I need to offset my substantial website costs somehow! You can download a hike/drive GPX to assist you here. Before sharing my GPX tracks with others, please remember my site is otherwise a free resource.
GPX track added to your cart.
Jul 09, 2022 — Mount Cardigan is a surprisingly gorgeous peak, its wide dome-like summit area offering expansive views of the surrounding bare granite with trees growing through any openings they can find. The summit is more easily reached from a trailhead to the southwest, but I wanted to hike this peak mostly because of a trail known as the Holt Trail. This would allow me to create a loop to see the best portions of open granite, and throw in a fun Class 3 scramble up Mount Cardigan's east face.
I parked at a trailhead that shares a parking lot with Cardigan Lodge, then headed west along a dirt road (the Manning Trail) for a half mile or so. At some point it turned into the Holt Trail, the signage clear on where to go. After the road narrowed into a proper trail and passed over a nicely-constructed footbridge, I reached a junction where a sign reads a bunch of warnings about the dangers of the Holt Trail. I started up, ascending more steeply to the base of the scramble. Mossy boulders piled on one another within the trees started the fun with some Class 2 before emerging onto a granite slab that climbed steeply. Overall the moves required were Class 2/2+ with one short section of Class 3. Blotches of paint on the slabs serving as blazes mark the way, so it's difficult to get too lost. After the Class 3 crux, the slabs eased up and led to the Mount Cardigan fire tower summit. I chatted with the fire tower guy for a bit, surprised to learn there were still active towers in the northeast.
I left the busy summit area and headed north along the Mowglis Trail, the trail still marked with blazes, but I had to pay a bit more attention as it navigated around trees and sections of slab. A minor summit called Firescrew was my next desination and it offered excellent views back toward Mount Cardigan. The final descent on the granite slopes took me down the east side from Firescrew along the Manning Trail and back into the forest. I eventually made it back to the old road/trail I started out on and followed it back to the trailhead. This was a very fun and beautiful hike, especially considering how short it was.
Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!
Hire/refer me as a web developer or send me a few bucks if you find my site useful. I'm not sponsored, so all fees are out-of-pocket and my time preparing trip reports is unpaid. I really appreciate it!
