06 October 2017: Middle and South Carter Mountain

I'm all on board for finding ways to save some unnecessary mileage and my friend Bob the Lovegoat found a cutoff for a trip out to bag Middle and South Carter on a traverse. I only have a few peaks left on the Carter-Moriah range to do after this hike, namely the Wildcats and Shelbourne-Moriah. BTLG’s post about this hike can be found here: https://lovegoatfilms.blogspot.com/2017/10/two-carters-for-price-of-one.html

History: The carter range was named for

Peak Elevation: 4610 ft (Middle), 4430 ft (South)
Elevation Gain: 3600ft or so (estimation based on location of Camp dodge)
Trail: Camp dodge bushwhack (not a TH), Imp Trail, Carter-Moriah Trail, Nineteen Mile Brook Trail
Length: 11.5 mi (estimation due to bushwack)
Time on Trail: 830ish
Time off Trail: 1430

We started at a logging path from Camp Dodge, which saved us about a mile of walking. We ended the day at the Nineteen Mile Brook trailhead. About 10 minutes into the hike, it started raining, and an hour later it let off. I was soaked, and did not change my shirt until South carter. Thankful to not have come down with hypothermia - also glad I had a sweatshirt in my bag.

The trail wasn’t too bad to ascend. The Imp trail section we started on is the less aggressive of the two trailheads, which make a loop towards the North Carter Trail and Carter-Moriah Trail. We did not do the trip to North Carter as we were strained on time due to my friends both having childcare needs at the end of the day. It would have added another mile to the trip for something that is not a true 4000 footer per the AMC. I’ll have to go back to it for when I am wrapping up my Peakbagging for the NH 100 highest, since this is well above 4500ft.

On Middle carter, we could not find what BTLG was looking for – a popsicle stick marking what someone had designated the highpoint. We did find a geocache though which was neat. Then we moved right on to South Carter, where we had a standing lunch of tuna pouches and whatever else each of us brought. I mowed my Uncrustables and some trail mix, shamelessly. The descent down Nineteen Mile Brook was pretty tame and not noteworthy.

Photos:

Middle, South Carter 06OCT17