Elevation gain: 2385 feet
Trails used: Three Ponds Trail, Carr Mountain Trail.
Highlight(s):
I took Wednesday off from work to specifically hike one of my few winter four thousand foot peaks that I have left but once I woke up, it was hard to get any motivation to do the drive, or even to do a hike today. I decided to pick something closer, and easy, to hike. The weather forecast for the day was for sun and temperatures in the mid twenties, so a bushwhack would be out of the question for today.
Carr Mountain is located in Wentworth, Warren, Ellsworth and Rumney, New Hampshire. The actual summit (or summits, since there about three bumps of almost equal height) is in Wentworth, though the old fire tower summit is the recognized high point of the three. There are two different trails you can take to reach the summit; the Carr Mountain Trail from the NH25 side but I would be using the one from the Stinson Lake side off of Stinson Lake Road. There are views from the summit area of Carr Mountain.
Carr Mountain is on the New Hampshire Two Hundred Highest List and the New Hampshire 3K List.
I managed to make my way into the Three Ponds Trailhead parking area to start the hike. There was quite a bit of frozen snow so it was a bit slick.
The Three Ponds Trail is an active snowmobile trail in winter.
After a brief short steep hike on the Three Ponds Trail, you turn left to head towards the summit of Carr Mountain on the Carr Mountain Trail.
The crossing of Sucker Brook was fun to do. I had to bushwhack a few feet down from the Carr Mountain Trail to make my way across a snow covered tree/snow bridge.
A few days old snowshoes track is all that remained after a few days of rain and cold temperatures. I was able to Microspike my way from bottom to the summit of Carr Mountain and back down.
You can barely see Mount Moosilaukee through the tree's here.
The Carr Mountain Trail does make a few switchbacks as it steadily climbs up to the summit of Carr Mountain.
The snow laden tree's on the way up at about 3000 feet. The snowshoe track was blown-in in spots but still easy to follow.
Approaching the summit of Carr Mountain (elevation: 3453 feet) as the old fire tower footings come into view.
I stood on one of the fire tower footings on the summit of Carr Mountain and got this view of Mount Moosilauke, North Kinsman, South Kinsman, Cannon Mountain, Mount Clough and Jeffers Mountain.
Views of Franconia Ridge, with Mount Liberty, Mount Flume, and North - South Twin from the summit of Carr Mountain.
Views towards the Tripyramids, the Sleepers, Mount Passaconaway, Mount Whiteface and Sandwich Dome from the summit of Carr Mountain.
The Presidential Range and Mount Washington stood out nicely today from the summit of Carr Mountain.
I reversed directions and headed back down to the car in less than an hour's time.
A nice short day hike. This peak is definitely a peakbagger's delight. On a good day though, the views to the east and north are not that bad. Otherwise, the draw is that the woods in the summer are nice and while the snow makes everything cool looking (in a different way), I would prefer to do this hike when its warmer out. Next time Ill try this from the NH25 side.
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