I had previously hiked Mt. Moosilauke in February 2019. The summit and views were amazing, but my experience getting there wasn’t the best. Now I’m planning the NH48 for the gym squad, I was hoping to have a very different experience summiting Moosilauke. Since it isn’t winter, it was already going to be vastly different. We’d be taking a different trail as well, which was slightly shorter and less elevation gain. Spoiler alert, I had a great time.

The gym squad today consisted of myself, Awestruck, Thoreau, and not new to the squad, but given her new trail name, the Bartender!

We’d be taking Gorge Brook trail to the summit. The trail begins at the Ravine Lodge run by the Dartmouth Outing Club.

Lodge photo credit: Thoreau

The trail crosses Gorge Brook a few times, and every crossing has a bridge!

Photos of me credit: Awestruck

In addition to bridges over water crossings, there was also lots of actual dirt on the trail! Meaning, it wasn’t just an endless sea of rocks to walk on. Delightful!

Another point along the brook. No surprise, Gorge Brook Trail follows along Gorge Brook for a good part of the trail.

I believe this was dubbed, Gnome Condo (bigger than just a gnome home). Photo credit to the Bartender.

About two miles up, there is an outlook.

As I said, the trail was quite nice. A mix of rock steps, bare ground, roots and rocks of course. It started off along the brook, then transitioned into a gnome wonderland, then narrow trail in between evergreens.

Far right photo credit: Awestruck

Awestruck is our official photographer! She brought multiple cameras on this one! And many times yelled at us to “walk slower!” so she could get those “candid” photos. haha!

Just before the 3.5 mile mark, you get a peek at the summit ahead.

The items you can see at the summit are the summit sign and some other hikers. Far right photo credit: Awestruck (walk slower!)

Then you break out of the scrub entirely and can see the short stretch before the summit.

And then, summit!

Really, just incredible views. 360 degrees and impossible to capture.

The Bartender earned her name by bringing us all some nips (as is now tradition). We enjoyed our lunch, and had several photo shoots. Upper left photo credit: Awestruck.

This makes 4000-footer number 3 for Awestruck and Thoreau, and number 2 for the Bartender.

We began our descent, down Carriage Road Trail to make a loop/lollipop. This portion of the Carriage Road Trail is one I did when I hiked this in winter.

Not quite the same angle, but what a difference between the middle of winter and the first day of fall!

As expected, the weather was all over the place. Forecast for the base was in the 50s with a high of 67. Forecast at the summit was low to mid 40s. Wind was supposed to be low, and in and out of clouds. The day did start cool and cloudy as you can probably tell from the photos. It warmed up fairly quickly and we shed layers. Once we got to the summit, it was cooler and a bit windier, so we donned layers. Only to take them back off as we descended.

As we got back to the treeline, we had another quick impromptu photo shoot. Thoreau wanted a topless summit photo. She took off her top, faced away from us, and Awestruck took some photos. She turned around and her long hair was covering her boobs. We all yelled OMG TAKE THAT PHOTO. So she posed for some shots looking like Lady Godiva! I loved the look and said “OMG I need to grow my hair long, just so I can do a similar photo”. Without hesitation, Awestruck replied, “You’ll need to grow your hair a lot longer”. Me and my boobs have never been so badly roasted. I think we were all in tears laughing.

Annoyingly, I got yet another migraine on the way down. Happily, my medication saved the day. Honestly, it was the only downside to the day, and I’ll take that! I struggled on the last hike, I think mostly due to not eating enough before.

We came to the junction where I burst into tears last time. No tears on this hike, except from laughter. We took the Snapper Trail back over to Gorge Brook Trail. Bartender and Thoreau would get a bit ahead of myself and Awestruck. I was the hold up, Awestruck was nice enough to hang with me as I slowly descended. Bartender and Thoreau took a break on one of the bridges, and when we caught up Awestruck took advantage of the great photo opp.

Before I wrap up, a little nature break…

We saw LOADS of catepillars. Lots of mushrooms and lichen, too.

We ended the hike back at the lodge. The left pic is a nice view back to Moosilauke. As it was the first day of fall, the colors were beginning to change. There was a lovely bench at the lodge, where we chose to take our “finish” selfie.

All in all, a really lovely day.

• Total distance: 7.5 miles
• Total elevation gain: 2,550 feet
• Total time: 7 hours, 55 minutes