Mount Moriah day hike

The starting point for this hike was the trailhead at the end of Bangor Street in Gorham. This day hike involved going up the Carter-Moriah Trail to Mount Moriah and returning the same way.

Parking area - 800' Mount Surprise - 2 miles - 2,194' Mount Moriah - 4.25 miles - 4,049' Mount Surprise - 6.5 miles - 2,194' Parking area - 8.5 miles - 800' Total elevation change - 3,249' Trail map - 500 x 647 - 154K Trail map - 1,000 x 1,294 - 567K

This day hike started at the trailhead of the Carter-Moriah Trail at the end of Bangor Street in Gorham. Mount Moriah would be #40 on my New Hampshire 4000-footer winter list. My hiking companion for this hike was Linda, a woman I had hiked with once before, who was also working on her winter list. I ended up meeting her at a park & ride lot in Concord and we drove up together. This was going to be a double hike weekend for both of us and we planned on spending the night in Twin Mountain and doing Mount Carrigain the following day.

The morning was cold but not bitterly so, with temperatures in the upper teens at the start. There was no wind at the trailhead and the day stated off mostly cloudy. We arrived at the trailhead around 9:15 or so and were on the trail by 9:20.

600 x 450   1024 x 768 At the trailhed 600 x 450   1024 x 768 At the trailhed 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Linda, at the trailhed

We made good time on the lower part of the trail. There had been a fresh dusting of snow overnight but someone had been up the trail ahead of us. We started off with just microspikes and had snowshoes with us just in case.

600 x 450   1024 x 768 Snowy trail 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Rabbit tracks 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Rabbit tracks 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Breaks in the clouds 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Linda 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Linda 600 x 450   1024 x 768 View from the trail 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Snowy trees 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Carlton Notch

It took us about an hour and a half to make our way up to Mount Surprise and we actually had a few breaks in the clouds while we were up there. Luckily the cloud cover was very high so we had some pretty nice views in spite of it being a mostly cloudy day.

600 x 450   1024 x 768 Mount Madison & Pine Mountain 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Pine Mountain 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Pinkham Notch 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Pinkham Notch 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Mount Madison 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Snowy trees

There was a short break in the steep climbing just above Mount Surprise and then another longer break a little higher up. It took us just under two hours to go from Mount Surprise to the summit of Mount Moriah.

We got very lucky at the summit and there were some major breaks in the clouds and some large areas of sunshine illuminated various features around us.

There was some wind up on the summit and it was a cold wind so we did not stay up there long.

600 x 450   1024 x 768 Icy spot on the trail 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Snowy trees 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Mount Moriah summit 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Middle & Shelburne Moriah Mountains 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Shelburne Moriah Mountain 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Linda & Bob 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Imp Mountain 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Carters 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Snowy trees 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Middle & Shelburne Moriah Mountains 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Bob, winter 4000-footer #40 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Snowy trees 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Snowy trees 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Mighty Moose 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Numbers for the hike up

On the way down we made a short stop to eat some food as we up to that point we had just been snacking. Once we were out of the wind it didn't feel so bad as the temperature was probably up into the 20s by the afternoon. We continued to see large breaks in the clouds and short periods of sunshine and it made for a nice afternoon with some really nice views on the way down.

600 x 450   1024 x 768 Snowy cairn 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Snow & trees 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Sunshine, clouds, Pinkham Notch 600 x 450   1024 x 768 View back towards Mount Moriah 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Snowy cairn 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Snow, shadows 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Pine cones 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Linda, butt sliding down the trail

We missed a turn in the trail very near the end on the way down and ended up going a little out of our way before we realized it. We had to backtrack to get back to the main trail but we were very close to the end at that point. It

600 x 450   1024 x 768 Back at the trailhead 600 x 450   1024 x 768 Numbers for the day

We got back to the car around 3:30 and it had taken a little more than 3 hours to go up and a little less than 3 hours to come back down.

After loading our gear into the car we headed for our motel room in Twin Mountain and then out for a nice meal to celebrate.

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