Mount Cardigan Loop via Manning Trail
4.9 mi
Distance
2 hrs 20 min
Time
terrain
1,732 ft
Elev Gain
Overview
This is a moderate loop trail to Mount Cardigan in Cardigan Mountain State Park.
This trail goes by Firescrew Mountain and Cardigan Mountain State Forest.
Sights to See
Rate this Hike
★★★★★
Did the Manning/Clark/Holt loop in early January on a glorious winter day. Snow was not deep, so we used spikes instead of snowshoes all the way ‘round. Clear and calm. Quite strenuous going up from AMC lodge, but big payoff in terms of views once above tree line. Trail is hard to follow in snow/ice, since cairns are not always obvious especially between Firescrew summit and Cardigan summit. And be careful on way down to Clark from summit — no cairns at all and it is easy to end up on either Holt (very dangerous downslope in ice) or on trails to west side of mountain. And be careful with winter daylight — not a summit you want to be coming down from in the dark. Lots of slick spots.
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We had a glorious sunny crisp day for this hike! The trail markings were pretty stingy in places, and we got off trail at a scary point. It seems that we were not the first hikers to miss a turn as we found a trail through the brush that led us back on trail. The alternative was to slide down butts on steep granite slab. There are some quite challenging rock scrambles that really should have some rebar; otherwise a hiker is relying on hanging onto tree limbs and roots to make the way up granite slabs. There are also places on Firescrew where the trail is “marked” but it is more easy to skirt around to less steep granite faces to climb, then get back on trail. This practice is not really conducive to keeping hikers from trail blazing in general.
Rant over.
Mt. Cardigan is a challenging hike from the AMC Lodge side, no doubt about it. It’s fun in places, and scary in places. It’s great when you can take your time on a beautiful dry day. Looking forward to hiking more of the Cardigan trails.
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Public Tracks
stars
Cardigan 6/5/22 9:19:46 A
Tom
Manning yellow
Mowglis white
Clarke white
Holt-Clarke Cutoff yellow
Manning
Scrambles and ledges going up, lots of ledge around summit and on descent. Water crossing bridged on Holt-Clarke Cutoff
Cardigan Solo
Manning to Firescrew to Mowgli to Card to Clark & Cutoff to base
Cardigan Lodge to Cardigan Mountain State Forest, Alexandria, NH, USA
Fantastic hike with Jon
