You Are Here: Oregon Mountain

I have been eager to continue exploring the back country trails around Cardigan Mountain in particular Oregon Mountain as I keep hearing how beautiful it is. Initially I was going to head back to Monadnock, but I woke in the middle of the night to pouring rain, so was concerned about the trail conditions and changed my mind last minute heading to Cardigan instead. I drove up Welton Falls Road, which I've done before so I knew it was doable.. though it is rough, and parked in a pull off just past the bottom of Old Dicey Road. The weather was absolutely perfect today. Comfortable temperatures and enough of a breeze to keep the bugs away. I geared up and headed up Old Dicey Road, which I had come down before. It's an old gravel road, mostly decent footing and a moderate ascent. As you head up, peekaboo views of the surrounding area appear behind you. At just under a mile the road turns right, but the trail continues straight into a grassy area. There are 2 blazed stakes in the grass that guide the way. From here you head into the woods, it was a little wet and muddy in this area, but I was able to avoid the worst of it with some careful steps. In about a tenth of a mile, Elwell Trail comes in from the right. This would be my return. This marks the end of Old Dicey Road and Elwell Trail continues another tenth or so to an intersection with Carter Gibbs Trail. Elwell Trail turns left here and climbs up the ridge. Having come down that way last time, I headed up Carter Gibbs Trail towards Oregon Mountain. I chose to go up this section as I had previously seen some steep little pitches including a rope assist area. I was very curious how that would be flying solo. The trail does immediately begin to climb steeply and not too far beyond the Elwell Trail intersection is a short scramble up. The second tier of the scramble is where the rope is. This was a first for me. I kind of used it and kind of didn't. I was mostly able to use rocks and trees, though I did wrap the rope around my arm as a back up in case I slipped. Thankfully I didn't and I made it successfully up the scramble. Beyond this point, the trail eases right off and becomes a dreamy, mossy, pine needle footbed. The next intersection is about a tenth beyond the top of the scramble. Carter Gibbs Trail and Oregon Mountain Trail meet up here. I turned left onto Oregon Mountain Trail and did an out and back over to Mowglis Mountain, which I needed for redlining. There was nothing overly technical about this trail, it just meandered and twisted and turned, went up and down for a mile through the forest. Being such a perfect day, the sunshine made everything seem bright and light. Once I reached Mowglis Mountain summit, I had a quick snack and retraced my steps to Carter Gibbs Trail, this time continuing towards Oregon Mountain. The true summit was just off trail (as best I could tell, it was not marked) about 0.4 miles from the intersection, however the markings and signage is at a viewpoint another tenth beyond here. There were a couple steep little climbs, but nothing technical. At the viewpoint were views over to Cardigan and Firescrew. I continued on Oregon Mountain Trail finishing it off in another 2 tenths of a mile. I had expected this area to be more forest feel, but it was open and slabby. Surrounding trees prevented any real views, but it was very open and I really enjoyed it. At the end of Oregon Mountain Trail was Elwell Trail. I took a right and headed the half mile back to Old Dicey Road. I had expected this to be a rough descent under tree cover, but again I was surprised to find it quite open and slabby with peekaboo views over to Cardigan and a relatively gentle descent. The last tenth made up for all that with a really steep pitch down, in the trees to a small cave area, crossed a dry stream and continued very briefly back to Old Dicey Road. From here I just headed back down to the car. A really great day and I only saw 1 person all day.. that was until driving back out on Welton Falls Road when I encountered 3 cars heading up. This created some problems as the road is only 1 car length wide. With some creative reversing to a pull off everyone was able to continue. Another trail closer to completing the AMC South Trail Guide!

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