View Full Version : Carlo Col Shelter
Undershaft
11-05-2006, 13:37
Carlo Col is the first shelter you come to after crossing into Maine from New Hampshire. It is located on a blue blazed trail about a third of a mile downhill from the AT, but the trail is not too steep and not difficult. The water source is a small stream about ten yards in front of the shelter (you cross the water source to get to the shelter). There is a privy in good repair, complete with the quarter moon carved in the door (a must for all Privys, Outhouses, Heads, Jakes, and Chapels of Ease). There is also a metal bear box located just to the left of the shelter entrance. The shelter itself has two sleeping levels, a couple of skylights, and a smaller opening in front (about the size of two standard doors side by side) instead of being totally open to the elements. There are four or five tent platforms located in the woods near the shelter. The platforms are very nice and fairly new. The area around the platforms has seen heavy camping for a long time and the impact is obvious. The tent pads and "icebergs" will hopefully alleviate that stress on the ground. Unlike some other sites with tent platforms, the ones at Carlo Col are spread out a bit so you are not right on top of your neighbors. That about sums it up. I spent a zero day here in 2004 during a section hike, after hurting my knee on Mt. Success. Met a few thru-hikers and a group of college kids on an orientaion trip. One more thing, there is a memorial stone in the woods about twenty feet from the shelter (on the uphill side) with a metal plaque that reads: "A mountain is a world unto itself - Magnificent." PAM MORSE 1950-1975.
Footslogger
11-05-2006, 14:15
Been past there twice now and never stayed at the shelter. Both times I have needed water and walked back to tank up but it was too early in the day to make it my campsite.
'Slogger
Undershaft
11-05-2006, 17:30
I only stayed there because of my injured knee. It's a little out of the way and the shelters in the Mahoosucs are pretty close together, so you don't HAVE to stop there. I just happened to notice that no one had written anything about Carlo Col, so I took it upon myself to write up some info for future AT hikers passing through the Mahoosucs. But I must say, it was a wonderful place to hang out and make camp.
DawnTreader
11-05-2006, 20:02
great shelter .3 off the trail
A new privy was built in September 2006. Sorry, there is no half moon on the new door.
I remember seeing the Morse memorial back around 1980. Does anyone know who she was or about her connection with the shelter?
Undershaft
03-29-2007, 19:20
Damn them and their non-quarter moon ways!
Bruce O. Brown
05-08-2013, 20:15
I remember seeing the Morse memorial back around 1980. Does anyone know who she was or about her connection with the shelter?
Priscilla A. Morse (PAM, to most) was an enthusiastic lover of the outdoors and the mountains. I met her on Monadnock on an Easter day in 1973, and hiked with her a couple of times, most notably on a June climb of Baxter Peak, under a beautiful, serene sky. She mostly liked to hike alone at her own pace, taking in all the splendor, and savoring even the little wonders along the trails. She may have hiked through Carlo Col at one time, during her wanderings. Pam sadly died in a car crash in 1975, enroute home from a hike. When her family told the AMC her story, the club heartily agreed to honor her memory with a plaque in the mountains. Friends and family celebrated her life with a memorial climb of her favorite peak, Mt Monadnock. Fittingly (for me), on an Easter day in the early 80s, my son and I visited her plaque in Carlo Col.
Priscilla A. Morse (PAM, to most) was an enthusiastic lover of the outdoors and the mountains. I met her on Monadnock on an Easter day in 1973, and hiked with her a couple of times, most notably on a June climb of Baxter Peak, under a beautiful, serene sky. She mostly liked to hike alone at her own pace, taking in all the splendor, and savoring even the little wonders along the trails. She may have hiked through Carlo Col at one time, during her wanderings. Pam sadly died in a car crash in 1975, enroute home from a hike. When her family told the AMC her story, the club heartily agreed to honor her memory with a plaque in the mountains. Friends and family celebrated her life with a memorial climb of her favorite peak, Mt Monadnock. Fittingly (for me), on an Easter day in the early 80s, my son and I visited her plaque in Carlo Col.
Bruce, just saw your reply made 6 years after my inquiry. Thanks so much. I have often wondered about her.