Mt. Moosilauke (4802)
Trail: Gorge Brook – Carriage Road – Snapper Tr.
Date: 11/25/2000
Attending: Shawn White, Ralph Chicoine, Gabe, Simone, & John Chicoine
Miles: 7.5-mile loop Time: 3 hours to summit. 5.5 hour total
AMC huts, / shelters / camping site: Moosilauke Ravine Lodge
Weather: Sunny, clear, cool wind
Moosilauke Again! Again!
Aint no mountain like dis-here mountain.
Exactly 2 years after our last spectacular winter Moosilauke Hike we done did it again. And true to this mountain’s character it was absolutely beautiful. The road to Ravine Lodge was snow covered with several inches but it had been well-traveled and fairly easy to drive. Timing is everything for this hike, we need snow on the mountain but not on the road. Too much snow on the road and they close it up for the winter. Not enough snow on the summit and it’s just another great hike. But if you time it just right the mountain transports you into a picture perfect world. Speaking of picture perfect between Ralph and us we shot 48 pictures.
On this hike, the base had several inches of new snow, increasing to between 12 to 15 inches of fresh fallen winter wonderland powder at the summit. As always the trail was well broken and easy to follow. From the lookout at the hairpin turn before the summit stretch, we could identify 20 or more 4K’s.
From the summit, we could see Mt. Monadnock in Massachusetts like it was part of the Whites. The temperatures on this hike couldn’t have been better for a winter hike. We started the morning at 9:30 in 20 degree temps, (felt a bit chilly and we all layered up but within 15 minutes we were stripping back down to the shirts.
It wasn’t until we reached the hairpin that we layered back up. This time most of us put on everything we brought. Shawn even stripped totally down to put on his polly thermies for the cold out on the open summit. As soon as we stepped above the tree-line we knew we were at 4800ft. on a brisk winter day. Without my Balaclava tight over my face, I got brain freeze on the forehead within a minute. The wind chill brought us down to the low single numbers but we were all dressed well enough to linger on the summit for 10 or more minutes. (All we could take without keeping moving.) We continued on over the summit to the Carriage Road ridge trail in search for a spot still on the top but out of the wind, for lunch. With the warmth of the sun and no wind we had lunch in a comfortable, sunny, 20+ degrees. We weren’t the only ones to know a good thing this day. The mountain had lots of visitors on this afternoon; at least 30 or more that we saw!
Not that we were trying, but we did the loop back to the car in 5.5 hours, with a good 30 minutes of break and lingering on the summit. Our second Thanksgiving Moosilauke hike was a delight. There’s nothing like God’s Wilderness 
Sanctuary to put one in the Christmas spirit. When Simone starts singing Christmas songs, (by Alvin And The Cipmunks,,,) you know she’s happy!
So let’s see,,, We could have spent the day driving around parking lots not finding any place to park. Then jamming my car into the last parking spot at the mall. Spent hours elbow to elbow with hordes of hacking shoppers, looking for that great deal on something so useless that we wouldn’t end up giving it to somebody for Christmas anyway. Bla, Bla, Bla, Bla, Bla,,, or spent the day with 4 great friends and 30 other like minded people on the greatest place on earth. I did the right thing!
- Moosilauke1 Matt Leblank, Gabe, J&S (Winter 1998)
- Moosilauke2 Shawn, Ralph, Gabe, J&S (Winter 2000)
- Moosilauke3 Shawn, Ralph, Gary, Gabe, J&S (Winter 2002)
- Moosilauke4 Gary & Pete, Gabe, Noah, J&S (Winter 2003)
- Moosilauke5 J&S (Spring 2009)
- Moosilauke6 Chris, Joel, Shawn, J &S, (Fall 2011)
- Moosilauke7 J&S (Fall 2017)