Saturday, January 13
Summits: Carrigain
Start/Finish: Sawyer River Rd winter TH
Miles: 14.25
Elevation gain/loss: ~4123′
After a slow drive on partially unplowed roads with intermittent rain, I started out from the Sawyer River Rd winter trailhead by 12:30pm. I thought I had a good chance of making the summit before dark, but the conditions made that impossible. The road walk was soft enough that snowshoes were required to prevent 4-6″ postholes, so I wore snowshoes door to door. It started lightly raining again (~35 degrees) as I walked the road and continued for two hours. I was delighted to find the start of the trail broken, but my hopes were soon dashed. The softly packed trail ended 0.5 miles into the woods and I was left following one set of snowshoe tracks from a few days prior, partially covered in snow. These tracks ended when the climb up to Carrigain really started.
I was left with knee- to thigh-deep wet snow, completely unconsolidated, while I climbed ~3000′ gain in 3 miles. It took me an hour per mile and was miserable. Each step was hard won and took 2-3 steps to pack the snow down and slide back before moving forward. I considered turning around a number of times. But I eventually made it to the ridge below the summit (well after dark) in time for the sky to start snowing big, thick flakes again. I waded my way across the ridge, with waist-deep drifts everywhere. The climb up to the summit seemed to take an eternity, but once there, I quickly turned around and headed back. Unfortunately, the way back wasn’t that much faster – the heavy snow kept catching and burying my feet, nearly making me faceplant so many times. I was so excited to make it back to the flats, and then the road after that. I made it back to my car by around 9pm, pretty sure I wouldn’t hike the next day. But I knew that dry clothes, hot showers, food, and sleep can make a huge difference, so I headed out to attain those things before deciding my next steps in the morning.
Transcending Mountains 