This one is an instant classic for us! Per usual the photos will not come anywhere close to doing this hike the justice it deserves – but I will try We knew we wanted to take the road less travelled this weekend since it was Columbus Day weekend and based on the forecast it looked like Sunday was going to be the best day to hike. However the weather in the White Mountains, especially as close to Mt. Washington as we were, proved to be a bit finicky as we got a bit of everything on this one – rain, sleet, snow, sun, wind with the temps never getting above mid 40’s the entire day. Despite the weather this one will go down as one my all time favorite hikes that I have ever done.

We started at the Bog Brook Trail which is a beautiful trail in and of itself and gave us a nice little gradual warmup with many (at least five) water crossings which kept us on our toes. We then got to the junction of Wild River Trail which is another beauty and one that we had been on the other end of when we climbed Moriah a few months ago. I think the Wild River Wilderness is my favorite of all the Wilderness areas in the Whites – it just has this feeling of total isolation and peace which is becoming more and more rare in the White Mountains as chasing “the list” and hiking and general has become more popular. The trail also apparently acts as a super highway for moose in the area based on the “evidence” we have seen on this trail, but unfortunately we have yet to come across one on trail in all of our miles of hiking. Jen and I joke that we are going to see a moose or a bear on our little town trails in southern NH during a trail run before we see one on our of our epic, remote adventures in northern NH. Nonetheless, the remote feeling we get on these trails in the WW Wilderness is something we both enjoy as we didn’t see a single other person until we were almost 4 hours in and close to the summit of Carter Dome. We were loving the hike in, and enjoying the beautiful fall colors which were pretty much at peak which I was excited about as I knew (at least I thought I did) what we had ahead of us when we reached the Rainbow Trail.

I’ve been pushing for this hike pretty much since I stumbled onto it by watching one of the very few YouTube videos on the this trail. The Rainbow Trail is widely regarded by those who know as one of the most unique and beautiful (especially at peak foliage) as one of the most gorgeous trails in NH. It has a very unique, large clearing which we later learned was caused by a massive forest fire over 100 years ago and what has grown up are sporadic birch trees which add a bit of depth and beauty which would otherwise be a ~10 acre field with the Rainbow Trail cutting right through. I talked it up quite a bit to Jen based on the research I had done and was hoping that it lived up the hype. When we started up the trail it started raining ever so slightly but then picked up a bit as we got further into the trail. I was getting nervous that this was going to be a total washout of a day which we were prepared for in regard to gear, but this was not how I envisioned this playing out in my mind. I knew we were getting close to the birch glade as I was tracking our progress on my GPS app (FarOut) and as we crested a steep section, not only did we get our first glimpse of the glade, but it started to snow! It was the first snow that Jen and I had seen since the spring and there was something about standing in the middle this beautiful birch glade together in silence but totally connected with the snow gently falling on us as that made us both a bit emotional. Although neither of us are religious it was a beautiful, spiritual moment in which we were so present in the moment and truly grateful to be fortunate enough to be there in that time and place together. Its a a feeling that I hope everyone feels at some point in their lives at least once because it truly was special. Here are some of the best photos from the glade taken directly from the trail.

We spent a good 20 minutes standing in the glade and just enjoying the views and commenting how hard it was to leave but we knew that we still had a lot of hiking ahead of us and if we wanted to get back to the car at a reasonable hour we had to get going. I know that we will definitely be back to the glade and it will be interesting to see how it looks different in different times of the year. I’m not sure it can get more beautiful than it was at this time and place but its definitely worth the hike up to find out. As we made our way out of the glade I commented on how it looked like the glade may have been bigger at one point as many evergreen trees were growing up in the middle of birch trees – it will be interesting to visit this area in twenty years from now to see how it has changed. Hopefully we will be lucky enough to be able to hike in to see this place twenty years from now! As we made out way up towards the summit of Carter Dome the snow became more steady and started accumulating on the green moss of the evergreen forest which made a very beautiful contrast of greens, whites and occasional oranges from the few birch trees which were still growing at elevation. We quickly made our way up to the knob below the Carter Dome summit which seems like would have pretty good views on a nice day but not this day, although we could seen sun peaking through the clouds and snow on a neighboring mountain hoping that it would make its way to us.

We chatted with a nice group of boy scout leaders at the summit who were backpacking for the weekend and then we were happy to get out of the cold, wind and snow on the summit which quickly subsided as we made our way down into carter Notch. The trail down to the notch from the summit was steep and slow going – I’d much rather be ascending a trail this steep than descending which in some places required three points of contact and butt sliding to get down. It was a bit tedious but we were rewarded with a great view of the Notch, including the lakes, Wildcat A, the Ramparts and Carter Notch Hut from a lookout off of a short spur trail near Pulpit Rock.

We finally made our way to hut and refiled our water, used the glamourous privys and refueled on some snacks. We also looked through the guest book and found our entry from almost exactly a year before when we visited the hut for my final 48-4K hit up the Wildcats. We warmed up and headed out for the final push and last leg of our ~11 mile loop back to the car via the Wildcat River trail and back on the Bog Brook Trail.

A few other photos from an amazing day:

As I said at the start this one was an instant classic for us and a hike that neither of us will soon forget. Can’t wait to get back there! Until next time – Happy Trails!