My Trip To Mount Cardigan

September 27-29 2015

By Rory C.

Mount Cardigan is group west of Lake Winnipesaukee and interstate highway 93. It is also north of Franklin, Sutton, and Concord. Mount Cardigan is south of Plymouth, Woodstock, and Barlett. The mountain is east of Lebanon, Hartland, Claremont, and interstate highway 91. The absolute location of Mount Cardigan is 43 degrees 38 minutes 59.26 seconds N, 71 degrees 54 minutes 53.3 seconds W.

As we drove up to Mount Cardigan, we began to see a more mountainous and rocky terrain with several types of trees,including pine, oak, spruce, birch, and maple trees. Many of the deciduous trees had leaves that were changing into many fall colors. When we arrived we saw a medium sized pond, where we did our stream studies. When our group was hiking Cardigan, there were many large boulders as well as smaller rocks that we had to watch our step carefully. On the way down from our hike, we came across a small river and sat down to sketch the river. When our group was doing the stream studies, we saw a very rare bird and heard an owl hooting at night. Once we got close to the top of Mount Cardigan, we saw an owl pellet and decided to sketch it. The weather on the trip was quite nice. We had sunny days with bright blue skies and cool nights without precipitation.

Upon arrival we noticed a large wooden lodge at the base of the mountain. It was a four story rustic building that had a mud room and a library on the first floor. The second floor contained the kitchen and the dining hall. The top two floors were the sleeping quarters. Near the lodge there was a dirt path that led to one of the trails and the porta potties. There were several trails including, Holt trail, Clark trail, Woodland trail, and Manning trail, which was the one we hiked. There were several guides on the trip, and my groups guide was named Tabitha. I was lucky enough to have my dad as one of the chaperones as well as Nates dad. Once we got to the top of the summit, the fire tower stood above the treeline and we had a view of the valleys, our lodge, lakes, other mountains, and the beautiful trees. The fire tower was made out of wood and metal, and had a staircase leading to the top, for the rangers to watch for fires. The fire tower had solar panels and an antenna on the top.

I stayed at the cardigan sunday monday and tuesday tuesday.Sunday was an average day, the sky was grey. Monday was a very beautiful day, the sky was blue and you could see the clouds easily. Tuesday was sortive rainy and yucky.