Carter Dome Backpacking in New Hampshire

Another 4000 footer in New Hampshire!

Overnight backpacking
Type: loop with a spur
Distance: 11.53 miles (18.6 km)
Elevation Gain: 3,281 feet (1000 meters)

Summit in the loop: Carter Dome (4826 feet high, 1471 meter high)

near trailhead

This time we went backpacking focusing on Carter Dome (4826 feet). Trailhead is on the dirt road near Prospect Farm, near highway16. First we started ascending wildcat river trail. The first portion is in the nice forest. At mile 3.5, there is an unofficial tent site. It is a very big site with a fire ring. Good to know for the future trip. 

Soon after that, we reached the Carter Notch Hut. Of course this summer the hut is closed due to pandemic. However, a caretaker was still there (actually she was on the roof reading a book, nice) and still some snacks were sold. Some bars were at the window and if you want to buy it you can put cash into a bin. 

Owl on the guard

If it was open it looked really cozy hut. There is a main hut building and there is another building for beds. As you can see in the right picture, each small room has 4 bunk beds. It is nice not the giant room with 20 beds, but multiple small rooms with only 4 beds. If your party is 4, it is like a private room. Currently the rooms were locked. Cutely, an owl was guarding!

Carter Dome over the pond

From the hut the Carter Dome looked pretty. The summit is over the pond. As you can imagine, 1600 feet elevation gain in 1 mile.....Steep! Especially with a overnight backpack. Between hut and the top, there is small spur trail to the view. This is a must to check out, because there is not a nice view on the summit, in fact.

pond and the hut down there

The picture in the right is just 0.2 mile from the hut. You can see the huts and pond way down there. Only 0.2 mile of climb. You can tell how steep the trail is. However, it is indeed a nice view: rewarding climb. Here we saw a hiker with a doggy. It was a black pomeranian. Wow. I always thought pomeranian is a spoiled dog always inside where A/C is on in summer. I learned that they can do strenuous hikes on a hot day. 

raspberries

After Carter dome, we descended via Rainbow trail. This trail is not popular, so not well maintained. However we got bonus. A lot of raspberries. Tasty! We ate a lot of them like bears. After rainbow trail we took wild river trail to backcountry campsites, Perkins Notch Tentsite. Tentsite, but just some flat areas with nothing. We had relaxed evening time at the site with campfire.  

The next day we hiked out by only 4 mile walk.
It was a nice weekend.