Mount Cardigan Trip - 2006

This November, we held an overnight trip to Mount Cardigan, New Hampshire.  Mount Cardigan is located in (where else?) Cardigan State Forest, about 6 miles SW of Plymouth, NH.  It is the second-highest peak in southern New Hampshire, (next to Mt Monadnock.)  The mountain is 3155 feet above sea level.  (Elevation gain is just under 2000 feet.)  It is known as being a good "first-time challenge" climb. 

We  arrived at the mountain base lodge on Saturday, mid-morning.  There are several trails of various difficulty available, and we chose a series of trails best suited for the makeup of our group. 

We climbed for about 2.5 hours for a distance of 1.8 miles (with all our gear) to the Appalachian Mountain Club's "High Cabin", located just below the summit. 

The cabin had 12 bunks (with mattresses) in a common room.  It had a kitchen with a 2-burner propane stove.  Wood stove for heating, with plenty of wood & kindling.  Two tables and 4 benches.  (In retrospect, it would have been awkward to have had people sleeping on the floor.)  No electricity.  Nearest drinkable water was the base lodge, so we had to carry up our own.  We could have brought a water purifier, but as we observed, there were no reliable mountain streams other than near the bottom of the mountain.  (There is a better picture of the exterior of the cabin at http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/lodges/cardigan/cardigan-highcabin.cfm)

After dropping our gear in the cabin, we rested, ate our bag lunches and then proceeded on to the summit.  The view from the top was very impressive.  As expected, it was colder and windier once we got above the tree line.  There is a fire tower at the summit, but it's not open to the public.  Due to the lateness of the day, and the early sunset at this time of year, we returned to the cabin.

We cooked a supper of hot dogs, tuna wraps and Ramen.  Later, the scouts enjoyed a rousing came of "Totem Pole".  It was one of the most interesting-to-watch card games that the adults had ever encountered.  Sunday morning after enjoying breakfast burritos w/Spam, we packed our gear, cleaned the cabin and hiked down to the base lodge.