Mount Cardigan, White Mountains, New Hampshire

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
6/28/2019	3 miles	2 hours 10 minutes	1,250'		248.9

Map: AMC Southern New Hampshire Trail Map
Parking: Cardigan Mountain Road
Directions: AMC Southern New Hampshire Trail Guide. Orange blazed West Ridge Trail to Cardigan Mountain summit. Same way back down.


I took the day off to drive up to the White Mountains for an Introduction to Backpacking class/trip. I looked the night before for a hike to do on the way, and landed on Mount Cardigan, which is a 52 With a View hike. It was a short hike, so it was easy to make time for it. I hadn't packed much stuff - I only had my large backpack (fully packed) with me. So I did the hike with my pack. It only weighed 20 pounds, but it was feeling heavy climbing up the mountain. It didn't help that I left my trekking poles in the car. I felt slow, but I checked book time, and I was actually faster than book time, at least ascending. I saw many others hiking with only a water bottle (if that). I even had a trail maintainer stop and ask me why I was carrying such a heavy pack up the mountain. I told him I was training. I wanted to carry my phone, map, compass, and water, which would be inconvenient to carry without a backpack. The mountain has several trails on it, and I wanted to consider options for my return trip. I ended up taking the same route up & down - as I had told Glen ahead of time which trail I was taking. The trail I did take seemed to be the popular route. The trail starts out climbing up the mountain in a wooded area. But then, it comes out on rock slabs and reaches a bald summit with a fire tower on top. Above treeline, the trail is marked by cairns and blaze boards. The mountain has 365 degree views. I loved it up there! I soaked in the view for a half hour before heading down.

Typical White Mountains trail.

Krummholz