Last weekend I ventured back up to the Whites to complete my second round of the 4000 Footers. I had two peaks left - Mt. Whiteface and Mt. Carrigain. Normally Columbus Day weekend is peak foliage up there but the extremely dry conditions this year caused the leaves to change early.
By the time I got up there the spectacular firey leaves up high were gone however the birch trees were still popping with their stunning yellow down low. Plenty of color to be had even if it was past peak.
After hiking Whiteface during the day on Friday I drove over to Mt. Carrigain and hiked three miles to hammock camp in a lovely birch forest. It was the last forest before the real climbing began - at that point it was all gnarled pine trees. My first spot ended up having a nasty limb overhead so I switched to another and was in bed by 7 PM. I ended up sleeping fitfully due to the cold weather but I was certainly comfortable enough.
In the pre-dawn hours I hiked up to Carrigain and had the fire tower to myself for 30 minutes. A real treat! Then I spent several hours going down and around the back of Carrigain and making my way to the herd path for Vose Spur. This is one of the New England 100 Highest and it's technically a bushwhack there's enough of a herd path to make it not too miserable.
The only disappointment was that I lost my clogs somewhere along the way down Carrigain. I'll miss them but it did result in some silliness in the video below:
And if you are interested in seeing my previous hike up Whiteface you can see that one here:
Thanks for watching!
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