You Are Here: Welton Falls North/Elwell/Carter Gibbs Trail

As the light starts to shine at the end of my tunnel, I'm feeling somewhat bittersweet about these last few hikes. This one has been on my radar for quite a while. My journey's to date on Elwell Trail have been enjoyable. For the most part, this hike was no exception. I haven't been out in 3 weeks due to family commitments, and it's amazing how much fitness you can lose so quickly! I was blessed with a car spot from Laura today. We dropped my car at the Carter Gibbs trailhead on Hardy County Road in Hebron. At the sharp left turn, there is space for a few cars and the trailhead sign is just visible on a tree alongside the road. We went back to the relatively newly opened Welton Falls Trail North and parked roadside at the trailhead on Hobart Hill Road. There is no official parking, but there is room alongside the road to park safely without blocking. I was curious after my hike on Welton Falls South a few weeks ago what the condition on this end would be and can happily report, it is much more pleasant. The trail does almost immediately start to climb and is pretty consistent for the 1.1 mile climb up to Elwell Trail. Nothing of interest to see along the way, but a good steady climb through the woods. We had great temperatures today, but the bugs were somewhat annoying still. After what started to feel like a never ending climb, we reached Elwell Trail and turned right beginning the roughly 4.5 mile trek over to Carter Gibbs Trail. If the climb up Welton Falls Trail North had seemed never ending, the ups and downs of Elwell Trail almost did us in. There's nothing difficult or technical about the trail, it's just very up and down and up and down. The ups are up and the downs are down, and the respite in between isn't long enough. The only named peak we went over was Oregon Mountain, the rest were just bumps along the way. There were a few blowdowns, but nothing impassable. At one point we're fairly confident we heard a moose in the woods. We never saw anything, but it was loud and we had seen plenty of fresh evidence of one in the area along the trail. There were a few gorgeous viewpoints along the way over to Cardigan and Firescrew. The best part was we saw not a single soul all day. The worst part was the bugs were getting more relentless as the day went on. We did end up donning our bug nets to save our sanity. Carter Gibbs Trail had a really steep descent to start, then became more gradual but still down until finally at the end it almost levelled out. Nothing technical on this trail either but it was very leafy and rooty and on tired legs became a bit of a drag with constant tripping. There is an area in the middle that passes by some cascades, which I have heard can be really pretty. Alas, today it was pretty dry, just a trickle, so we didn't linger. It also felt never ending, particularly the last mile. We were so excited to finally reach the end and see my car waiting so patiently for us! Overall a great hike, roughly 8 miles total (my watch died before we finished!)

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