Four of us, Doug Sacra, Celia Knight, Jason Shelkowitz, and Fred Knight, had a fine hike up to Moosilauke on Saturday. We chose the Snapper and Carriage Trails to go up and the Gorge Brook Trail coming down. The 8" of snow from Wednesay night required snowshoes, which we wore througout the 7:15 hike. The sky was mostly overcast in the morning but cleared and became cloudless by the end around 4pm. The new snow clung to the trees making the route a real wintry wonderland.

We hiked up trading leads with some guys who carried snowboards for a quick slide down from the peak. The leaders broke trail in the 8" of new snow---nobody was ahead of us! The trail opened into a wide thoroughfare when we hit the Carriage Trail. We had lunch standing next to the trail about two and 3/4 hour into the hike. Pushing on toward the South Peak, we covered trail with drifts, but the route along the ridge was well traveled by people who had come up via the Glencliff Trail. As we neared the summit, the wind began to howl. Other hikers described white-out conditions above treeline. Indeed, the icy Moosilauke summit was no place to stay. We headed down the Gorge Brook Trail into deeper snow and some steep areas. I lost my snowshoe once and sunk up mid thigh!

Gorgeous conditions everywhere. The blue sky started to appear on our trip down with great views of the valley. Nowhere is the trail very steep, so the hike went well. 10.4 miles total, including the approach road. A great day!

Watch the travellog. Watch the movies below.