Carrigan via Carrigan Notch, Desolation, and Signal Ridge | 8/10/25
- Izzy Risitano
- Aug 10
- 4 min read
As Michelle prepares to move to the big city, I was thrilled to get out for one of her remaining 48s and grab some trace miles for myself. When I last did Carrigan in 2020, I out-and-backed Signal Ridge and had a lousy day. This time, I was excited to take the long way up Carrigan Notch and Desolation, then loop back via Signal Ridge. Due to the long miles and difficulty I'd had balancing my long runs with hiking, Michelle and I decided to kill two birds with one stone and run as much of the loop as possible!
When we arrived at Sawyer River Road on Saturday at 7:30 am, we took the last legitimate parking spot. There were a handful of groups gearing up, many of whom we would later share the view with. Michelle and I packed up our vests and started running right out the gates on Sawyer River Road. I hadn't planned on the uphill being run miles; however, I'm glad we did, as it allowed us to take our time descending the rocky Signal Ridge.
It took us 25 minutes to ascend the road, where we turned left onto Signal Ridge Trail. The trail gains rockily along Whiteface Brook, limiting running until the plateau before Carrigan Notch Trail. As we passed the junction of Signal and Carrigan Notch, I let Michelle know, "We won't see anyone until the summit." And I was right.
While I've seen all kinds of remote trails from my trace, Michelle's 4K-focused archive hasn't encountered trails with HOLs versus summits. That said, Carrigan Notch was the perfect gateway as it is remote, yet beautiful and easy underfoot. The trail is almost perfectly split up versus down, yet the gain to Carrigan Notch isn't taxing. As the woods changed with elevation, they gave way to views of Lowell and Anderson at right, whose cliffs make me shudder to think of making a wrong move bushwhacking. Up to the right, there were more obscured views of Vose Spur, my future Carrigan Notch destination to finish out the NE100.
As we dipped into the Pemigewasset Wilderness, not much changed, but the downhill gave way to easy running. Especially as we entered the open forest, I felt like I was running a steeplechase, hopping over the many ground-level blowdowns. I loved this section coming off of Nancy Pond Trail a few years ago, and I was grateful to be back stronger than ever!
Eventually, we landed at the "pre-junction" to Stillwater Junction and banked left up Desolation. The trail at first gained on a wide path, I believe an old logging road, before fully grasping the ridge with mossy, hand-over-hand, rock scrambling. Desolation truly exceeded my expectations; the steeps were exciting rather than challenging and made for a much more interesting ascent than Signal Ridge. I wouldn't have wanted to do this one after rain, as the rocks were slippery even in dry conditions!
Climbing Desolation's two miles took us about 1:20, when we suddenly topped out at the firetower. We ran into a few of the folks we passed on the road that morning, who all inquired where we'd come from. It's so weird to be the person being asked after years of asking trail runners the same question! My pick of the 360-views was Stairs, although I haven't hit this one yet, the angle makes the famous profile look so cool! My honorable mention was Vose Spur's slide and Lowell's cliffs as seen from the exposed spine of Signal Ridge. I find these views to be even more phenomenal than the ones atop the fire tower.
As we descended via Signal Ridge, it was literally and figuratively downhill after re-entering the woods. Like I said, it had been 5 years since I hiked Carrigan, but that day also included me having a fit on one of the switchbacks from fatigue and frustration. Although that reaction couldn't have been more dramatic, I was reminded where that came from as our knees loathed the 2000+ foot descent of sidehill and straight down. Not only that, but the trail was far too rocky to run, so we resisted the stride until the very end, where the trail goes from steep to flat in the blink of an eye.
At the near-instant we reached the flat, the skies opened up and so did we. The footbed was free of all hazards, so Michelle and I flew through the rain, hearing nothing but the downpours on the canopy above. Though it didn't rain for long, the brook was notably quicker alongside us, and the mud much less forgiving than in the morning!
As we got out to the road, I thought the descent wouldn't feel like a run, but between 16 miles behind us and a hiker we were trying to catch up to ahead, it was a pretty legitimate bell lap! It took us about 16 minutes to get back to the car, where we let the other hiker know we were racing him and couldn't pass. All in good fun, of course!
Michelle and I wrapped up with a quick river bath and then headed south. The last time we hiked 18 miles, it took twice as long because we didn't know about water filters and carried 5 liters of water a piece. Oh, how things can change from 6years of an all-consuming (time and financial) hobby!
Stats: 18.24 miles, 4403 ft