Baldfaces/Carters/Meader Loop, 8/15 - 8/16...

[ferrisjrf]

...or A Bunch of Trails You've Mostly Never Heard Of

Baldface Circle Trail → Eagle Link → Wild River Trail → Rainbow Trail → Carter Moriah Trail → Moriah Brook Trail → High Water Trail → Wild River Trail → Basin Trail → Basin Rim Trail → Mt. Meader Trail

Stayed at Perkins Notch Saturday night. The lean-to is kinda crappy, but there's lots of good spots nearby. There's not a lot of great water in the area, but we made due.

Rainbow Trail has a huge, wide open birch stand. Would probably make for good skiing in the winter. Moriah Brook Trail is beautiful. There are a few 'barely within wilderness regulations' campsites along the river, and lots of good swimming holes. Basin Trail is beautiful, and would make a nice short hike from either campground (campgrounds on both ends of the trail).

Mt. Meader Trail is apparently pretty new. It's a great trail...actually has switchbacks. God bless the AMC.

Jason

[mookie]

...or A Bunch of Trails You've Mostly Never Heard Of

. God bless the AMC.

Jason

you said god.

i liked hiking there.

[ferrisjrf]

The only spot I wasn't too excited about was Eagle Link and the couple miles of the Wild River Trail between there and the Rainbow Trail. Neither was bad...just "minimally maintained" (in ADK parlance).

The rest of the trails were awesome. When we first started down Moriah Brook, where it's steep, wet, and muddy...I was thinking, "What the hell was mookie talking about? This trail is crap." Within a few minutes, though, I was totally understanding. Good stuff.

[mookie]

you should have just copied the backpack we did, like you usually do.

but of course you had to add more miles to the backpack we did.

moriah brook trail is cool though.

[Una_dogger]

Nice nice nice....very nice hike, that's an area I've been wanting to explore for some time. How would you rate it as a fall foliage weekend backpack cruise? Mileage (please spare me all the look ups)

...or [I]
Mt. Meader Trail is apparently pretty new. It's a great trail...actually has switchbacks. God bless the AMC.

Jason
Yeah, I hear ya....I appreciate them more and more.

BTW, that's one of a hell of a mullet, Dude...

[ferrisjrf]

... How would you rate it as a fall foliage weekend backpack cruise? Mileage...

I think it was about 33 miles (finished off with a ~1/2 mile road walk). As far as foliage, the Baldfaces and Carters were the areas with significant views...and Meader to a lesser extent. I guess I'd say this would be a good backpack for foliage, but maybe not great?

Perfect for a 12 hour trail run though!

And I'm glad to hear you like my new look. ;-)

Jason