10/9/2021
I had taken the previous two weekends off from hiking. The first weekend I took a friend to Mount Washington to ride the Cog to the summit. I’ve always wanted to do it and I thought my friend would enjoy it as well. It was a great day. The following weekend I was sick. It is rare, but I caught a cold. It never really kicked my butt completely but just enough where I was really tired.
I had 3 to go. Carrigain, Flume and Liberty. Also looming was October 11, the 1 year anniversary of when I started my 4000 footer journey. It was never a goal to complete all 48 in a year until I noticed it was possible. Then it became a ‘thing’. I made reservations at a VERY over priced cabin for the night of 10/9, hiking on 10/9 and 10/10, finishing the 48. Yes, OVER PRICED cabin. Columbus Day weekend in the Whites is insane. People flock there for the mountains and foliage. Great for the state but drives me nuts.
I was on the road by 3:30am on Saturday heading for the Signal Ridge trail head. After a very long drive, I was set to hike at 6:50 am.
This is just a beautiful trail, start to finish. It starts off pretty flat for the first couple miles. With a brook running along the side of the trail, it is cool and relaxing. I only gained about 400 feet over the first 2 miles I think. Again, I knew this had to change substantially as the total gain on the day was estimated at 3500′.
I am not sure exactly when but the trail made a sharp turn upward. It was noticeable after that long easy walk in. It went from almost a dirt road to the expected steep, rutted boulder infested path. it actually reminded of Mt Tecumseh with the way it wrapped and contoured across the steep slope at times.
It was in this section that I met Maya. She was hiking with a couple hikers that I had been leap frogging with for bit. She kept coming back to visit and check on from time to time. I meet so many cool dogs that make me wish my dog, Topper, could hike with me. For reasons we wont get into, having him with me wont work.
The steep continued through to about the 4.5 mile mark. This is when Signal Ridge revealed itself. There are no words that can do this location justice. It just has to be experienced, seen and appreciated.
I could have sat here for hours. This is actually something I plan to do. Once I am done with the 4000 footers there are several I plan to return to. I don’t care if I summit, there are just some special spots I want to sit at for a long time. This is one of those spots.
From the ridge to the summit is about a half of a mile. After a short down, I again was heading up pretty sharply. The trail then kind of cut across the slope before turning sharp to the right and up steep to the tent site. From the tent site it was a short steep incline to the summit tower.
The view from the summit of Mt Carrigain is one of the best I have seen throughout my NH48 journey. I have heard that 43 of the 48 4000 footers can been seen from the summit. If you see it, you’ll believe it.
Back to the over priced room topic. For the coming night I had reserved a room. Due to A) holiday weekend B) Fall Foliage C) New Hampshire, the closest I could get is a half hour south of Woodstock in Plymouth NH. It was motel that also has cottages. Happens that all that was left was 1 cottage by the time I made reservations about a week before. $300 a night! It was soooo not a $300 accommodation! But the following day I was to complete peaks 47 and 48. I justified the spend on a sub par room because its a special weekend, the big finale.
| Miles | Elev Gain | Time |
| 11.5 | 3588 | 6 Hours |
Mountain Mike 