Outdoor Diversion: Christmas Eve Day Hike to Carter Dome

My hike today would take me up to the summit of Carter Dome (4,832') after some recent snowfall and mixed precipitation. This was the one day break between storms. The route to the summit would take me up Nineteen Mile Brook Trail to Carter Dome Trail and finally the Carter-Moriah Trail. Fellow hikers Jill, Amy and Jim were getting an earlier start so I would be trying to catch up to them at some point during the hike.

I arrived at the trailhead to find the parking area in rough shape from not being plowed. After snow, rain and freezing rain from yesterday's storm there were frozen tire ruts all over the parking lot. There was plenty of parking available. I saw Jim and Jill's vehicles so I knew I would be playing catchup as I was over an hour behind them. As I was getting ready there was one other hiker starting out ahead of me but came right back to put on his microspikes. So I started out ahead of him but not for long. I would be trailing him up to the summit.

Not knowing what the trail conditions would be I decided to put on my Hillsound Trail Crampon Pro to start my hike. This turned out to be a good choice as there was loose, packed snow over ice. The Nineteen Mile Brook had lots of snow on it and was mostly frozen.

I arrived at the Carter Dome Trail junction and I noticed only one set of bare boot tracks. I was wondering which way Jim, Amy and Jill went as this hike could be done as a loop and it did not look like three people went up where I saw the one set of tracks. I thought maybe they went straight ahead but I did not want to go up the very steep ascent to Carter Dome. When I saw the other hiker going up the Carter Dome Trail I followed.

There were maybe four or five inches of crusty snow and I put my snowshoes on. They would stay on up to the summit. The snow got a few inches deeper as I arrived at Zeta Pass where the other hiker was taking a break. We talked for a few minutes and then continued up. The wind was blowing and it was getting very cold. The snow got deeper.

The trail to Mount Hight had not been broken out. The snow was getting deeper but had been broke out on the Carter Dome Trail. Just about two tenths from the summit I caught up to Amy. She told me they were still on their way up and that they were the ones that had been breaking trail, that was an awesome feat! I had been walking in the broken loose snow with snowshoes and was getting very tired, breaking the trail must have been extremely exhaustive.

We next came up to Jill. Already on the summit was Jim and the other hiker I had been following. I found out Jim had done most of the trail breaking, he is a hiking beast! We all took a well deserved break. I hadn't brought my Santa's hat but the others had theirs and put them on. Jim made a good looking Santa. Two hikers arrived at the summit from Carter Notch Hut. One of them wanted her picture sitting on Santa's lap and Jim obliged. We got some photos and it was a good break before starting our five mile descent back to the trailhead.

The snow was very loose on the way down and it was awkward in some spots with the snowshoes. We all took turns falling down. In my case it was very painful to fall down and try to get up with leg cramps kicking in. The trick was to get up as fast as possible which shortened the pain from the cramps. I was glad to get back down to the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail where I took the snowshoes off and put the Hillsound Trail Crampon Pros back on.

We arrived back at the trailhead just before 4:00 PM. For me it was a seven hour hike for the others it was longer due to their earlier start and the trail breaking they had to do. I could now add Carter Dome to my summit completions for the Winter 48 4,000 footers. I've got some tough hikes ahead of me in order to finish my Winter 48.

I want to thank Jim, Amy and Jill for their trail breaking efforts. Without them I would not have made it to the summit today. Another snowstorm is on the way and the trail breaking will have to start all over again. If the snow continues there will be some difficult trail breaking during this winter hiking season.

Enjoy the photos!