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Mt. Cardigan 10/27/2012

At 3,155 ft, the open summit mountain of Mt. Cardigan is on the New Hampshire "52 With A View" hiking list. I decided to hike it on 10/27/2012 using the Holt Trail on the way up and the Manning Trail on the way down. The day started off clear and sunny, but part way up became cloudy as the outer edges of a nearby hurricane worked north. On the summit it was completely clouded in with a temperature of 49 degrees. The wind was averaging 18 mph and gusting up to 22 mph. The hike was good even without a view. The lack of a view from the summit just gives me another reason to come back again.
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Another hump of rock next to the tower
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Another hump of rock next to the tower

Cardigan3173

  • After leaving the AMC lodge, the Holt Trail follows and old woods road
  • Entering the boundary of the Mt. Cardigan State Park
  • So far the trail has been gentle an easy
  • A nice bridge crossing Bailey Brook
  • Grand Junction where the Holt Trail heads right and the Cathedral Forrest Trail goes left
  • The easiest route to the summit is to the left... I'll go to the right
  • After the Grand Junction, the Holt Trail stays gentle for a little bit before getting very steep
  • A birch tree across the trail as it transitions from gentle to steep
  • The first steep part of the trail and the first challenging part
  • Things were just damp enough I couldn't walk up up the rock next to the gap, so I had to go up in the gap. It was harder than I expected. The paint on the arrow is about 2-3 inches wide for a point of reference
  • After the climb up the gap in the rocks, the Holt Trail just goes steeply up over many large rocks
  • After the trail starts to come out of the trees, it follows mostly open smooth sections of rock
  • The trail following up a ravine of sorts in the rock
  • By the time I emerged from the trees, the clouds had come in and hidden any views
  • Working up one of the less steep rock slabs on the trail
  • This is the start of the last hard climb before the summit. It was too damp to go up the open area, so I had to go up along the edge. The surface was slick and I had to try to help pull myself up by hand. This climb continues up past the large rock in the center and was the hardest part of the hike
  • I was about 100 feet from the fire tower before I could finally see it in the thick clouds
  • The open summit area
  • Looking down at a pool of water on the summit from the fire tower stairs
  • Another hump of rock next to the tower
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