Rock slab for the win and pinky toe for the loss
Top of Moriah looking over to the Presidential Range
I have heard great things about Mount Moriah from other hikers and I was excited to get back to a standard out and back, 9-mile, 4000-footer. I had to drop off my daughter to work at 8 AM, and had over a 2-hour drive, so this would be the first time I had such a late start. I have been able to avoid traffic and crowds by getting to the trail at sunrise… so be it as this would-be all-day event.
When I arrived at the parking lot one guy had to bail because he twisted an ankle, and he was talking to a someone on a bicycle. My first thought was, welcome to Gorham, but it turned out that he was an AMC trail volunteer. We chatted for the first 1/4 mile while he explained the work that he does, and which trail he is assigned to managing. It sounded as though the trail was his responsibility. He told me that last week that an ATV had to go up the trail for someone who also busted up his ankle and he spent the week scuffing out the ATV tire marks. As we departed, I thanked him for the work that he does as it really is amazing work and I have benefited immensely from the work that AMC puts into the 4000-footer trails and all the trail systems. I recently built a trail bridge from wood I found in my shed for my neighborhood trail which provided a lot of pride to me.
The first section of the hike was beautiful with soft pine needles to walk on, a bit of rocks and roots for avoiding some mud and an almost constant view of the Northern Presidentials off to the right. No river crossing at all… I don't think I have ever had that on a hike before. The middle part of this trail is one continuous rock slab. Rock slab after rock slab at 40 degree angle! It was mostly dry, so I had confidence in my footing, but it was a constant. It was fun but needed long strides combined with consistent momentum which got me winded. It was nearly 2 miles of rock slab which took a lot out of me. Then the last third of the hike was up and downs which also socked energy out of me. The rollercoaster of Moriah. The last half mile or so still had snow with a thin monorail. Some post-holing looked to be 4 feet deep or so... it was a bit of one foot directly in front of the other. I could have used spikes going up, but I got lazy and just put them on for the descent.
The trail was amazing though with every shade of moss and lichen, winding left and right and something to look at around every corner. There were open rock slab points along the trail to see my old friends of Adams and Madison still with snow in the ravines. Things are starting to get green in the White Mountains, the snow is only above 3600 feet elevation, and the bugs are not in attack mode yet. The top of Moriah was about a 30 feet circumference flattish top, and I had it all to myself. There was 360 degrees of views, and the sun was peeking through the clouds. All the sweating and pain for this view and it was all worth it. I ate a couple of bars and a dehydrated ice cream sandwich which I got for Christmas. I took off my t-shirt and put on a dry one and a middle layer to keep comfortable, laid on my back with my backpack as a pillow, put on my sunglasses and just relaxed.
I find it hard to get these moments when there are others at the top or if I hike with someone. Usually there is so much adrenaline from getting to the top that it creates this buzz of motion and vocalization, so when its vacant it’s just easier to let the tension go and be present. Letting some of that go tends to make the descent harder as you have told your muscles that they cannot work as hard to which I needed them to go back down that rock slab, to which my shoe was lose and the constant downward force left my pinky toe without most of its skin. After the snow zone I took off my spikes and put in my ear buds. It’s also a strange thing with music is that I am less fixated on the next step that I go into some sort of auto mode physically and it allows my mind to wonder. I am grateful for these moments and the ability to hike. I often think that hiking is like a metaphor for life. You start of naïve, then gain some experience, work towards a goal, and then navigate through familiar territory using that experience to guide you all along the ups and downs and all pain and joy.
Heading down the rock slab
On Mt. Surprise looking over to the Northern Presidentials
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms...” - Henry David Thoreau
Date
May 9th 2021
Distance
9.08 miles
Elevation Gain
3,291 feet
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