Memorial Day on Caribou

May 30, 2011

    I had a nice hike with Aimee today. I actually hadn’t planned on a hike this weekend. Work around the house and fishing were higher on my list. Aimee seemed to remember, I had promised I’d go with her. I think there was a “maybe” in there.  Since she had attempted this a week ago and was turned back by high water she was determined to do it this weekend. I usually don’t hike in May or June because of mud, bugs and Trout. After my fishing trips this past week, I was sure the bugs were going to be horrendous. Luckily, I was mostly wrong. After several rainy weeks, I was not wrong about the mud.
    I picked Aimee up at 7:00 and we headed to Evans Notch and the Caribou/Mud Brook trail parking lot. Arriving there about 8:00 we found only a couple of other cars there, surprising for Memorial Day. There was one other person gearing up for his hike.  After liberal application of bug dope and donning hiking boots, we set off. We headed up the Caribou trail to challenge the brook crossing that had stymied Aimee last week. It was still running fairly high after a thundershower overnight but we were able to cross on a large log just upstream of the usual crossing. The rest of the ten or so crossings we made of Morrison and Evans brooks today were no problem at all.

     I have climbed Caribou three other times; this was the first time on these trails. The climb is gradual to moderate for most of the way and on the Caribou trail, passes a number of attractive waterfalls. The highest of these is Kees falls at 25 feet. At the current water levels all the falls are pretty. There is a ledgy cascade above Kees that was particularly beautiful today. We gained the height of land in the col that separates Caribou and Gammon mountains and where the Mud Brook Trail intersects Caribou trail and leads south to the summit ledges of Caribou. The Black Flies which had been a non-issue lower on the mountain, here began to increase and were troublesome all the way to the top.  When last I was here exactly a month ago there was still a foot of snow on the ground. We covered the last six tenths of a mile to the summit and found a very welcomed breeze blowing to both cool us off and keep the bugs

off…mostly. We talked awhile with the man we saw in the parking lot and found out, he is from Jackman, Maine. The views were good though muted by a high overcast. Mount Washington was in the clouds but Adams and Madison were in the clear. The nearer mountains were all in the clear, the Mahoosuc Range to the North and the Baldfaces and Carter-Moriah range to the West and Southwest. We had a lunch and enjoyed the breeze.

     By 11:30 we were making our way down the ledges on the Mud Brook trail. There are several nice outlooks along the way and we stopped to take photos at several. After a quarter mile or so we reentered the woods and wound our way down the trail.

We met a couple of other hikers about halfway down and I answered some questions about the section of the trail we had already done. Shortly after that we came to Evans Brook which we followed most of the rest of the way down. When we were nearly back to the parking lot we met three other hikers. We were back at the car at 12:45.
    In spite of the mud and bugs, we had a great hike, enjoying the frequent cascades on the way up and the views at the top. I was glad Aimee was persistent in pursuing this hike and that she got me to go along.