Outdoor Diversion: Moosilauke in May

A weekend of nice weather in the mountains and I would take advantage of it today with a hike to Mount Moosilauke (4,802'). There are many routes to the summit. I would be taking a familiar route that I've done before. My hike would take me up the Gorge Brook Trail to the summit then down the Carriage Road and across the Snapper Trail to complete the loop then back down the Gorge Brook Trail to finish.

I left the house just after sunrise. The sky was clear and the air was crisp and cool. This is one of the longest drives from my house to a 4,000 footer trailhead. I turned onto Route 112 and was behind a familiar car with the license plate “GRIDDOG”. I immediately knew it was Pepper and his owner John. I met Pepper and John last Wednesday on Mount Eisenhower. I followed the car up Route 118 and into Ravine Lodge Road. Parking is available along the road just before the split to Ravine Lodge.

While parking I saw some familiar faces, it was fellow hikers Brent and Steven. They were with another hiker, Jillian, that I hadn’t met before. They were ready to go when I arrived and started out while I got ready. I saw John and Pepper walk by on their way to the trailhead. I was only taking my old micro spikes and had left the snowshoes at home. It was a short walk to the trailhead as I passed by the new Ravine Lodge. I crossed the bridge and was on my way up the Gorge Brook Trail.

It wasn't long before I met up with Brent, Steven and Jillian. We hiked together up to the Snapper Trail junction. They took the Snapper Trail and I continued up the Gorge Brook Trail. There were short stretches of a solid, shallow monorail between sections of bare trail. When the monorail became more consistent I thought about putting on my microspikes but was having no problems without them. The trail is not steep and there was really no ice just soft snow.

Past the second outlook I thought I might need the microspikes so I put them on. I wore them for about 100 feet and came to a long stretch of bare trail and took them off. The spikes would stay off for the rest of the hike. It was just below treeline that I met up with John and Pepper coming down from the summit. It was nice to meet them again on the trail!

Once I broke treeline there was no further snow. It was beautiful up on the summit with lots of warm sunshine and just a light breeze. My previous visits to this summit have been cold and windy to very cold and very windy. It was spectacular to be up here on such a beautiful day. I got my customary panoramic video and lots of photos of the views in every direction. It didn't appear that I would have the summit to myself so I moved on toward South Peak.

It was on the Carriage Road that I met up with Brent, Steven and Jillian again. We gave each other the trail reports from where we just came from and chatted for a moment before going our seperate ways. Always great to see familiar faces on the trail! I kept going past South Peak without visiting the summit. I've been there before so continued down the Carriage Road. There was more snow along here than I was expecting. The monorail was soft along some parts of the trail to non-existent with just slushy snow. Along one short section of the Carriage Road there was a LOT of moose poop. I've seen my share of moose poop but never had I seen this much.

The snow ended suddenly and I only saw a few insignificant amounts for the rest of the hike. I arrived at the Snapper Trail junction and it was getting quite warm so I changed into a short sleeve layer. It was a pleasant hike across the Snapper Trail and when I reached the Gorge Brook Trail the loop was complete. It was less than a mile back to the Ravine Lodge. I had seen quite a few hikers making their way up as I was descending. When I got back to where my car was parked there was a long line of cars beside the road. We all picked a great day for this hike!

I found the trail conditions quite tolerable and well worth slogging through the slushy snow to reach the summit of Mount Moosilauke on such a beautiful day in May.

Enjoy the photos and videos!