St. Patty’s Day at Carter Notch in Jackson
| Date: | 3-17-2024 |
| Location: | Jackson, NH |
| Distance: | 3.2 mi |
| Elevation Gain: | 215′ |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 34 min |
| Parking: | 10+ cars |
| Difficultly Rating: | Green, Blue + |
This winter has not been a typical winter in New England. In fact, it’s been one of the warmest on record.
I knew I wanted to take my cross-country skis out at least one more time before the season ended. But to do so I had to travel way up north to find some snow.
I decided to head up to Jackson, NH. The website reported today, Sunday March 17th would be their soft closing. This meant that the trails were open, but they were not selling tickets. So, I made the drive up to ski some snow before the season ends.
From the time I got up, it was raining out, the rain continued all the way up until I got to Jackson then it kind of petered out.
When I arrived in Jackson the area around the Nordic center were almost all brown. A bit further up across Eagle Mountain House, the fields were also brown, some snow but not connectable. The parking lots were muddy as well.
I continued up the road. There was still some snow up in Carter notch near Prospect Farm parking lot.
The rain had pretty much stopped. The snow looked like it was skiable maybe a little slushy.
I figured I’d just go for a little way and see how the conditions were. When I got on the trail. The snow is very soft and slushy kind of like instant mashed potato.
It made doing snowplows a little more difficult. But at least it made some of the downhill a little slower and more manageable.
I started out on Prospect Farm Road. There are a few ups and downs that allowed me to get used to skiing the soft snow before hitting some of the bigger inclines.
I got to the intersection by the Gout Cabin. I decided to continue up prospect Farm Road until I arrived at the beaver bog trail, this trail looked interesting, so I took it all the way out to the Beaver Bog where the trail ended for skiing.
It looks like you could continue on with snowshoes, but at this point I turned around. This trail was very pretty and lined with birch trees and some pines.
When I got back out to Prospect Farm Road, I decided to continue up to the farm orchard, but did not make it due to it starting to rain. I grabbed my raincoat and decided to make my way back to the car.
I headed back down Prospect Farm Road. Got to the original junction by the cabin. The rain had started to stop so I decided to head out towards the wildcat River Valley, but only ended up going to the national force boundary.
I decided to call it a day and skied back to the car. I was pretty happy about putting my skis on the snow one more time this season.
These trails are a lot of fun and I look forward to exploring them more another day. One of the nice things about skiing in Jackson New Hampshire is there are so many different areas to explore. So many beautiful landscapes.
Speaking of landscapes. Carter Notch Road is home to one of New Hampshire’s most beautiful waterfalls. Jackson Falls, is a quick pull off on at the beginning of the road. Depending on water level, there are some walking paths along the bank. The water was flowing good so I had to stop and get a few pics.
