Ghost Trail: Carrigain Notch to Kancamagus Highway

Headed for Desolation Trail

Green-Capped
Jelly Baby

A beautiful day for hiking up Mt. Carrigain!  I started from the junction of Nancy Pond Trail and Carrigain Notch Trail and had an easy warm-up stroll to the Desolation Trail junction, which was another good spot for setting up a tent. I passed a group having breakfast. From this junction, it would be an easy 7-mile walk north through the Pemi Wilderness to Zealand Trail, and then on to the Cohos Trail if someone northbound was in a hurry to get to Canada and didn't mind skipping the bottom end of the Cohos and the Presidential Range. 

Desolation Trail

Desolation Trail is listed as one of New Hampshire's most terrifying trails, so I had taken extra time  packing and had removed all the dangly things off the back of my pack in case I needed to remove it. Got plenty of water at the trail junction, but planned to drink half of it and lighten the pack before doing the steep part, which is closer to the top.  

Ha, ha, ha.. that's the trail

It wasn't that bad. Going up, that is. It's the north side of the mountain and doesn't get used that much, so there are a lot of very damp, mossy boulders and some good drop-offs to the side. So it was very slow going. At one point I came around a curve and just started laughing. The trail went straight up a rockfall. It looked worse than it was. I was always able to find a place to put my foot or grab something with my hands. That's all I ask. But that was going uphill. At one point I dropped my trekking pole and it bounced back down the trail thirty feet. Going back down to get it was a completely different experience. I was on my butt, carefully sliding off of mossy boulders to get down. So if you are going northbound, give yourself plenty of time for this descent. 

Up in the Carrigain Tower

There's a tower up at the top that no one should ever skip during clear weather, and the views were just spectacular in every direction. It was much colder up above the trees and the wind was just blasting.  Very dramatic. I especially enjoyed looking back towards the Presidential Range and seeing the distinctive steps of Stairs Mountain, where I'd spent the night a few days back. 

There had been no cell phone service since the hillside just above Nancy Cascades, but there was service at top of Carrigain. Some guy came past, heading down Desolation Trail and talking on his phone, telling his listener that he was calling now because he didn't know how much longer he would have a signal. I think his service probably cut out after 5 or 10 seconds. 

Looking forward towards the Lakes Region
(from under the tower)

I could post a million photos here of the views from the tower, but that stuff is all over the Internet, so here's one looking forward (southbound towards the Lakes Region) and one looking back. 

Looking back towards the Presidential Range

There was a designated camping spot just below the summit. No water. The Ghost Trail follows the Signal Ridge Trail down the south side of Mt. Carrigain. This is the easier, more accessible trail going up the mountain for people climbing up to get a view or to check off another 4,000-footer. This was a Monday in September, but I still passed a number of day hikers on their way up. 

The first part of the Signal Ridge Trail was beautiful as it followed the ridgeline through stunted trees. This was the spot for taking a nice break (the tower was too cold and windy). And then there was long, tedious descent on an eroded popular trail. Water trickled out of the hillside in a few places, probably not a reliable source of water at all times. 

Signal Ridge Trail

My original plan was to take the mountain slow, camp at the bottom of Mt. Carrigain, and then the next day would be a leisurely stroll to my car spotted on the Kancamagus Highway. Then there would be the five-hour drive home with plenty of daylight. But I wasn't ready to stop when I got to the junction with Carrigain Notch Trail, so continued down the Signal Ridge Trail. You know, "just a bit further."

The shortcut not taken

There are two options for connecting the Signal Ridge Trail to the Sawyer River Trail. The safest bet was to stay on the Signal Ridge Trail all the way to Sawyer River Road, then walk along the gravel road to the Sawyer River Trailhead. But the maps showed an old road running alongside Carrigain Brook that might serve as a more direct route, eliminating the need for the long roadway, and that was my original plan. I found the old road OK, and started down it a few steps, but it didn't look like it got used much. There were trees across it and no tread. I imagined impassible swampy areas along the brook, or maybe the old road would just disappear, so I turned around and continued down Signal Ridge Trail, which at that point was super easy and I was flying. But shortly after that, the trail became more tedious, with a number of wet spots to pick through. And then the road walk was all uphill and seemed to take forever. 

Signal Ridge Trail junction with potential shortcut

Sawyer River Road

So when I finally passed the far end of that potential cut-off trail, I wished I'd at least tried it. If it's clear enough to walk, it would definitely be the better route. Here's a photo of the south end of the cutoff if anyone is nobo and wants to try it. It's pretty close to the end of Sawyer River Road and the parking area. There's a line of big boulders placed across the road and sign indicating no camping in that spot. 

Far end of that potential cut-off at Sawyer River Road
(sign says 'no camping')

The road finally ended at a good-sized parking lot which would have been the perfect place to leave my car if I had known it existed. 

Sawyer River Trail begins.

Sawyer River Trail runs for about four easy miles through lowlands to the Kancamagus Highway. Parts were along groomed snowmobile trails (probably old logging railroad beds) and were super easy. A few other parts were slower through muddy areas or fording brooks, and I had a least one occasion of trying to figure out which way the trail went. Mostly the footing was very good, though. There are a number of stream crossings here that look like they would be difficult in high water. Most of the trail is a bit of a blur because by this point I was trying to get to my car and just drive home that night and was going as fast as I could. I was thinking about canning tomatoes from the garden and stuff like that. 

Sawyer River Trail

So I did make it out to the highway a day early, and then had to walk uphill another 3/4 mile to my car shortly before sunset. It was a long, dark drive home back to Connecticut, getting home around 10 pm. Parking at the end of Sawyer River Road would have worked much better, and then the next trip I would have had a good walk to the base of Tripyramid after the five hour drive up, camping overnight and heading up Tripyramid fresh. That's not what happened, but that's another post. 

The Swift River