Mount Cardigan

Trail: West Ridge Trail, Mowglis Trail, Grotto Cave Spur, Hanging Rocks Spur

Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant, Leaves - Significant/Slippery

“This was an interesting traverse - up West Ridge Trail, down Mowglis Trail all the way to Sculptured Rocks Road. West Ridge Trail had a whole bunch of unmarked routes that diverged from and then rejoined the trail. I wasn't sure what the deal was with those - maybe the trail was rerouted a while ago? Most of them were not blocked off with branches, as previous routes usually are. The trail and summit were, as expected, quite crowded with people enjoying the beautiful weather and fantastic foliage. We then started our descent of Mowglis Trail off of Cardigan. The first interesting part was the Grotto Cave Spur. It's very easy to walk right by it without noticing - it's marked with a small cairn and a faded blue blaze on the rock. From there, it's just about possible to find enough other faded blue blazes on rocks to follow the trail. The last blue blaze we saw was just above a steep, wet slab (which itself was difficult to both descend and climb). At the bottom of that, we didn't see any more blazes and there weren't very many signs of any paths. We followed one possible path straight ahead, but it just led to the top of this very large, very steep open slab. The map that came with the SNHTG showed the spur bearing left near the end, so from the bottom of the wet slab just below the last blaze, we went left a little but couldn't find any semblance of a trail. We reached a flat open slab, which had excellent views. We seemed to be right where the cave should have been, according to our Alltrails and GPSs and the map. However, we couldn't find the grotto cave or any other signs of a trail, so after a bit more poking around, we went back up. Mowglis between there and Firescrew has some twists and turns, so follow markings carefully. Descending from Firescrew, Mowglis has some wet slabs that need to be taken carefully. The descent just above Crag Shelter is fairly steep, but most of the rest is pretty gradual. Crag Shelter was a nice spot to eat lunch. The trail was straightforward from there to the junction with Hanging Rocks Spur, which has a cairn and a small sign at the junction. Hanging Rocks Spur (or rather, the loop part of it) was an adventure. The split was pretty clear, where the main spur continued straight and the lesser-used loop part bears left. The loop part goes across a very steep sidehill, with the cliff on the right and a very steep slope on the left. It goes over boulders where care is needed, and has holes between the rocks to avoid. At one point, it descends steeply for a short distance, and then turns right and climbs up a steep, wet ledge with no handholds or footholds. This is the toughest part of the loop, since there's a sharp dropoff immediately to your left and no way to go around to the right. You have to get in a position to get a knee on top of the ledge, and then use a root as a handhold. Shorter hikers like me will find this quite difficult. Just after that is a very steep pitch up loose dirt and pine needles - this has to be done carefully, and there are a few roots and small trees to use as handholds (but test them first to make sure they will hold you). Just after that, the trail goes along this narrow ledge just below the top of the cliff - people who are afraid of heights might have issues here. The final pitch to the top of the cliff is easier. Definitely do it in this direction - it would be even tougher in the opposite direction. From that junction, Mowglis Trail was pretty easy down to the old Groton-Orange road, where it continues to the right along the road and Orange Cove Trail (unsigned) goes left. We did see a car parked at the junction, though we don't know which side of the road it came up. The road portion of Mowglis Trail is rough and rocky, with several deeply rutted areas, some washouts, and a lot of drainage ditches. I don't recommend attempting to drive this unless your car has a lot of ground clearance and you have experience driving very rough dirt roads. We saw evidence that a previous car attempting to drive this road had bottomed out and scraped its exhaust pipe in several places. Hiking the road is pretty quick anyway. This was a very enjoyable day - the weather and foliage were pretty much ideal. We saw more hikers than we expected on the footpath portion of Mowglis, but no one else on either spur or on the road portion of Mowglis.”

Trail: Manning Trail, Holt Trail, West Ridge Trail, Skyland Trail, Woodland Trail

Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail

“Well, I had to wait to start to get through northbound traffic and it was just as well because I wanted to make super-sure the rock surfaces on Holt Trail were dry. I swore last time I did Holt that I would never do it again, but, I was like, no, I wanna go again. Well, on Holt, many of the super-scary rock scrambles have bypasses... except the last one very close to summit - it seems like there is no other way than to just jam your left knee into the crack hoping not to break too much skin and pull up on the handle that runs up the left side of the crack and don't look down. Always scares the crap outta me; today no different and I have the cuts in my knee to prove it. After that, quick tap of the summit, trying to avoid the crowds but they were as big as expected. From there, figured I'd continue down the Skyland Trail to Woodland Trail since I had the time. Skyland was delightful as always with plentiful outlooks and decent footing - seems a little easier than the Mowglis & Elwell Trails along the ridge to the northeast of Cardigan. I kinda forgot exactly where the Woodland Trail connects to Skyland and didn't have any recent tracks so I was kind of guessing it was coming up. That was the perfect junction for lunch at the nice rock near the signpost. From there, the descent on the Woodland Trail was quite a challenge - just so much deadfall though the path was usually clear. I wouldn't recommend Woodland to anyone who needs to know exactly where they are at all times or someone without some kind of GPS - it was rough. Around the beaver pond, the brook crossing was a bit confusing to find the trail on the other side but you just gotta look close. From there, once around the giant beaver pond, there were deep muddy ruts from a fat-tired dirt bike much of the way down to the trailer. Man, that trailer looks worse every time. Of course, the last .6 mi to the lodge was rough with so much uphill I always dread. A fine day with what looks like almost peak colors in the valleys. Took my just under 5 hours for a bit over 9 miles. Super fun!!!!”

Trail: Skyland Trail, West Ridge Trail, Ranger Cabin Trail, South Ridge Trail, Hurricane Gap Trail, Spring Spur, Clark Trail, Woodland Trail

Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail

“Skyland Trail is an amazing trail. The flat and gradual sections have mostly good footing with lots of dirt and pine needles, the ups and downs are never too long or too strenuous, the ridgeline sections and ledgy sections are beautiful, and it has some amazing outlooks. Some sections of the trail were wet today, with some slippery ledges and pools of standing water on the trail, but nothing that wasn't too difficult to get around. Its length and difficult parking situation, and the resulting low levels of usage, have really kept it in very good condition (even if the section after Orange Mountain is somewhat rougher) - we didn't see a single other hiker until reaching Rimrock. The contrast to West Ridge Trail couldn't have been clearer - the short section of West Ridge Trail we were on was nothing but a mass of wet, slippery bedrock. The trail has really fallen victim to heavy use and is very eroded. The junction with Ranger Cabin Trail is at a large cairn, and there's a small sign on a tree saying that it leads to South Ridge Trail, but the sign is very difficult to see for ascending hikers. Ranger Cabin Trail was mostly more slabs, some of which had water running down them. We considered heading up South Ridge Trail to tag the summit of Cardigan, but ultimately decided against it because it was a little later than we expected and we'd both already summitted Cardigan several times. Hurricane Gap Trail was very eroded, with water running down it in many spots. Clark Trail down to the junction with Holt-Clark Cutoff was also quite rocky and eroded. However, as soon as we continued down Clark Trail past that point, it got a lot smoother and more pleasant. Even the steep section below the junction with Vistamont was in good shape, and there was a section where log steps had been constructed to prevent erosion. This was a fast-moving section of trail. Woodland was also pretty fast-moving, since it started out as an old road. Be careful not to go blithely down the road and miss the spot where Woodland Trail turns left onto a footpath, though. The heavy rain last night meant that the pond right next to the Cardigan Lodge was overflowing onto Woodland Trail for a few yards. This was a very enjoyable hike, and thank you Jim for joining me!”