The Wildcats - Seek the Peak 2015...on the wrong mountain once again...

Trip Details

Date: July 17^th, 2015

Total Distance: 10.69 mi (via Trimble Outdoors Navigator Pro on iPhone 4S)

Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes

Total Elevation: 3324 ft gained

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Seek the Peak weekend is an annual fundraising event for the Mt. Washington Observatory. Individuals are encouraged to raise money and hike Mt. Washington. It seems every year I hike this weekend and never once have I actually hiked Mt. Washington. This year, due to the doom and gloom weather coming on Saturday I changed my plans and hiked Friday. With the change of plans also came a change of mountain. The Wildcats were decided since Boomer had not summited those two yet and we could make quick work of the ascent and descent via the Wildcat Mountain ski trails.

I knew that the ridge between the summits had a good amount of scrambling that Boomer is not a fan of. So I was ready and patient with him as we made it up, down, and over the rock scrambles. The toughest area is between peak D and C. After C, the trail is pretty tame and within 15 minutes you are on peak A.

It was a little strange when we pulled into the Wildcat Mountain Ski Area as it is a dirt lot with no labeled parking spots and we were literally the only car there at 0815. Thankfully, a few minutes later a bunch of staff showed up and I was able to figure out a safe spot to park without blocking any throughways. I was also unsure what the rules were with taking a dog into the area and whatnot as signage was minimal and their website was not really helpful. In the end no questions were ever asked and we saw other dogs in the area as we were leaving.

It was a warm day and the ski trails provide little shade for the entire trip up and down the mountain. We basically followed a dirt/utility road up the Polecat Ski Trail (more or less as it deviated to a couple other trails as you got closer to the top). At the top we jumped onto the Wildcat Ridge Trail and arrived at the platform on the top of Wildcat D.

This nature trail is not what you want to take. We went down this way at first to get some cover as there were no bathrooms open yet.

You want to head down this dirt road and past the Wildcat Express and Tomcat chair lift to get to the Polecat ski trail.

This is what the dirt/utility road looks like the whole way up to the col.

A view looking up at the ridge and Wildcat Mountain (peak A) on the left.

Another example of the dirt/utility road up the Polecat ski trail.

Arriving at the top of the col. The Wildcat Express was preparing for the masses that would show up in a few hours.

The summit building.

Wildcat Mountain map

Looking back towards the Wildcat Express with a nice view of Mt. Washington.

Mt. Washington from the platform on Wildcat D.

Close-up of the Mt. Washington summit.

Tuckerman Ravine with Boott Spur and Hillman's Highway slide on the left.

Huntington Ravine

Mt. Adams

Boomer on the platform.

After chatting with some thru-hikers we continued on the ridge towards Wildcat Mountain (peak A). As I stated earlier, I had to help Boomer a good amount between peak D and C. What is nice about his new Ruffwear Palisades pack is the actual pack part can unclip to take the weight off of him when he has to make some more technical moves. This left me carrying the pack for most of the ridge, but it made it easier for him. After peak C, peak B comes pretty easy, and then from Peak B you get a nice view of Peak A that looks like it is a decent distance away but within five to ten minutes we were standing on the summit.

Wildcat Mountain (peak A) right at the start of the descent off peak B.

Boomer on the Wildcat Mountain summit.

The small Wildcat Mountain summit cairn.

Looking down into Carter Notch.

Close-up of the AMC Carter Notch Hut.

From left-to-right: Middle Carter, South Carter, Mt. Hight, and Carter Dome.

South Baldface, Sable Mt., Chandler Mt.

After some photos and taking in the view from the vista, we made the trip back to the Wildcat D. Boomer did much better this time around as he had to go down more of the scrambles than climb up and he is more confident going down than he is climbing up. We stopped at the Wildcat D platform again and took some more photos and rested up in the shade before making our way to the col and then down the ski trails.

A view from peak C shows peak D and Mt. Washington. There is a big descent between peak D and C with a lot of small scramble sections.

Mt. Adams and Mt. Madison

Mt. Washington

The Wildcat D platform.

Boomer enjoying some shade and investigating the rocks underneath the platform.

While Boomer was investigating under the platform he found this for me. 

We got down the ski trails pretty quickly. Even thought the dirt and rocks are loose, you can really make good time coming down as it is wide open with little hazards around. Boomer really like to jump into streams, brooks, rivers, or any body of water but this entire trip had little to no water available for him. So as we were heading south of Route 16 we pulled off at one of the numerous pull offs and walked over to the Ellis River for a nice dip. It felt really good as it had gotten very hot as the day went on.

The mileage is off by about a mile or two again. The ski trails are supposed to be about 2.5 miles each way and the GPS was reading about 3.