I will be doing "Manning Trail" going up, then south on "Mowglis Trail", then back east to the AMC Lodge via "Clark Trail" (plus a final unnamed trail north to the Lodge):
It is supposed to be a 2-hour-11-minute drive up to the AMC Cardigan Lodge, and I left the house about 8:30 AM:
Sometimes "It's Not About The Hike" - I was passed by a Subaru Outback with the BEST GRAPHIC EVER:
Once I was off I-93, I went west to Bristol and turned north - I was thinking about going to see Wellington State Park (containing the largest freshwater swimming beach in the New Hampshire state park system) on the shore of Newfound Lake (the 3rd largest lake in New Hampshire), but the road system was a little complicated, and I was on a tight schedule. I did stop at a nice little park (Newfound Lake Watershed), which had a bridge over the Newfound River:
looking upstream:
I hit the AMC Cardigan Reservation at 11:35
And was heading up the trail at 11:48
30 minutes into the hike, I'm now climbing up hill:
After going up through the forest, you start going on-and-off ledges, to get up to Firescrew. KEEP FOLLOWING THE CAIRNS AND YELLOW BLAZES:
And, OF COURSE, the views back behind me are PRETTY WONDERFUL:
I hit the Firescrew summit just after 1 PM:
Looking northeast from Firescrew summit:
I headed down the Mowglis Trail, and 20 minutes later was at Mount Cardigan:
GREAT VIEWS up at the summit:
But once I started down the back-side, there weren't very many visual clues to find the trail:
Nice view back up, before heading down into the woods:
About a half-mile down the trail, there is an intersection, with the AMC Cardigan Mountain High Cabin up in the woods on the right:
Another half-mile later, and I was flying down the trail:
At 2:30 I was on the final northeast leg of the Clark Trail:
The final 2/3 mile (13 minutes) was a lovely stroll through the woods:
I did 6.98 miles in 3 hours 7 minutes:
Easy drive home for dinner - 261.5 miles today. Thank You God for this Great "52 With A View" Day!
For my listening pleasure today:
John Coltrane - Standards, 2001 compliation
Jackson Browne - Running on Empty, 1977
INXS - The Greatest Hits, 1994 greatest hits
Jr. Walker and The All Stars - Greatest Hits, 1969 first greatest hits album
And then it was time for HIKING MUSIC:
Led Zeppelin - How The West Was Won, 2003 release of 1972 concerts (triple live album)
When I resumed driving, I listened to cd 3; then:
Michael McDonald - Motown Two, 2004
Michael Jackson - Off the Wall, 1979
Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about visiting Art Museums and National Parks (and hiking in the Rockies)
hyperlink: dixonheadingwest
http://dixonheadingwest.blogspot.com/