So You Wanna Hike - The Moats

[00:00:00] Oh yeah, yeah.

[00:00:28] Broadcasting from the Woodpecker Studio in the great state of New Hampshire. Welcome to the Sounds Like A Search and Rescue Podcasts. So You Wanna. A video series where we share post-hype reflections, challenges, lessons learned, and essential insights to prepare you for your next adventure in the White Mountains. So let's get started.

[00:00:55] All right, Nick, we are here. So you wanna hike the Moat Mountain Range?

[00:01:53] Sure, let's do it. Okay, very good. So do you know how many times have you actually hiked the Moats? I wanna understand what your resume is as we share details with the listeners. I'm getting vetted before I talk about mountains. Yes, yes. That's cool. That's probably a good thing. So I've done the Moats once and I did the full traverse from north to south back Memorial Day weekend of 2021. Okay, all right.

[00:02:19] So it was quite a ways back, but yeah, did the whole kit and caboodle in one bang. Okay. Well, you're gonna have to dig way back into your memory bank for this one. For sure. For sure. Well, luckily you were speaking with someone who has done the Moat, or has hiked on the Moats seven times. So... Oh, wow. Seven times? Yes. Oh man. Oh, wow. I took a look at my Strava data and I realized I've done it seven times, which... Wow. And it's all in different months. So I'm almost like this may be the first mountain that I fully grid.

[00:02:49] That's very cool. Yes. Yeah. That's sort of in your neck of the woods too, right? Was it like maybe 20 minutes away or something like that? It is. It is. So if you're interested in hiking the Moats, then essentially you're going to be the closest sort of major area you're going to be in is in the Conway, North Conway area, which we'll talk a little bit about the breweries and restaurants and options for you to check out. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

[00:03:17] But in the meantime, so just to start with, there's only two trails that we're going to be talking about here. We are going to talk about the Moat Mountain Trail, which is a 9.8 mile trail that goes from the start of the hike to South Moat and then finishes at Diana's Bath, which is the ending

[00:03:41] of a south to north traverse or the beginning of a hike if you're going to North Moat Mountain. And then the only other trail that is connected to that region is the Red Ridge Trail. So pretty simple from a trail perspective. Yeah. It's funny when I was looking and doing some research for this, for some reason I thought there was more in that area, but there really isn't. And then the Red Ridge Trail basically is sort of from the, is it just past like a south of the summit of North Moat and then it just connects back to the Moat Mountain Trail pretty much?

[00:04:09] Well, so the way the, so the way to think about the, the range is that you've got like, it's about a five mile range from summit to summit going across, maybe a little bit less. Yeah. And then you've got, you've got south moat, which, and the whole thing about the Moat Mountain range is that it's mostly like above tree line. And then you've got middle moat, which is this whole section of open slabs that we'll talk about.

[00:04:39] And then you've got north moat. I believe Red Ridge Trail connects between middle moat and north moat. So it's a little bit towards the moat side, but it's kind of like the option to go up into the, the, the kind of, kind of near the middle of the, the mountain range. Okay. Very cool. I mean, it looks like, so you guys have touched upon them before. It looks like, um, if anybody does want to harken back on episode 67, a hundred and

[00:05:06] one 14, if anybody does want to check those out. Correct. Yeah. And I think that the, um, those episodes were likely just trail reports that I gave. So shorter versions of, uh, of, of summaries on the hike. So yeah, definitely check those out if you're interested and you want to go back in more detail. And, um, I guess to start off with here, Nick, um, do you want to just give a little bit of background about location and a little bit of history? Sure.

[00:05:36] Absolutely. So, um, to kind of a little high level overview of the moat mountains. Um, so within this range of the two major peaks, I know Mike mentioned middle moat, which is sort of a series of ledges. Um, and I say the two main peaks too, because these are also the ones that are on the 52 of the view list. Um, which is probably, unless you live in the area, probably one of the reasons why you might be looking at doing the moats. Um, but you've got North moat mountain at 3,203 feet, and this is located in the town of Bartlett, New Hampshire.

[00:06:03] And then you've got South moat mountain, which is 2772 feet located in Albany, New Hampshire. Um, kind of North to South that range runs West of Conway. Um, and people probably mostly think about the moats when they're thinking about North Conway or Conway, New Hampshire. It's sort of your backdrop. It's the Western backdrop to North Conway. Um, like if you're in sort of that main street area with all the shops and stuff and sort of the railroad, um, the moats are that mountain range that you can see in the distance.

[00:06:29] Um, North moat is the tallest and most prominent peak in this range that Mike already mentioned is about five miles long. Um, and he also mentioned the open ridgeline, um, which has awesome views and kind of gives it awesome views. But, um, the ridgeline is in being open and sort of just scarred as a result of an 1854 wind driven fire. Um, this pretty much removed all the trees and vegetation from the ridge and that left it with bare rock on most parts of it. So that's gives you some awesome views, which is good for us hikers.

[00:06:56] Um, another little interesting factoid I pulled up that parts of this range are actually comprised of volcanic rock called moat volcanics. Um, it's one of only a few spots in the whites where there's actually volcanic rock. Um, most of the whites are not volcanic mountains. I think a lot of people probably know that it's sort of related to great glaciers, how to how they got raked. Um, and the name itself, the moats actually dates back to one of Jeremy Bell naps, um, of the Bell nap range, one of his early maps, um, from the late 1700s.

[00:07:24] And he refers to, um, the moats is the moat mountain range with the spelling M O A T S. And that actually is, um, a nickname for the beaver ponds that were plentiful along the eastern side of the mountain range. So they call the beaver ponds moats cause they kind of look like moats, like moats with a castle. Um, and apparently today there's also still a ton of beaver ponds on that side. Um, so they basically said it looked like the range was guarded by moats. So there's the moat mountain range. Um, yeah.

[00:07:51] And the, the, the thing about this, this hike is that it, it traverses north to south, south to north. And then on, you know, when you look to the, um, the east, you've got the green hills and Cranmore and Kearsar's north. You've got stunning views to, um, to the east in that direction. And then to the west, you've got the, the sandwich range in the Pemi wilderness that, that, uh, that you can view. And then as you look north on a clear day, you can see straight up into my Washington and

[00:08:21] then pretty much right up into Crawford notch. It's just unbelievable views all around on this hike. Yeah, it's, it's pretty insane. Um, I know that the 52 of the view guide refers to it as probably one of the most beautiful ridgeline walks in the, in the whites. And I think I can attest to that even having done it one time, it's absolutely amazing. Three 60 views on most of those open areas. Yeah. Yeah. Incredible. So I think Nick, probably what we can do is there's, there's basically three approaches to hiking this.

[00:08:48] There is the, uh, the point to point traverse, which, um, you can pick your, your, your poison go south to north or north to south. I have done this, um, where I started south mode and went to north finishing up, uh, by Diana's bath, which we'll talk about. Then, uh, you can do south mode out and out and back, and then you can do north mode either out and back, or you can do a loop with, um, using the red ridge trail. So, um, I would say just talking about the two trail heads that you'll be, uh, you'll be

[00:09:18] dealing with here is the, and the first one, the south mode trail head is on Passa Conway road. So essentially what you'll do is head towards north Conway. You'll, you can either get to Passa Conway, uh, the Passa Conway road just connects between West side road in North Conway, or it, um, is on the lower part of one 12, the kink highway in Albany. And you can take the turn, um, by the Albany covered bridge and then make your way down either direction.

[00:09:48] You can get to Passa Conway and then the, uh, the trail head is just a little ways past the, uh, the Albany covered bridge. And then maybe about four or five miles from West side road. And the parking lot there has room for, I would say maybe about 20 cars. And then if it's, if it's a busy weekend day, it's not uncommon to see people parking out on the street. And I do think that that's, that's legal. There's not a lot of houses around that area. So I don't think you're bothering people.

[00:10:14] You do want to make sure you pull off the side of the road and do, you can should expect that there'll be a pretty busy parking lot there in South moat. Um, if you do get there after say nine o'clock on a weekend. Yeah. And on, on contrast, and you mentioned about people not minding about the parking on the Southern side, but definitely be wary of the parking on the Northern side. So the Northern side, you have Diana's baths. Um, that's kind of where the moat mountain trail is going to start. And that's off West side road in Conway. It is a white mountain national forest fee area.

[00:10:42] So be prepared to pay a fee if you're staying there. Um, and definitely do not park on West side road. I think there's probably about a hundred signs on there. Now, last time I drove by there, it's no surprise, but, um, they definitely will tow or ticket your car. I think the, uh, the residents do not take kindly to hikers parking on West side road and the behind their driveways or whatever. I know it's definitely somewhere that you got to be careful with. So I don't think you want to push your luck there. Yeah. Yeah. So the trailhead for North mode, obviously Diana's bath, we've talked about this before

[00:11:11] is a, is a very, very popular, beautiful set of cascading waterfalls that attract, you know, it's a very easy sort of like, uh, maybe three quarters of a mile walk in on level ground. So it attracts a lot of people that are, um, visiting North Conway in the area. It's, it's, it's a very common swimming area and you'll have a very crowded experience for the first three quarters of a mile. So really, if you're going to be hiking on the weekends, uh, don't expect that you're

[00:11:40] going to be able to pull up anytime after nine o'clock and easily get a, a spot. It used to be that you could park in the parking lot. And then there was a bunch of people that would park out on the street. It got so dangerous that the, uh, the town of North Conway had to clamp down and put no parking signs up and they do enforce that aggressively. So if you do think that you're going to try to go on a weekend and you've got to spot a car or you want to park there, expect that anytime after say eight 30, nine o'clock, you'll

[00:12:06] probably be waiting in line to get a parking spot and you may be out of luck. People do come and go quite a bit, so it's possible, but pack your patience if you're going to do that. I suggest if you're going to be spotting a car or starting, try to plan to get there before eight o'clock so that you, you guarantee yourself, you're going to get a parking spot. Yeah. There's a, not that I've experienced it. Luckily, knock on wood personally, but, um, I think probably, uh, getting back to the trailhead. If you're going south to north and your car not being there, not a good way to end a

[00:12:34] motorverse, not a good, not a good way to end the day. Yeah. Don't definitely don't park on the street, but, um, so what's, let's go north, let's go south to north Nick and describe the trail. And then we'll also talk about, uh, Red Ridge and just isolating north on its own. But, um, so the South Moat trail, it starts off with a gradual climb. It's a pretty wide trail to begin with, with open forest. I describe this area of, um, the white mountains as, as close to the Pacific Northwest as,

[00:13:04] as you're going to find. I don't know what it is about the vibe of that entrance way or that first like two miles or so, but you really, you go through this open forest with much wider trails. The trails don't have a ton of roots. They don't have a lot of mud or anything like that. They're just really well-groomed and it gives a vibe of the Pacific Northwest. Like I've been to Oregon and Seattle and it feels that same way. There's some big pines and, and some, uh, some interesting like open forests that, um, it just gives that vibe. I don't know what it is.

[00:13:33] It's a little bit different than some other areas of the whites that I've been in. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I, I, obviously I haven't done it as many times as you, I do remember it being really, really nice open forest. And, um, I think maybe like a little river sort of cascade kind of running down part of it before you start the climb. But that's correct. Yeah. There's a, yeah, there's a couple of, um, um, stream crossings and water sources that you can utilize. So if you go in, if you, if you want to get a water source, I think that there's a, a little stream crossing about a mile in from South.

[00:14:03] So you can, you can certainly hold on on starting with a bunch of water and pick up, um, a couple of streams on the, uh, the lower portion of it. But once you get over, I think it's called dry brook. Okay. And after you clear that, then that's really the only, there's not a lot of options for water sources. I have seen water flowing on the, the lower, uh, slabs of South mode. So you can take your chance. But I think for water, if you're going to, um, if you're going to be filtering or loading

[00:14:30] up, then it's basically dry brook is your, uh, your only option. And then once you get up above tree line, uh, you're not going to have too many options until you get down below. So you really have like about seven miles or so. Um, before, if you can do this traverse, it's really only that first mile or so where you have a water source. And after that, it's really like the last mile and a half or so you'll get another water source. So make sure you load up, especially if it's a hot day. Yeah, for sure.

[00:14:58] So, but yeah, so essentially in the lower part of the approach to self mode, you go through this open forest and then you get to a point where the elevation starts to, to, um, to climb a bit. And I would say that's probably around, let me just think about this a little bit. Yeah. It's probably around the 1500 foot mark. That's when you start climbing up about 800 feet or so, um, of, of what starts off as forest

[00:15:28] and then eventually becomes like open slab. And the best way I can describe this is it's very similar to the open slab with views out. It has views out to the sandwich range, but it's very similar to the vibe that you're hiking, um, Kiersaar's north. Okay. So they've got those open slabs as you get up to about 15 to 1800 feet. And then the same, uh, with like blueberry ledge, you know, white face. It's got that same kind of vibe.

[00:15:55] It's got some good views and some good, good spots to just chill out and, and, and take in the, uh, the views of, uh, the sandwich range. Yeah, definitely. So it looks like it. So, and we're starting from that Southern tip, but if you do just want to do South Moat mountain, um, obviously that's not totally uncommon. And it sounds like even it gets hit in the winter, a good amount, at least from reading the 52 of the view guide. Um, but that'll run you 5.4 miles out and back in 2,200 feet. Um, so not a bad peak really by the stats.

[00:16:25] I think if you're just looking to grab that for the day, that's probably a pretty short, short, sweet, steep day hike. Yep. Yeah. Agreed. And the, uh, and I've done it in the winter a couple of times too. It's a great winter hike. Okay. Usually pretty well packed out. The locals get out there and, um, it's not super, you know, it is this, there is a steep section, you know, there's a, um, you know, from about 1500 feet to the, uh, the summit, you've got a nice probably thousand foot climb there that is, is, is reasonably steep.

[00:16:55] But the thing about it is, is it kind of gets broken up because there's like these open slabs where you get these great views. And I feel like mentally when you get those views, you start, you stop thinking about like the elevation and you just take it in. Yeah. A hundred percent. Um, and while we are on the winter topic, like, would you ever need crampons there or snowshoes or like when you've done it, has it just been spikeable pretty much? Just snowshoes and micro spikes. Okay. Um, I don't think there's a scenario where you, yeah, I don't think you need crampons for winter. Awesome.

[00:17:24] Um, there is a final climb. So you basically, you go through these open ledge sections and then the last, I would say, 200 feet of elevation before you top out on self mode is, um, great open views. You start to get views out to the, um, to, out to the east where you can see like Western Maine and you can get views out to like Pleasant mountain. Awesome. And, uh, you'll start to see the green hills as well across from you.

[00:17:49] So you'll see middle mountain and, um, um, um, Kiersaar's north will start to pop out as well, which is great. Cool. Um, so that's by that point, you're, when you get on the summit, you're about 2.2 miles, I think. Um, it's like, and then, yeah, I was going to say two, I think 2.7, the south mode, it looks like. Yeah. Maybe it's 2.7. I apologize. There's a little bit of up and down there.

[00:18:18] Um, a couple of fall summits. That's what it is, is there's one, two, three fall summits. And then, yeah, 2.7 miles in. And then from there you really have, I think it is, if you're looking at 2.7 to about five. So now you've got like two and a half miles of just open, um, ridge walking to do. And on south mode, the summit's got, um, rocks on either side. Take your pick.

[00:18:45] If you want to sit on the rocks and look at the, uh, North, North Kiersaar's north and Cranmore section, you can do that. Or you can sit on the other side and look at the, the sandwich wilderness. It's just amazing views there. Yeah. It's, it's super cool. I remember trying to being really impressed to how you have a really good view on into that, like looking west, I guess, sort of into the Pemi wilderness, right? Like you can see table mountain and sort of like where Attach is. Um, it's a pretty, pretty remote area that I don't think you really get a perspective like that.

[00:19:15] Um, from really anywhere else in the white. It's it's pretty neat. Yeah. Yeah, no, it is. It's an amazing, um, time being up there. And I would definitely recommend like, don't I, if, if it's a sketchy weather day, if you are above tree line and you're going to be exposed the whole time. So if it's crazy wind, I wouldn't, I wouldn't mess around too much up here. And then if, if there's not going to be a lot of views that the clouds are going to be in, then you kind of, I mean, if you want to go up there, you're welcome to do so.

[00:19:42] But really like you want to pick up a bluebird perfect day for this one, because it's really like, it's, it's similar to like a Franconia Ridge or just a bald face. It's, it's one of those, um, those types of experiences being about tree line. So pick a good day for it. And then, you know, you can hang out in South moat, have your lunch, have a, have a snack, have a drink. And then from there, it's really, it's about two and a half miles over to North moat.

[00:20:06] But as you go from South over to the slabs of middle, you have like endless varieties of options to just hang out and jump, you know, watch yourself on like the, the, the vegetation and things like that. But you can jump from one rock to another and go in, you can go from the East side to the West side of these slabs and all the way into middle moat. You've got views everywhere. So it's really just pick your, pick your, your, your favorite spot.

[00:20:34] And very much like it's, I'm an ad knock again. Like there's a million different spots where you can just chill out above tree line and look, enjoy the views. Yeah. I remember being pretty blown away. Um, when we're up there for the first time and we kind of, to your point about picking a nice day, we actually got, and I'd be remiss without mentioning this story. Cause my friend Mike and Lori would get on me. But the first time we actually did the moats was Memorial day weekend 21. Um, like I had mentioned earlier, but, um, I was looking at mountain forecast and they were actually forecasting snow.

[00:21:03] And I was like, there's no way it's going to snow. Like the high temp in the valley was going to be like 65, 70. And, um, we were coming up on North moat in the beginning of our traverse and we hit snow squalls. Um, so that was kind of fun. We're all wearing shorts and t-shirts, um, and scrambling up there, kind of layering up. Luckily though, after maybe like an hour after that, it completely opened up and it was absolutely beautiful. Um, absolutely stunning. Yeah, it is a, um, it's a, it's a great hike.

[00:21:28] So take your time going from self to middle, enjoy the views, pick your favorite slabs. And, um, you know, I, I think I, it took me probably about two hours of just hanging out to get between self to middle, just wasting a lot of time looking at views. And I probably took about a million photos. So it's, it's definitely great. And then the thing, the thing you just have to remember is that middle moat and all these

[00:21:53] views does kind of lull you into a sense of, um, relaxation, but get ready because you are going to get your butt kicked because you do have another 500 foot climb that goes, it's, and it's not super hard, but it's, there's a couple of scrambles. You kind of go back into tree line a little bit at the four mile mark. And then, um, you go up and up and down into the tree line and out of the tree line. And you get about a 500 foot climb over about an eight tenth, eight tenths of a mile.

[00:22:23] So not super hard, but you know, your legs are tired at that point. And, you know, you just have to be prepared because there are a couple of different rock scrambles up there. Yeah. And I don't, I feel like there was a couple of little scrambly sections, maybe in the woods, um, that we had to deal with too. And probably always just a little bit wet and slippery there. It doesn't get a ton of sunlight in that like sort of dip between middle and north. You're right. Yeah. And what happens with middle is that you, you drop down about a hundred feet and which

[00:22:50] doesn't seem like much, but it's like a pretty much a straight drop down. And then you go straight back up these cliffs and there is one or two tricky sections where you do have to do a little bit of like, um, rock scrambling, like chip. I wouldn't say super hard chimneys, but they're there and you have to, you have to navigate them. So, uh, nothing along the lines of like Osceola chimney, but you know, similar in that respect. Um, and then as you approach North moat, this is more of a, what I would call a traditional

[00:23:18] summit where you've got, uh, but it's a three, three 60 views, but it's more of a traditional summit. Whereas South and middle are more just like pick your slab. Like there's no defined, this is the summit, but North has this amazing summit. And then the crazy thing about North is that you get a better view of table and carrageen and, um, add attach. But then like the, the, the main event is really the view out to Mount Washington. And if you hit that on a clear day, it's like, you could reach out and touch Mount

[00:23:48] Washington. It's probably one of the best views of Mount Washington, uh, directly up Crawford notch that I think that you'll see in the whites. Yeah, that's, that's awesome. And that's one part I'll, I'll have to get back here again to see it. Cause when we were on North mode, we did not have great views. It kind of was shortly after that. But, um, like you said, I do remember being a little bit, I guess more of a pyramid shaped summit. Like it's kind of a little craggy sort of thing with a top, as opposed to like, you're mentioning those open ledges that are everywhere, but still like, by no means do I remember it being like, there's plenty of room up there.

[00:24:15] It's not like, Oh yeah, it's a big summit, narrow area. Like you'll be able to find your own spot to sprawl out with your, your friends or yourself or whatever, and have lunch and hang out. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. It's a big summit. Um, good views. Like I said, 365 degree views. You can look back from where you came. You can look into the sandwich wilderness, the Pemi, you can look out to Kerrigan. You can see, um, Mount Washington. And then you've also still got the views out to the, uh, the green hills and, and, uh, Western Maine and anything you want.

[00:24:45] So it's, it's just amazing. Like the whole day. So you're essentially getting about three miles of just above tree line, endless views the whole time. If you've, if you hit it on a good weather day. Um, and then from North moat, once you decide to descend, it's a pretty steep descent. It goes, um, it goes down. I think you're at about the five mile mark and then you go down pretty quickly. Um, let me see here. Yeah.

[00:25:12] So like a steep 200 or so feet and then it levels and then it goes down way down, way down till basically where, uh, you meet the Aditash trail at Diana's bat. Well, sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Where it meets the Aditash trail. Right. Yeah. You're dropping a thousand feet a mile for two miles after you get, once you start getting down. So it's, it's definitely a, a quad burner. And the thing is, is that the top section, as you go down, it does get a little tricky.

[00:25:39] Um, because there's like slabs there. And my experience has been that those slabs tend to be a little bit wet. And then you've got a couple of sections where there's like loose scree, which is like those little pebbles and sand. So you do, you know, if you have your hiking poles, make sure you're going to be using them and then leverage the trees off the side of the trails if you need to, to just stabilize yourself because there has been a couple of bad rescues in that area. And it is pretty steep and slick. Yes.

[00:26:08] And definitely be careful out there. Yep. So, um, but then from there, once you, once you get that, uh, that 2000 foot climb down, then you're, you've got about two miles of just being in the woods again. It's like another, you get back to that where we talked about in the beginning, it's like open forest feels a little bit Pacific Northwest. And then you have, um, a couple of, I think there's like two stream crossings. You've got the, um, I don't really know what they call that.

[00:26:39] I think it's Lucy on the map. Okay. Yeah. So you cross Lucy Brook, I think three or four times. And, um, and then from there you actually do now that, now that I'm thinking about it. So the moat mountain trail actually, um, does change into ad attach Diana's bath moat trail. So, um, but yeah, it crosses Lucy Brook a couple of times.

[00:27:04] And then there's another river here, which I can't remember the name of. So, um, but I'll, I'll put that in the show notes when we get a chance, but yeah, there's a bunch of river crossings there. So you got water sources and then I don't ever remember any of them being that sketchy. So I think that it's, I think it's generally okay. I mean, if it's running hot, you gotta make it, you gotta make a choice. But I think that generally like as you get later in the summer, it's not a problem.

[00:27:32] Yeah. Another shout out to, if you're doing this later in the summer, there's nothing better than if you got like a hot summer hike and you're ending with a bunch of places to like dip your feet in or chill out at like Diana's baths has plenty of those. So if it's a hot day, you can get your reward at the end of the trail doing a south to north traverse of the moats. Yeah. Yeah. It's also, you can get like a little bit of like street cred to when you get to Diana's bath.

[00:27:54] If you're like, make sure that you rub a little dirt on your face and make sure that you're, you really stand out as a hiker because people will, you know, people are there with their, um, their rubber ducky floaties and stuff like that hanging out. And, you know, if you walk up with your real hiking gear, they're going to be impressed. So, uh, but yeah, dip your feet in, you can go swimming, whatever you want. And then, um, you know, you'll, the last probably three quarters of a mile was nice flat groomed trail.

[00:28:18] You will get a little bit annoyed because people are like taking up the whole trail. Sometimes people litter bugs. Uh, you'll get like kids running around. So pack your patience for the last three quarters of a mile or so, but it's worth it based on the, uh, the view. And I highly recommend it. I've never done that. The other direction. I think south to north is the way to go personally. Yeah. I think if I do it again, I'll do south to north. Um, and I do have the numbers for north to south here, but I think because of how hiking works with traverses, I think it's the same elevation game.

[00:28:46] Um, the mileage for sure, but, um, that'll run you 9.7 miles and 33, 50 feet of elevation gain. And, um, as we mentioned, and we're talking about, we're probably talking it up, but it is regarded as one of the most beautiful ridgeline walks in the white mountain national forest. So it's, uh, it's one, one to be savored on a nice day.

[00:29:07] Yeah. Yeah. And, and then just to close this up here, um, there is another option for you. If you want to just do north moat and do a loop hike, you can do that using the red ridge trail. So essentially you would start at the Diana's bath, uh, parking lot and use Diana's bath moat trail to, uh, to connect with the red ridge trail, which breaks off from the moat mountain trail and red ridge.

[00:29:34] Which essentially, um, it's, it's pretty flat to begin with. And then it starts to, um, gain, let me just see here. Yeah. So it's, it's actually a great trail to begin with. So you have like 2.7 miles of essentially like a very little elevation gain. I think you gain about 300 feet.

[00:29:56] And then once you get to the three mile mark, you, um, you start climbing like significantly. So that's the, and then from there, it's, it's very similar to the self moat situation where you get these open slabs where you start to get views.

[00:30:15] The only thing is these views are more like, uh, looking straight back into Kersage North. And then you start getting glimpses up into Crawford notch in Mount Washington. Um, and this puts you in the, um, a little bit north of middle moat, I believe. And then you still got a couple of different open slabs and then you top off at, um, yeah, let me just see here. Where are we? Yeah. You, you go.

[00:30:44] So you almost top off at like a little sub peak kind of deal, um, between middle and north. Yeah, exactly. It's like a little sub peak between middle and north. And then you, you just have your, your last about four or 500 foot climb up to north, uh, moat. And then we just talked about that. And then you loop back down around the same way. And interestingly, this hike mileage wise, because you have that sort of flat section in the beginning is longer than the traverse.

[00:31:13] So it's 10.2 miles to, um, to do this hike. And, um, yeah, I think that this is a great way to do it as well. If you prefer, I would, if you can't get a car spot, then this is the next best option. Cause you could also, if you're really feeling energetic, you can go up red Ridge, hit South moat, and then come back across and finish up that way too.

[00:31:36] Very cool. Very cool. Yeah. It looks like two, that's that's there. They're all around like that 3000 football, but 2900 feet again. And you're really not adding that much more to do a full traverse. So like you said, less mileage and like another 400 feet and you can do the whole thing if you get a car spot. So yeah. The only problem is you just need to have friends, which can be difficult for some people. Yeah. Yes it can. Yes it can. What's, what's the terrain like on that red Ridge trails are pretty much just slabby and everything else. I know it definitely look from looking at the topo map. It looks like it's a bit steeper than probably any other section up there.

[00:32:06] I've only done it once. So I don't, I don't have great memories. I remember thinking how awesome the beginning was. It's like three miles and I flew on that. I think I got, I got those like first three miles done. Yeah. It looks flat. Yeah. I think I got those first three miles done in about an hour. I was, I was hustling pretty quickly on there and then, yeah. Matter of fact, I'm looking at my splits here and then mile four was a 900 foot climb and it took me 48 minutes to do that section.

[00:32:36] And then mile five was 630 feet of climbing. And then mile six was 552, but I think miles five and six took me a long time to do just because I was sitting and enjoying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Understandably.

[00:32:49] And I got a little bit of undercast on this hike too. So when I got up to, I don't know, maybe the like 2200 foot mark or so, I started getting really above tree line, essentially from that section. And I could look back and I was above the clouds and getting some nice undercast, which was pretty cool.

[00:33:11] Excellent. I think the only thing we didn't cover yet, as far as stats, if you do just want to do an out and back to North moat and you don't want to do the red Ridge trail, which I imagine this is probably more uncommon to do on back to this because most people tend to like loop hikes. But if you do just want to do that out and back, it's 8.6 miles and 2650 feet. So if you do choose to do that for whatever reason, you don't want to make a loop. That's what, that's what the stats are.

[00:33:37] Yeah. Yeah. I would say these are tough hikes for sure. I would say that on the, on the 52 with a view list, this is probably one of the more difficult hikes, not the, not probably the top 10, I would say, but not the top five at this point, but it's, it's a, um, the views are spectacular. I would say probably I ranked this in the top five, as far as views go for 52 with a view. Okay. Excellent. Yeah. I haven't finished all my, I have the bald faces, Eagle Craig and Eastman left, but, um, I would fully out of what I've done so far, I would absolutely put it in the top 10.

[00:34:06] Yeah. It's amazing. So, but, uh, yeah, that's it. So you want to hike the moats that hopefully we gave you everything you need for information about this, this hike and, uh, go out there and get it.

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