Being a traverse, this hike required a car spot so that we could hike one way. If your hiking group has 2 cars, then you can easily park 1 at either end. If, like us, you only have 1 car, consider hiring a hiker shuttle. They aren’t particularly cheap, but it’s not like a city taxi – you pay for the time it takes the driver to get to and return from remote mountain locations. We used Fast Taxi, based in North Conway and they were super professional and made it easy to arrange a ride. Be sure to call at least a day ahead of time to reserve your shuttle.
We parked our car at Great Gulf Wilderness Trailhead on Rt. 16, where we planned to end the traverse. The Forest Service charges a small fee, $5 per day, for parking at this trailhead. You could also buy an annual White Mountain National Forest recreation pass or an America the Beautiful pass (covers all federal lands including National Parks) if you regularly visit locations that charge fees. Here are the other White Mountain National Forest fee areas.
Then, Fast Taxi picked us up and shuttled us to Wildcat Mountain Ski Area to start our hike. A little before 7am in single digit temps, we began walking up the ski slopes with snowshoes on. The mountain’s uphill policy and route info can be found on their Mountain Info Page. The preferred route, highlighted on this map, is Stray Cat to Middle Polecat to Catnap to Upper Polecat. Basically, stay on the far left of the mountain the whole way up. This keeps you on green rated ski trails which are not as steep and much easier to climb. Even so, televators, the heel lift bar on climbing snowshoes, were a lifesaver on this one and we highly recommend making sure your snowshoes have this feature. We also recommend hiking the ski slopes before the lifts open. It was really pleasant having them to ourselves and not contending with skiers whizzing by.
One of the best parts of starting this traverse on the Wildcat Mountain ski slopes were the immediate views of Mt. Washington and the Presidential Range behind us, even from the base. We found ourselves constantly turning around to admire the spectacle of those formidable peaks basking in the glowing morning sun during golden hour. The orange glow soon turned to bright white light as we climbed higher up the slopes and the sun rose in the sky.
[…] tracks. Feeling really good about this long hike, we knew we would be ready to tackle the Wildcats and Carters Traverse in a couple of days for our last winter hike of […]