Due to some silliness with solar noon, elliptical orbits and slightly tilted spheres, Dec 13th will be the earliest sunset in North Conway (4:06pm). Starting Dec 14th the sunsets start getting a tad later (4:07pm) even though there’s another week till the solstice/shortest daylight day! To celebrate, we’ll be hiking North Moat on Saturday Dec 13th! We’ll go out and back on the same trail for a total of about 8 miles, 2.6k ft of vert. The summit has lovely 360 views and at the beginning of the trail we pass by Dana’s bath which is a popular waterfall. You should be an experienced 3 season hiker and have done some hikes over 8 miles this past summer. It’s okay if this is your first winter hike. We’ll start early so we can finish well before the earliest sunset. The leaders are all planning on staying at the mitoc cabin in Intervale NH Friday night before the trip and we welcome everyone else to stay too! This cuts off almost all of the drive time in the morning.

Alltrails: Moat Mountain Trail, New Hampshire - 535 Reviews, Map | AllTrails

Requirements

You should feel confident hiking similar mileage and elevation gain with a moderately heavy backpack during any season. Previous winter hiking experience, or layering experience in cold weather is helpful but not required.

We’ll be using microspikes and potentially snowshoes, depending on the conditions, but previous experience with these traction methods is not required.

You must have attended last year’s safety lectures or the November safety lectures to join this trip.

Cost

Please budget for the following expenses: $5 trip fee, $30-50 carpooling costs, up to $15 for gear rentals, $10 cabin fee. If you are an MIT undergrad, financial aid is available.

Logistics

We currently have one car for this trip that can take 3 passengers. If we get another driver/car, we will open up a couple more spots.

The pre trip meeting will be hybrid virtual/in person on Tuesday night at 7pm. If you need to rent gear (winter boots, spikes, snowshoes, backpack, layers, etc), come to the office during office hours 6-7pm.