Outdoor Diversion: May on Moriah

Summits: Mount Moriah (4,049')
Trail route: Carter-Moriah Trail
Trail conditions: Bare ground, wet, mud, firm monorail and unstable monorail with deep snow off the side of the monorail
Weather: Cool morning temps warming up in the afternoon, light rain showers to snow flurries, cloudy to partly cloudy with late sunshine
Total miles: 9
Total time: 6:45

We received up to 2.5 inches of rain here in the mountains yesterday. I was expecting high water crossings so I chose a hike that did not cross any water. The Carter-Moriah Trail to Mount Moriah met this requirement. I was still expecting a tough hike due to lots of snow at higher elevations that I had seen in the trail reports. Scott and Lisa would be joining me for this hike.

The weather forecast was calling for clearing skies with temps warming up but breezy. Once again I took the forecast with a grain of salt. I was prepared for every weather condition and had a full pack. After meeting at the Bangor Street parking lot we decided not to bring snowshoes based on the trail reports from previous hikers.

As we began our short road walk to the trailhead a cool breeze was blowing. There was bare ground as we started up the trail. The weather was looking rather ominous and there was occasional sprinkles that were not in the forecast. The precipitation was so light that I didn't even bother to put on my waterproof jacket.

We arrived at the first set of ledges and still no snow but it was very wet so we carefully ascended the smooth granite. When we got to our first open ledge with a view we could see that the high summits were covered in clouds. Showers could also be seen in the distance and a few of those showers were hitting us. We moved back into the cover of the woods.

When we got past the last ledge the monorail started to appear. At first it was intermittent and we continued to bare boot. As it became more consistent we put on micropsikes. We found ourselves playing the on again off again microspike game as there were sections of bare trail interspersed with sections of monorail. There was one particularly interesting section of monorail over bog bridges with water on each side should one of us been unfortunate enough to have slid off. We carefully made our way across and stayed dry.

At some point along the way the monorail remained consistent and we stayed in microspikes to the summit. Just before going up to the summit we added a layer as there was a very cold wind blowing with snow in the air. While the summit ledge was bare just below it the snow was several feet deep. We only stayed long enough for a few photos then started our descent to get out of the wind.

We hiked down a ways before stopping for lunch. It was nice to be out of the wind. The down jacket and winter hat came off. As we descended the weather was getting nicer and the sun was actually beginning to show itself. It was nice to get off the monorail. The ledges had been blown dry and it was a fairly easy descent. Back down on the lower part of the trail it was getting warm.

The last hundred yards to the trailhead drops down quickly and comes out onto the dead end of Bangor Street. It was a short road walk back to the cars to end the hike. I enjoyed the company of Scott and Lisa today. I think we'd all agree that the weather was worse than expected at the same time the trail conditions were better than expected. The weather was much slower to clear than was forecast and I thought there would be a lot of postholing in deep snow but there wasn't as long as we stayed on the deteriorating monorail.

It appears that Spring conditions are going to continue. While it's generally bare ground down low and at the exposed summits the in between can be tough and challenging with deep snow remaining. We got away with leaving the snowshoes behind today. I'm not sure that's the case on other hikes in the White Mountains. I'll be closely watching the trail reports over the next couple of weeks.

Enjoy the photos and videos!