Vose Carrigain 7/18/2010

Zippy and I met Ken, Lynn, and Brett in the Sawyer River parking lot about 8:30 am on Sunday for a bushwhack to Vose Spur by the usual route, Also included in the trip description was the trip across the ridge to Carrigain. I had often wondered about this bushwhack and what it would be like. We made good time up the Carrigain Notch trail to the "Boulder" and maybe 100' beyond where we found another herd path heading up. The herd path was soon lost to nature. We had open woods for a couple hundred feet and then the spruce misery started, broken by blowdowns and slippery moss for footing.

After an hour or so we came to a much better herd path that took us steeply to the talus field. We ate lunch at the base of the field and enjoyed the view. We then headed up to the top of Vose Spur for the obligatory photos.

Next came the trip to Carrigain. None of had ever tried this before but it was now an imperative, because Carrigain was the last of Brett's NH48. Heading down to the col was relatively easy, except for the thick spruce, blowdowns, and cliff face. At the cliff which is perhaps 20' high we eventually went around the north end, and found the grade much less injurious. After crossing the marshy area in the col we came to another talus field.

This one came as a surprise to me, because it is almost invisible on Google Earth so I missed it while planning this trip. I did get some photos from the top of the talus field that not many get to see. It has an otherworldly appearance. Much wider than high it is perhaps 400 feet wide, and less than 100 feet tall. The stone looks freshly crushed, but for the presence of some lichen. It gave me an uneasy feeling as I walked along it. The stone moves underfoot and some rolls down the slope. You worry about those above you and below. We moved along the talus looking for an opening or herd path, but none was to be found. After moving north about 100' from our entry point, we eventually blithely bulled in and headed up into the thick spruce and krumholtz. Hefting the dog over a blowdown or up a rock face every 50' or so. After about 400' of vertical it did begin to level off and the terrain got a bit easier. High fives all around when we made the firetower. Brett completed the NH4K'er list in a very memorable way. We ate again on top of the tower, Brett with his celebratory brewski and headed down the Signal Ridge Trail after about a half hour. About halfway down we ran into a VFTT shirt worn by none other than Arm.

This was a wonderful group that I had not met before this day. It was put together by Ken Hodges on the "Meetup" website. We were approximately equal in speed, experience, and most importantly they could put up with my sick sense of humor.

All standard disclaimers apply: IIRC. YRMV. IMHO. FWIW. HYOH. No warrenties, expressed or implied, are made that any information in this post is accurate, reliable, or appropriate for any particular situation. Attempting to follow tracks or examples provided here may lead to dismemberment, other serious injury, loss of life, and damage to, or loss of property.