Middle Carter Mountain

Middle Carter Mountain is a 4,610-foot mountain located in Coös County, New Hampshire. The mountain is part of the Carter-Moriah Range of the White Mountains, which runs along the northeast side of Pinkham Notch. Middle Carter is flanked to the north by North Carter Mountain and to the southwest by South Carter Mountain. The summit of Middle Carter is wooded, but there are a few outlook points near the summit that provide nice views of the Presidential Range and the Wild River wilderness to the east. Middle Carter is one of several peaks along the Carter-Moriah ridge, which runs parallel to the Presidential Range on the east side of Pinkham Notch. Like its neighboring Carters, Middle Carter’s name comes from the early settlers or hunters named Carter who frequented the area (possibly after Dr. Ezra Carter of Concord, though the exact origin is uncertain). The Carter family name was applied to the range in the mid-19th century when the area was being mapped. The summit of Middle Carter is wooded and modest, but a few nearby outlook points on the trail offer beautiful views westward to Mount Washington and east into the Wild River wilderness. This area experienced heavy logging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – the Wild River Valley just east of Middle Carter was logged by the Hastings Lumber Company and then ravaged by a massive forest fire in 1903. In fact, fires in 1903 burned much of the Carter Range’s virgin forest, leading to relocation of trails and eventually the push for forest preservation. Today, Middle Carter stands in a second-growth forest that has recovered over the past hundred years. Hikers traversing the Carter ridge follow routes (like the Carter-Moriah Trail) that were laid out by the AMC in the early 1900s once the area became part of the National Forest.