I left Friday afternoon and headed to NH ready for another
car camp. After fitting in a short hike to Table Mountain, I set off to check out the parking area for North Moat. There were “No Overnight Parking” signs
posted. I don’t mind breaking the
rules, but I do mind being woken up in the middle of the night by a ranger.
It was Motorcycle weekend (it seems it’s always motorcycle
weekend in NH) and I knew I wouldn’t find a reasonably priced place to stay
that accepted ERDs. I set Plan B into action. I drove around looking for Inns
with lots of unmarked parking spaces. I
found the perfect place very close to the North Moat trailhead. After dinner I came back to the lot just
before dark, read a book, charged my phone, and was asleep on the mattress in
my Sequoia by 9:00PM.
I woke at 5:00AM to sun, no clouds! Got my stuff together and was on the trail by
6:00AM. The trail is very easy going until
you reach the Attitash junction, from there it’s a continuous, steady climb with
good footing. The last 700 feet of
elevation is a nice quad blaster – nature’s stair master. I got to the summit in 3 hours – for me that’s
lightning speed. I enjoyed the trail. It is a relatively easy, quick route for anyone who just wants to summit
North Moat.
The summit was just beautiful; I couldn’t have
chosen a better day. The wind was mild,
the air was cool, and the early morning sun was warm. The ERD was enjoying the hike and took off to
check out something I couldn’t see.
Apparently he found something gross and dead to eat, because he didn’t
smell good when I called him back.
I had a little trouble finding where the Moat Mountain trail continued but
finally spotted the blaze and proceeded down toward the narrow path.
This section of the trail is rather grown in and poorly marked. Although
it’s just over a mile, this dark, viewless section seemed to drag on forever until you get closer to the Red Ridge trail. Then it opens up to rust colored rock slabs with great views. When you emerge onto the open
ledges of the Red Ridge trail – wow!
Unfortunately I wasn't able to enjoy it; this is when the ERD got
sick. Vomiting grass bits and unidentifiable sludge, he was shaking and unable to jump
down ledges. Apparently his dead-animal treat
didn’t agree with him. I tried to get
him to drink some water, eat a healthy dog snack, nothing. This dog never says no to a dog treat and he
never stops moving. I was worried. I knew I was going to have to carry him down.
I was going to have to carry him on my pack, down a very steep trail back to the car. At this point I
was wishing I had done the loop in reverse. Red Ridge is a much easier trail to ascend than descend.
Sick on Red Ridge
The ERD was groaning and cried out when I touched his belly. He smelled gross like the dead animal
he ate and apparently rolled in. This
was going to a fun hike down.
Sick ERD
With the ERD on my pack I had to slide down some of the
trail on my backside unable to maneuver steep sections with a dog on my pack. This is not an easy trail to descend period, nevermind with a dog on your pack! In addition, there are sections of this trail where the blazes are faded and hard to follow. Not a problem normally but when you have a sick pooch on your pack it can be a little frustrating.
I kept pouring water
on his head thinking this would help (it just made him smell worse). I ran out of water about a ½ mile before
Moat Brook (86 ounces of water used between us). When I reached the brook, I filtered some
water for a much needed drink, used some trail soap to get the dead animal smell
off of us, and took a lunch break. The ERD looked better, ate some
food, and started to act like his old self again.
He ran down the trail ahead of me, all the way
to Diana’s baths where he greeted lots of children, on the way back to the car. 46 down 6 to go...
Glad he's better. They do get over it quickly!
ReplyDeleteThanks Beckie :)
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