Mount Cardigan is one of my local go-to mountains when I want to get up and out, without a long drive. It is extremely popular because it is a relatively short hike and offers a bare granite summit with long views in all directions. I tend to go early, to beat the crowds, but that was especially important today… at 7am the temperature was already in the high 60s and extremely humid, with thunderstorms possible in late morning and afternoon. Read on!
I saw only five other people before I reached the summit, which offered me blue skies and wide views across the fog-filled valleys. Unlike the last time I was here, a windy Memorial Day in 2021, today was dead calm. Nice, except that made life easy for the ‘skeeters and their insect friends who wanted to make breakfast out of me and the two hikers nearby.
So I headed down the Rimrock trail and over the South Peak, a far less-used trail. Sudden movement in the woods alerted me to a large, dark shape moving slowly but heavily through the brush. In the first fractional seconds my mind rattled through its catalog of forest critters, pattern-matching: too big to be a common chipmunk or squirrel, too dark to be a deer, not leaping like a deer. Black bear? maybe. Moose? maybe. I stepped off the trail and followed it, slowly. Although it had been barely 15m from me when I first saw it, it had quietly disappeared into the woods. I stood where it had stood, and saw nothing. On the way back, however – a fresh moose track. Clear as day, in the soft, wet leaves. Amazing how elusive such a large creature can be!
This hike also gave me an opportunity to test out my new camera – an iPhone 14 Pro. I didn’t take many shots, but some are in the gallery.
Off the mountain by 8:40AM.
Hike stats:
Distance: 3.42 miles
Gain: 1105 feet
Duration: 1h39
David Kotz 