You Are Here: Firescrew & Cardigan via Mowglis Trail

I was blessed again with my bestie as company and for her driving 2 hours to give us a car spot. I am starting to become more comfortable with the Cardigan back country trails the more I explore them. We spotted a car at the Cardigan State Park main lot, which not surprisingly was already starting to fill. We saw some mountain/downhill bikers which amazed me as this is not easy terrain. Even more surprising was seeing their tire tracks in the col between Firescrew and Cardigan later in the day. I have followed professional MTB/Downhill riding for years, so I know they're hardy folks.. but wow, that is some riding in this area! We drove just a couple miles around the corner to begin at Orange Cove Trail at the end of New Colony Road. There is a fenced off area marked private, but room for maybe 3 cars to the right of the gated entrance to the private area. We parked and geared up, heading up Orange Cove Trail. The entire length is Class VI road/snowmobile trail that has been graded in the past few years.. it had good footing and some easily avoidable mud. The trail/road climbs about 450ft in 1.6 miles so it's a moderate climb, but a good way to get the juices flowing. Nothing scenic except a beaver pond about a mile in with views over to Firescrew and Cardigan beyond. At the end of Orange Cove Trail is a large clearing. The road continues but is now Mowglis Trail. We were picking up Mowglis Trail here and heading into the woods. The trail is marked with a small cairn and "Trail" sign. Just beyond this we saw a water cache with an axe.. maybe dropped by the mountain bikers? From here the trail climbs up 0.2 miles, a little more steeply now to meet up with Elwell Trail. We turned right staying on Mowglis Trail and descended slightly before starting the ascent up to Firescrew. The climb begins gently through some gorgeous mossy pine forest. There was some significant mud which we were mostly able to avoid with some careful rock/log hopping. As we gained elevation we started to see some traces of ice as well. It was mostly avoidable with a couple areas of creative tree hugging to keep us upright. We reached Crag Shelter and stopped for a break. Beyond this the climb became even steeper and more technical (scrambley), but was rewarded with some brief flat breaks in between the climbs and the start of some incredible views (looking behind us). The terrain became more slab/ledge and the views became more open. Before we knew it, we were at the Firescrew summit. The wind had picked up and when it was blowing it was chilly, so we didn't linger for too long but did take a moment to soak it all in while it was peaceful and quiet as we could see the summit of Cardigan had quite a few people. The col between Firescrew and Cardigan is one of my favorite areas having been up there a couple times previously. The cone of Cardigan looming ahead and the gorgeous views all around are breathtaking. We stopped for a snack while under the protection of some trees and added a layer knowing it would be even chillier atop Cardigan. The last couple of tenths up to the summit of Cardigan were a lot steeper than I had remembered. I kept thinking about my first time on this trail with my 2 boys who were much younger at the time and tried to remember what it must have felt like going down because every time I looked back it was amazing to me we ever did that! It's a popular trail though and people were coming down as we were heading up. We reached the summit and it was freezing as anticipated... and crowded also as expected, so we really didn't stop long before heading down the other side on West Ridge Trail. Although still steep, it is the more gentle of the 4 trails up to the Cardigan summit. As always, I was amazed at the number of people on the trail in what we considered inappropriate attire and seemingly unprepared. The trail was wet and muddy in places and thankfully little to no ice on this side. It was leafy as we neared the bottom of the trail, but nowhere near as slippery as last week on Pack Monadnock which made the descent a lot more enjoyable. Back at the parking lot we were met with cars all the way down the access road and thanked ourselves for the early arrival time and good parking spot in the lot!

Strava Activity