured they'd be somewhat alike. I mean, I had such a pleasant experience on the other side. I wouldn't want to miss anything similar. HA! Two words: WET ROCKS! I got fooled. You can't run on wet rocks! (Okay, maybe you can, but I can't.) At one point I stubbed my toe pretty spectacularly. Four days later and it still hurts. I also wiped out on a giant, wet, slabby piece of rock. It was one of those slow motion falls that you feel coming even before it happens. Got some nice scrapes on my elbow and a two inch bruise on my hip. However, I refused to allow it to ruin what was otherwise a surprisingly lovely hike. I have also come to love the predictability of an out and back hike.
Overall, I would do this hike again. Which says a lot without saying much.
Total distance: 9.9 miles
Total time: 3 hours and 42 minutes (not including my 10 minute lunch break...hey, I was savoring the cookies)
Effort: Easy up, easy/moderate down because you have to concentrate on wet rocks!
Views: Yes, but not on the actual summit (laaaame)
Happy Trails, ya'll!
*I just found out Imp Face is on 52 with a view. No wonder I was impressed. Check another one of those off list as of 8/19
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