Imp Face Loop 12/3/11

"The Imp Tried to Leave me Limp!" (Pictures)

Such a beautiful day forecasted for Saturday Scott and I set our sites on the White's. I juggled some ideas around and we decided we might try Madison. We stopped at the PNVC to check the weather conditions. Washington was pretty much snow free except for some patches of snow and ice by the looks. We checked our maps and decided we should do something on the lighter side as we hadn't tackled a 4k in awhile. I had been wanting to check out Imp Face for a long time now so we headed for the trail head. 

We parked at the Southern trailhead and along with another couple making the same loop we walked up the road a short ways to start on the northern terminus. They took off into the woods and we began our hike. It was not long before we removed the heavy winter jackets. It was just warm enough to not need any heavy clothing...nice! The sun was pushing through the trees and the fresh air was just wonderful! 

We came to the Imp Brook which was flowing nicely and I spotted a nice cascade. I took off down the banking and to get a picture of it. I jumped onto a large wet rock only to quickly learn it was black ice! I went down fast and hard! Next thing I know I had my face up against a rock, my left arm and leg in water, a scraped up knee and a bruised/swollen and painful thumb and palm. Ugh! I checked to see if Scott saw what happened. He hadn't, so I brushed myself off and took the picture I was after...which came out crappy...go figure! I wasn't going to say anything to him but when he spotted me favoring my thumb I let him know what happened. To make things more ironic there was just as nice of a cascade just a short distance up the trail, LOL! 

I spent the rest of the hike with a sore knee, a cut chin and a very sore thumb. I didn't feel anything broken and there was no sharp pain, just a dull pain so I wasn't too worried about it. Just badly bruised and swollen. A good reminder of how careful one needs to be this time of year! I picked up small rocks as we hiked and pushed the frozen side of them onto the swollen area which helped a great deal. We made the steady climb and reached the Imp Face with no problem. Views were impressive to a cloudless view of Mt. Washington and the Northern Presi's. Spectacular!

We continued up the trail now as it wraps around the top of the ravine. Here things got sketchy as you cross several streams, all of which had ice along the rocky outcrops. It was slow going at these sections. We had our micro-spikes with us but there just wasn't anywhere near enough ice to be needing them. Once past this section we continued along the trail until we reached the Southern terminus of the Imp loop. We originally wanted to make an attempt for Middle Carter. But givin' the tedious climb and my injuries we decided to call it a day. The Imp view certainly satisfied us and we would certainly return here another time. So down we went. The climb down was moderate and a little icy.