Hiked by: Tim and Valerie on August 18, 2006 - Southern portion of Imp Trail, North Carter Trail, to Carter-Moriah Trail (AT), then back the same way
Conditions: Started the hike at 7:30am. It was very humid, and it was raining before we even got from the car to the trailhead. 59 degrees. Weatherman is calling for soaking rains, but not until later this afternoon. The rain passes quickly and we get out of that hot Gore-tex. The hike up was one of the most pleasant that I remember. It's a long, gradual uphill. Not a lot of landmarks or milestones along the southern portion of the Imp trail (3.2 miles), so we have to be content with just walking and assuming we're making progress. No views on this end of the Imp trail or North Carter either.
North Carter trail was a bit steeper and a bit rockier. But we're only on it for 1.2 miles. Still not as nasty as some of the other trails we've done recently.
Once we hit the intersection with the Carter-Moriah Trail (AT), we met up with several thru-hikers who told us a bit about where they were going (ha ha, the answer is always "Katahdin". Yeah, we *know* that, but where are you headed *today*?), when they had started, etc. That's so interesting. I can't imagine starting March 16 in Georgia and to still be walking. On this trail, we were up on the Carter Ridge, so we had a few views along the way. It's also a little flatter once you get to the ridge (as you can see in picture #2 below). We joked with an AT'er last week that they don't build those kinds of boardwalks throughout the *rest* of the trails in NH, only on the AT. Unfortunately, the humidity was rising steadily just as we had been all morning. The mountains in all directions were almost gone from our view due to haze. We took a couple pictures at the summit, and ate a quick lunch, then headed back down.
Down is always a little rougher, because it's just hard on the knees. Weather was getting warmer and steamier every hour. By the time we got to the car, it was 82 degrees. Bugs (which we haven't seen in weeks) were back out in force - both blackflies and mosquitoes.
Overall: 6 hours, 40 mins including lunch on the summit. 10.0 miles, 3340 ft of elevation gain.