| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Imp Face, Middle Carter, South Carter, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Imp Trail, North Carter Trail, Carter-Moriah Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, March 2, 2025 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
No problem parking at Imp North Trailhead. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Snowbridges |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Several blowdowns, especially along the ridge, but they don't really slow you down - mainly you just have to be alert to avoid hitting your head.
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
The Feb 22 trip report https://www.newenglandtrailconditions.com/nh/viewreport.php?entryid=75713 mentioned a lost phone at 44.30455, -71.16852. We supposed that it may be buried under a few inches of snow now, and since the wind chill during our hike was around -40 F, we decided to leave the searching to someone hiking on a less frigid day!
Lots of evergreen branches growing into the trail to push through.
Most of the trails were easy to follow, but the Carter-Moriah trail just north of South Carter was a little confusing (I think we got about a dozen yards off trail at one point.)
The beginning of Imp Trail (north branch) is somewhat packed, but parts of it (and most of the other trails) have drifts with up to 12 inches of loose powder on top of whatever is underneath, so we had to break trail in such places. Just off the trail the snow is 40-50 inches deep in places. So snowshoes are definitely required. Televators are very helpful since there are several extended sections that are moderately steep (the latter part of the ascent to Imp Face, and going up North Carter Trail).
It looked as if the south branch of the Imp Trail had a snowshoe track as well from not too long ago.
Wear a durable shell since you'll have to push through many branches.
Along the ridge there was a spruce trap or two, but they were visible and easy to avoid, and anyway not deep enough to bury a person. At South Carter, some of us went off-trail for 20 yards to reach the true summit, but a larger member of our group gave up on that because he found himself sinking 3+ feet in the deep powder even with snowshoes.
On a cold and windy day, make sure to bring a balaclava and perhaps goggles as well, since there are short sections near Middle Carter where you'll be fully exposed to the wind for a few minutes.
Descending from Middle Carter back to the trailhead was fast on snowshoes. |
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 | Name: |
mathbp |
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 | E-Mail: |
tiramisu_eater@yahoo.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2025-03-04 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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