Carrigain

July 15
Dogman, Spanky, Trudy and me.
Route:  Nancy Pond Trail to Nancy/Norcross Pond, Down to Stillwater Jct, Desolation Trail over Carrigain to Sawyer River Rd.

Trip Report:
19.2 miles
5700 ft

the dogs survived. 

we didn't run it.  we kept the pace low and did the whole thing in about 8.5 hrs.

the desolation trail is painful.

two guys had hunting rifles on their packs.  don't ask... i didn't.

weirdest thing ever:  encountered two guys on our way down carrigain.  they were also descending.  one carried a fishing pole in one hand.  seriously.  i asked him about it.  he said they wanted to fish in carrigain pond.  see attached image.  in case anyone was wondering, trying to bushwack from the SUMMIT OF CARRIGAIN is insane.  clearly they didn't google the bushwack routes.  the feature to the SSW is "The Captain".

Notes on Carrigain Pond Bushwack:  you don't go up carrigain unless you want to summit.  the advantage is that it gets you close, quickly, but the 'standard' bushwack goes in from the end of the sawyer river road and follows old logging trails.  apparently, going down the desolation trail part way and then heading 'around' carrigain to the 'left' is also a good, but challenging route.

it's important to *not* use the topography as your primary guide.  avoiding swamps, cliffs, blowdowns, etc. is paramount to doing this in a reasonable amount of time.

when you're bored, there are some good discussions out there.  for example:
http://www.vftt.org/forums/printthread.php?t=3097

or

http://www.mountwashington.org/forums/showthread.php?5340-A-Photo-of-quot-The-Captain-quot