We hiked our third 400o footer in New Hampshire this past weekend. We went peak bagging and hiked the Carter Moriah Trail to the summit of Mount Surprise and Mount Moriah. The Carter Moriah trailhead is located in Gorham, N.H. We got up early because we knew that this one was going to take us all day and maybe even into the night. The sun starts setting around 4 p.m. and it’s even darker in the woods. The hike to Mount Surprise was 2 miles and the hike to Mount Moriah was 4.5 miles. We hiked a total of 9 miles. We got to the summit around 1:45 pm and were back down to the trailhead around 6 pm. But we were prepared for the dark and had our headlamps with us in the event the hike took us longer then anticipated.
I hadn’t hiked nine miles since 2006 when my husband and I hiked the Dirty Face Trail in the Wenatchee National Forest in Washington State. We were proud of ourselves back then and we were both in good shape still serving in the military. If you want to check out that video, click here. It built my confidence to know that I can hike nine miles almost ten years later. We were all pretty tired at the end of the day but we did it. The trail between Mount Surprise and Mount Moriah was icy in spots on the rocks but thanks to MICROspikes it helped us get down the mountain more safely. As with every trip, we learn the importance of the right gear and apply those lessons to our next trip. This time I remembered to bring a coke because I crave them badly after the hike. I only included one view of the 360 degree view from Mount Moriah but click here if you want to check out a video of the 360 degree view.
Jennifer S. Norris 