Very wet. Most times the trail was actually a creek. Bugs were minimal. Mud was thick. Counter clockwise.
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Did the Manning/Clark/Holt loop in early January on a glorious winter day. Snow was not deep, so we used spikes instead of snowshoes all the way ‘round. Clear and calm. Quite strenuous going up from AMC lodge, but big payoff in terms of views once above tree line. Trail is hard to follow in snow/ice, since cairns are not always obvious especially between Firescrew summit and Cardigan summit. And be careful on way down to Clark from summit — no cairns at all and it is easy to end up on either Holt (very dangerous downslope in ice) or on trails to west side of mountain. And be careful with winter daylight — not a summit you want to be coming down from in the dark. Lots of slick spots.
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Loved this hike! Cool stone stairs and then lots of rock faces at the top with a fire tower and 360 views! It gets busy so we were glad we came at 8am. A definite favorite!
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We had a glorious sunny crisp day for this hike! The trail markings were pretty stingy in places, and we got off trail at a scary point. It seems that we were not the first hikers to miss a turn as we found a trail through the brush that led us back on trail. The alternative was to slide down butts on steep granite slab. There are some quite challenging rock scrambles that really should have some rebar; otherwise a hiker is relying on hanging onto tree limbs and roots to make the way up granite slabs. There are also places on Firescrew where the trail is “marked” but it is more easy to skirt around to less steep granite faces to climb, then get back on trail. This practice is not really conducive to keeping hikers from trail blazing in general.
Rant over.
Mt. Cardigan is a challenging hike from the AMC Lodge side, no doubt about it. It’s fun in places, and scary in places. It’s great when you can take your time on a beautiful dry day. Looking forward to hiking more of the Cardigan trails.
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stars
A great loop around the mountain and I love the Holt trail, so this gets that trail in from the other side of the mountain
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Arrived to do a sunrise hike. Trail starts with an immediate incline but gets flatter towards the middle. Once you hit the stones, you are close to the summit. We did it in 50 minutes (at a very slow pace). The view is amazing! At summit there is a tower that serves as shelter or observation. It gets veeeeeery windy and chilly (this is early September) so make sure to pack a light coat, hat and gloves.
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8-29-19
Hiked Cardigan with Jessica, Stephanie, and the dogs. Had a really nice lunch up top with beautiful views. Had Sangria, crackers, cheese and prochuito
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