August 17, 2011: Mt. Moriah (#16)

It certainly has been too long since I've written a trail report.  After spending the summer working outside of Chicago, a two-day White Mountain vacation was far overdue (don't even get me started on how flat it is in the Midwest).
Since I'd only ever done one hike starting from Pinkham Notch, I chose Mt. Moriah as my re-introduction point to the mountains.  We hit the road early and started up the Stony Brook Trail under blue skies.
We definitely lucked out in terms of weather - blue skies, sun, very low humidity - we heard from more than one source that it was one of the top five best-weather days of the summer in the Whites.
The trail meandered for quite a while under the canopy of trees.  When we finally emerged onto stone ledges, the views were just as incredible as always.

We had views of the rocky shoulders of Moriah, and as we climbed higher the Carter Range came into view, as well as a bit of the Wildcat Range.

After spending a couple months in the flatlands, the mountains seem to look even larger than I remember.  A few steps further and my most anticipated view came into sight: the massive Northern Presidentials: Jefferson, Adams, and Madison.

As we ascended higher up the trail, Mt. Washington himself peered over the Carter Ridge, making for a wonderful backdrop to our traverse over rock slabs and bog bridges.

The summit did its usual tease long before our actual arrival.  I guessed we were nearly to the top only to notice the summit much further off - but no matter; it couldn't have been a better day to be above the trees.
After a steep scramble, we arrived on my 16th peak, which we shared with a few other friendly hikers.

After taking in some of the summit views, we scrambled back down to the trail and went from ledge to ledge, stopping at nearly every outlook to soak in a beautiful day in the New England mountains.

We enjoyed a leisurely descent and we were even joined by a large green frog.

Once we arrived back at the trailhead, it was nice not to have to rush back home, but instead to drive through the Notch and stop at many of the scenic viewpoints.  It was also nice to spend the night in New Hampshire for the first time.  It was truly a perfect day, but with one more day left in the mountains, little did I know that the best was yet to come.