My father and I started our journey to Carter's Dome at 6:00AM, weary and hungry, but a quick stop to the local donut emporium helped ease the hunger.  I would later regret eating both a chocolate glazed donut and an apple turnover.

We stopped at Munce's Market (in the pines) to stock up on junky food to eat on the hike.  Unfortuntately, the Better Chedders that I wanted tasted like they'd been sitting in Munce's Market since 1994.  That left me with Triscuits and iced tea.  I was taking the lighter-is-better approach to this hike.  On previous mountain excursions, I've brought multiple cameras, lenses, different pairs of shoes, pocket knives, statues, and a cornucopia of food.  This time I'd try something simpler.  I even forgot to bring a backpack and had to use a very flimsy and dorky spare that my father had.

The course we were going to take went off the model into the great unknown where the mountain drops precipitously.  Thankfully, the real mountain did not drop off like the map does...

Regardless, we were not phased by the mysterious empty space beyond the map.

The trail is called "19 Mile Brook Trail", but I'm not sure why.  Perhaps it's 19 miles long?  I don't think we'll ever know.

I do know that it runs along a brook for a while, leading to lots of monotonous photo opportunities:

We encountered some wildlife at this uncharted pond.  One toad was particularly mellow.  I guess I would be mellow, too, if I lived out here...

Because the top of Carter's Dome isn't even above the tree line, we weren't able to get the usual panoramic view of the surrounding White Mountains.  It was a little disappointing after enduring a steep climb at points along the trail. 

It seems that the USGS didn't care much about Carter's Dome since neither the elevation nor name of the mountain are listed on the summit marker.

On the way down, we spotted some large piles of unidentified animal dung.  I can't imagine what could've produced such copious amounts of bluish crap.

I would've taken a sample home with me, but I think stealing animal poop from the trails is prohibited.

Toward the end of the trail, there was a man-made dam.  Even though my feet were developing blisters, I didn't feel like taking my shoes off to rest them in the cool mountain stream.  My loss.

Instead, I ate some raisins from a box.  Oddly enough, it was the first time I ate raisins from a box.  I'll stick to eating them when they're included in another food...

Somebody left a message for Milly.

Or maybe the tree is named Milly.

Or maybe Milly owns the tree.

Or maybe Milly died there...

By the time we made it back to the parking lot, I was fixing for some "real" food.  So, we stopped at a Pizza Hut in Conway and effecitvely nullified the entire day's excercise in one meal.

That's quite an accomplishment!