Ghost Trail: Mt. Cardigan

It's not even that early

It was dark with thick fog when I started up Mowglis Trail towards Mt. Cardigan on the second day of this section hike.  Fall hiking is great except for all the darkness. If not for the bright yellow blazes, I would have had to just stop along the trail until it got brighter, but those blazes really popped in the headlamp. Many thanks to whoever did the blazing. 

Wow. Not expecting this.

Mt. Cardigan had been obscured by low clouds the previous day, so I was assuming there would be no views. Whatever, that's the way it goes. But then it suddenly brightened as I continued up the mountain and climbed out of the fog as the sun was rising. Wow. Just wow. I was not expecting that. 

Moosilauke is the highest peak in the center

I was able to use the Peakfinder app to figure out what I was looking at. Towards the north, a long line of "islands" started with Smarts Mountain on the west. Moosilauke was the tallest of the peaks. The Appalachian Trail follows that ridgeline, and is the alternative to hiking the eastern "Ghost Route" to the Cohos Trail. I have especially fond memories of camping at the top of Smarts Mountain, with an amazing sunset and sunrise and the loudest lightening storm I've ever lived through. 

The distant ridge starts with Smarts Mtn and
the Appalachian Trail

Approaching the surreal top of Firescrew Mountain, which is just to the north of Cardigan, I heard voices at the top. But then no one was there, and the voices were actually coming from the top of Cardigan in the distance. That's how loud they were. Why do people have to turn up the volume at each other in these settings? Have some respect for other others and keep the voices down. 

Mt. Cardigan from Firescrew Mountain

There was a surprisingly difficult spot heading up  Cardigan from Firescrew. It didn't look that difficult, but when I tried to walk up the bald rock, my feet just slid right back down again. And again. And again. The rock was a bit damp, but not wet. I have good boots with Vibram soles. I tried to the left and then to the right, and just could not get my feet to stick to that rock. I finally tried wedging the sides of my boots into a narrow joint in the rock, and that was just enough to get me up the rock. 

Looking back down at a spot I had trouble getting up

The loud obnoxious people were gone from the top of Cardigan by the time I got there, thankfully, and I had the place all to myself. It was amazing. 

Mt. Cardigan

The West Ridge Trail heading down the mountain was mostly bare rock, and the sun refracting off low clouds was making weird rainbow-type displays. Passed another set of hikers TALKING LIKE THIS FOR NO REASON (shhhhhh....I shouldn't be listening to your conversation a quarter mile away) and then came to the junction of Skyland Trail. There was a pretty good stream at this point, which looks like it normally has water. 

Skyland Trail

Skyland Trail was lovely, in many ways similar to Elwell Trail, but with more bald spots and views. I passed one hiker the entire way. The trail was clear and easy to follow, but not over-used. 

Wow. Peak fall color on Skyland Trail. 

The AMC map for Cardigan only has the first mile or so of Skyland Trail at a useful scale (a small inset area map does show the trail coming down to Wild Meadow Road). Gaia had the first part of the trail right, but the southern end was wildly inaccurate based on the AMC map. So I wasn't quite sure what I would run into, but it was all fine. I did start tracking the route so I could correct it in Open Street Map later. 

More bald spots on Skyland Trail

I understand there were some bad fires in the Cardigan area back in the day, leading to the bald hilltops. Reminded me of Acadia National Park at times, which also had severe fires that removed all the trees and topsoil from the hilltops. 

Trailhead sign for northbound hikers. 

I really wasn't clear about which peak was which while I was hiking it, but there were definitely plenty of ups and downs. In a good way. Southbound, the online maps showed Gillman Mountain, then Crane, Grafton Knob, Church, and Brown Mountain. Gillman Mountain is also called Orange Mountain. 

"Four Corners"

I hit "Four Corners", the junction of Grafton and Knowles Hill Roads, around lunch time and it was time for a good long road walk. It was about seven miles to Danbury, where I'd get on the Northern Rail Trail. The plan was for my husband to drive up from Connecticut in the morning and find me somewhere along the road, at which point I'd swap a full pack for a day pack, take the dog, and he'd go golfing. 

Road walk time!

It worked out pretty well. We met up near Grants Pond and had a little tailgate picnic by the side of the road. Then I set off with my somewhat confused dog and my husband sped off to whack some little white balls. 

Grants Pond

The road wasn't too bad, and it was all downhill. But it was a shame to be stuck on a road when you know there's all kinds of forests and mountains on either side of it. I hope some local people decide that this is a worthwhile regional route and find a way off the road. 

Northern Rail Trail in Danbury

I had hoped to check out Dick's Village Store in Danbury, but I didn't want to try and bring my insane terrier inside. There was a table full of bikers (as in motorcycles) across the street where I expected to find the Northern Rail Trail, so I called out and ask if that was the rail trail there. They said it sure was and motioned for me to come on over, so I did. Seems like maybe the guys get refreshments at the store and hang out at the table next to the trail. 

Northern Rail Trail. And my dog Quinn. 

This part of the Rail Trail was pretty quiet and I only passed a couple people in five miles. I wasn't going very fast, and was actually limping along with a sore leg, but I manage to get all the way to the SRK Greenway while my husband was golfing. I perhaps should have gotten off the rail trail at the Eagle Pond boat ramp. I went a bit further south looking to cut over to Route 4 and ended up with a short but nasty bushwhack that wasn't worth it.  I didn't see the SRK Greenway trail going in there, but I may have simply missed it. Then I headed up New Canada Road, happy to see the distinctive SRK Greenway markers along the road. 

Eagle Pond boat launch 

We had reservations at the New Hampshire Mountain Inn, which is on New Canada Road (nineteen miles from where I started that morning) and therefore right on the SRK Greenway. Convenient. Also, they were just about the only place that had a room available on short notice and that allowed dogs. It's one of those old, tastefully quaint inns with small rooms and beautiful decor but no fridge or microwave. There's a finely furnished common room with a TV, but we just wanted to collapse on a bed.  A long day!

New Hampshire Mountain Inn - right on the SRK Greenway