Distance: 9 miles
Hikers: Vance and Quinn
4000 footer completion count: Mount Moriah #32 (4,049 feet)
Today's trek was an out-and-back over Mount Surprise to Mount Moriah on the Carter-Moriah trail. The weather forecast was a bit up in the air for the day, but as you'll see below, we had a berry good time!
We found all kinds of interesting mushrooms along the way.
In fact, Quinn found himself a mushroom hat!
The terrain was quite varied across the two peaks and included a good amount of climbing on rock (which Quinn loves).
One of the best parts of the hike were the blueberries. Just gorgeous!
On the way up, we ate every one we picked. Delicious!
This type of hiking terrain gets Quinn all excited; he races off through the mountains in what he calls "beast mode."
There was plenty of "beast mode" scrambling to be found.
I don't know what this fluffy forest carpet growth is but it's awesome!
Mount Surprise offered some great views!
And we're back to scrambling about...
If you've read our other posts, you know Quinn is always on the lookout for what he calls "boardwalks." Big score here!
That looks like one heavy boulder!
As we made our way closer to the summit, we felt like we were entering Lothlórien.
Here Quinn negotiates some blow down.
The clouds continue to thicken as we approach the summit.
We made it! A group of people was hanging out around the summit marker having some champagne to celebrate their 48th summit of the New Hampshire 4000 footers. Congrats!
Unlike on Surprise, the clouds were dense and hung low. As we enjoyed our sandwiches, we watched the clouds drift past.
We headed back down to blueberry land where Quinn decided he was going to collect some berries for his pancakes.
Quinn showing off his blueberry collection.
The sky really opened up and afforded us some fantastic views as we made our way down.
Heading down you can see Gorham in the distance but I think Quinn's mind may have shifted to pancake-land.
The hike today was unexpectedly one of our favorites hikes together to date. Having hiked Moriah in the past, I know it offers some amazing views from the summit. That said, a lack of views on top didn't take away from the experience at all. The blueberries, hiking terrain and great company were the foundation of this outstanding adventure!
Quinn's Take
This week my Dad and I hiked Moriah. The trail started off vertical. We met two nice people as we were hiking up the mountain. Once we got to the top of Mount Surprise we found blueberries...Yum! A nice snack! The rest of the way up was hard core terrain! At the top of Mount Moriah we met more people having a party for someone who finished the 48 4000 footers of NH! It was cloudy with a nice breeze. Back at Mount Surprise I picked more berries to take home for blueberry pancakes. When we arrived at the car we were pooped. We had a sick hike!!
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