Traverse of the Moats

Long day today....up at 4:30 am and packed up my gear for running and hiking. I reached the Diana's baths trailhead in Conway at 7 am and soon after MT&Goat (Kevin Tilton) showed up. We started the day with a relaxing 80 minute run in Bartlett, Conway, and Hales Location. Although I'm not actively town bagging in NH, I'm always up for running in a new town (and I am lining them off my wall map).

At a little after 9:00 am Al arrived, beating my estimate of him being at least 15 minutes late. A bunch of other hikers were gathering and many would be joining Al as he was hiking his final 3,000' peak in NH. We got our gear together and formed a carpool as the plan was to traverse the Moats. According to trails.com "The Moats make up a long ridge that runs along the west side of North Conway, paralleling the Saco River. There are three Moat peaks North, Middle, and South. North is the highest at 3201 feet. The ridge-walk from Moat to Moat is one of the .nest in New England. Much of it is bare due to a forest fire many years ago, and the views are marvelous". Our plan was to park on Dugway road and do the 10 mile traverse, with North Moat as the final peak on the hike.

We hit the trail at just before 10 am in perfect weather. The sky was bright blue and the temps were in the 30's with little or no wind. We slowly climbed up South Moat, taking our time and getting some great views.
Looking back at one of the Moats

James and his GF started about 30 minutes behind us and caught us on South Moat. The footing was mostly decent and Kevin used Kahtoola's most of the way. Most of the group used snowshoes and one or two bare-booted the hike.

Sherpa John resting on one of the summits

We hit the top of North Moat at 1:00 Pm and celebrated Al's accomplishment. The final 4+ miles was all downhill to Diana's baths and we were back in the parking lot just under 6 hours after we started.

I got myself a Dunkachino, which helped me get through the ride home. I was back at the computer by 6:30 pm.

Me on North Moat with Mt Washington in the background.

What a great day!