Hiked Carter Dome with my friend Erik today.  It was quite cloudy and windy with very little in the way of views at the top.  There was also a huge group of hikers collecting as we arrived.  Our goal was to be on the trail before them so that we did not have to deal with passing them.  We ran into a little rain, sleet, snow, back to sleet and back to rain during the hike.  All in all though, it was a very good hike.

I’ve only every comes down 19 Mile Brook Trail.  It was totally packed out the whole way up.  We still did the whole hike with snowshoes as it was going to be much much easier to deal with traction issues.  It’s a good thing we did too.  As we got onto the upper part of the trails, there was quite a bit of drifting snow.  I’d have to guess that the wind was gusting in the mid to upper 30MPH range at times.

Erik is only about 4 peaks left to finish off his NH 4,000 footers.  He and I have done a lot of winter hiking together too.  Today was probably one of the easier winter hikes we’ve done.  Only 10 miles roundtrip.  I think the last one we did was N & S Twins and that was 17 miles, breaking trail and a tad over 10 hours, with the last 2 hours hiking in the dark.

Anyways, here are some of the the better pics from the hike.

Erik making sure all his snacks are within easy reach

In the summer, this sign is above my head.

Erik approaching the same sign

Well, thanks for checking it out.  It was nice to get out for a hike.  Unfortunately it was my first winter hike of the season.  Normally Erik and I would have banged out at least 3 more hikes, but things have  been hectic this winter.