Sunday Oct 17, 2004

Goose Eye Mountain

Today's hike was a peak on the NEHH list - Goose Eye mountain. We did a loop that included Carlo Mountain in a clockwise direction. Once again the forecast was calling for showers, but we woke to partial sunshine, and had a great hike.

This is the route we took today up to Goose Eye.

Directions to the trailhead:From Twin Moutain head north on Rte 3, turning right on Rte 115. Follow Rte 115 until Rte 2 where you take a right. Follow Rte 2 to Gorham and take a left on Rte 16. Follow Rte 16 North. You will cross railroad tracks at in 3.3 miles. At 4.5 miles, just past an Irving Gas Station on your left, bear right onto the Leyland James Cleaveland Bridge. Follow this road for .6 miles where you will come to a set of lights. Go straight across at the lights. Follow the road as it curves right and then left around the Paper Mill on your left. 1.3 miles from the lights you will pass a Landfill on your right. .5 miles later, at the end of a chain link fence, trun right onto Success Pond Road - a dirt road with no sign. Follow the dirt logging road for 8.1 miles to the trailhead and parking on your right. The road is primary for logging trucks, but is in good enough shape for passenger cars. We averaged 25 - 30 mph on it.

This is the profile of the hike from our GPS.

The view from the height of land on Rte 115 as we drove to the trailhead.

The trailhead is 8.1 miles from the Berlin end of Success Pond Road. This is the sign you will see from the road.

The Goose Eye trail starts 100 yards from the logging road with a small sign on your left.

Here is a close up of the sign. It blends in to the woods so keep an eye out for it.

The trail first heads down to a small brook.

The first 30 minutes of the hike is fairly flat. With the recent rains the trail was very wet.

The first river crossing.

Geri crossing the 1st river - stream crossings are not her strong suite.

A little way later we came to a second river.

The trail now enters a logging road.

100 yards later the trail leaves the logging road to the right.

The trail now starts climbing. At 1.4 miles you reach the Maine/NH border. The only sign that you are in Maine is a small sign from the MEAD corp letting you know the trail is a partnership with the AMC.

The final stretch before you are above tree line. We stopped here to put on our wind jackets and gloves.

Geri making her way to the summit under partial sunshine.

The views are 360 degrees.

It was windy on top, but the footing was good.

We saw one hiker on the way up, but had the summit to ourselves.

Geri relaxing on the summit. We made it too the summit in 1:50.

Although there were lots of dark clouds, we did not have any rain.

The clouds did not take away from the wonderfull views.

We took the Mahoosuc Trail to the Carlo Col trail.

The trail to Mt Carlo which is in the background.

More views.

The famous ladder - we went down it.

The ladder from the next hill. We met a hiker with two dogs that were doing the loop counter clockwise. His car was gone when we reached the end, so they must have made it up the ladder.

A view of Goose Eye as we head towards Mount Carlo.

Geri on the summit of Carlo.

It is even wet and muddy on the summit of Carlo.

You can see the White Mountains in the distance - snow covered!

The intersection with the Carlo Col trail. We had lunch here before heading down. The top 30 minutes of the trail is very wet - more like a stream than a trail.

A graphic reminder that it is moose hunting season in NH.

There was snow at the higher elevations this weekend. Almost time for Winter hiking!!

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