Hiking Mount Cardigan

by admin

The first Sunday of October 2024. With foliage colors in full swing in New Hampshire, I checked out Mount Cardigan via a thrilling combination of Holt and Manning Trail.

Mountains to the North of Firescrew Mountain

As mentioned in the previous post, I preferred foliage slightly earlier than what most websites marked as “peak foliage”. For New Hampshire’s White Mountains, early October was a bit late in that sense. So for this weekend, I decided to visit Mount Cardigan, located further south, hoping to catch the autumn colors at their finest.
Mount Cardigan offered a variety of trail systems to explore. From the west, the standard route to the summit started from the Cardigan Mountain State Park parking lot. However, I read that “Holt Trail”, approaching from the east, featured some exciting scrambling sections. This led me to plan a loop combining the Holt and Manning Trails (AllTrails link).

Coming from the east, the trailhead for this hike was located at AMC’s Cardigan Lodge. The final 1.5 miles (2.4km) of road leading to the lodge was unpaved. (For comparison, the unpaved section on the western approach to the state park trailhead was slightly shorter at 1.2 miles.) When I arrived at 11:30am, the parking lot still had several spots available.

AMC Cardigan Lodge
I checked it out after my hike. It was pretty nice inside.

After some warmup, I started my hike at 11:42am. Here’s GPS tracking:

The trail began as a wide, inviting path through the woods, with the ground covered in fallen leaves but lots of lush ones still on the trees above. It’s a pleasant and easy stroll accompanied by the satisfying crunch of leaves beneath my feet.
This continued for 1.4km (0.9mi), before the trail crossed a creek and narrowed down.

Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Bailey Brook Covered by Leaves
Bailey Brook Covered by Leaves
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
First Technical Move along Holt Trail
Following this slit upwards.

Not long after that, I reached “Grand Junction” which was the intersection of several trails. There were clear warning signs about the challenging nature of the “Holt Trail”, which hastened the pace of elevation gain after the intersection. Yet the first technical move wasn’t until 1km (0.6mi) after “Grand Junction” (see the last photo in the slideshow above).

I recorded the entire climb from that first technical move to the summit of Cardigan with a helmet-mounted GoPro. In my opinion, there were perhaps two or three moves that could be rated as YDS class 3, mostly near the top. Overall, it felt more physically demanding than technically difficult. I briefly lost the trail once below the treeline; but once above the treeline, there were plenty of blazes on the rock face to follow, which made straightforward navigation.
Here’s my recorded video:

0:00 Starting from the first technical move.
1:46 I briefly lost the trail among dense woods for a while.
5:00 Emerging from the tree line. (It was mostly YDS class 2 before this point.)
12:35 A great overlook to take some rest and photos. (I briefly lost the trail again after this point.)
16:11 Starting the crux
19:30 Finishing the crux

Somewhere along the way, I paused for a break at a clearing that offered stunning views of the vast forest below. The transition from evergreen to deciduous trees created a stunning blend of colors, offering a preview of the views from the summit of Cardigan.

Overlooking Forests in Foliage
Overlooking Forests in Foliage
Firescrew Mountain
The rocks in the foreground provided me a place to rest.
Forest in Foliage

AMC’s Cardigan Lodge in left. From the lodge, a small concave in the landscape marked the creek which the trail largely followed.
Distant Newfound Lake
Plymouth Mountain

View along Holt Trail

In the end, I reached the summit of Mount Cardigan at 1:22pm, about 1 hour and 40 minutes after leaving my car. The summit was relatively spacious, with around 20 to 40 people scattered across the area, taking in the beautiful views.

Overlooking Forests in Foliage
Overlooking Forests in Foliage
Blend of Colors on Mountains
Blend of Colors on Mountains
Firescrew Mountain before Distant White Mountains
Mountains to the North

Mountains to the South
Orange Mountain and Melvin Mountain in the center, Mount Kearsarge in the background right.
Mount Kearsarge
One of the few prominent mountains to the south.
Fields and Mountains to the Southwest
Trails on these rockfaces lead to a different trailhead of Mount Cardigan.
Mountains to the West
Town of Canaan in the center, Killington Peak of Vermont in the background.
Summit Marker

Weirdly, this one didn’t specify elevation, but said “for information write to the director Washington DC”. Guess people had to write to the director to inquire its elevation then.
Watch Tower on Mount Cardigan
Closed during my visit.

While the summit of Mount Cardigan provided 360-degree views, I found the best ones to be the towards the east, the same views offered by Holt Trail.

View from Mount Cardigan
To the east (top) and northwest (bottom)

After a 25-minute rest, I continued towards Firescrew Mountain. Leaving Cardigan, there was a small but steep slope, nowhere as technical as Holt Trail. After that, the trail wound its way through patches of low coniferous shrubs. As observed earlier from Mount Cardigan, Firescrew Mountain seemed like an outstanding island of coniferous trees amidst the vast expanse of deciduous forests stretching into the distance.

Firescrew Mountain
Trail to Firescrew Mountain
Firescrew Mountain
Taken approximately at its summit.
Looking back at Mount Cardigan

Unlike Cardigan, Firescrew Mountain didn’t have a prominent summit, but lots of small overlooks with pleasing views were scattered along the trail. They were usually a short detour away from the main path, making it a joyful experience to explore them.

Overlooking Forests in Foliage
Newfound Lake among Mountains
Rolling Hills in Foliage
Rolling Hills to the South
Mountains to the North
Mount Moosilauke in the background center.

Below were the views from my favorite overlook on Firescrew Mountain: a beautiful blend of colors set against the expansive backdrop of the White Mountains.

Rolling Hills in Foliage
Mountains to the North
Rolling Hills in Foliage
Distant Franconia Ridge
Mowglis Mountain

View from Firescrew Mountain

I was either captivated by the scenery, or obsessed with exploring the overlooks, that I missed a turn on the trail (which I noticed on the GPS map a minute later). The turn was followed by a steep descent (photos below), but it wasn’t as technical as Holt Trail earlier in the day.

Steep Trail

After that, it was an uneventful stroll back to the trailhead. I felt foliage along this part of the trail was more vibrant and enjoyable, compared to Holt Trail that I took earlier during the ascent.

Trail
Steep Trail
Foliage on Trees
Trail
Trail
Foliage on Trees
Trail
Trail
Tree
So many branches coming out from the same place.

Finally, I was back at the trailhead at 3:45pm, concluding the hike in 4 hours.

With some time still left in the day, I decided to take a small detour to Profile Falls on my way home as an encore. This picturesque waterfall, located just south of the town of Bristol, is easily accessible via a short trail from a small parking lot. Once again, it was beautifully surrounded by the vibrant colors of the season.