[at-l] Trip Report: White Mountains Trek

[papabear.nyc at verizon.net (Papa Bear)]

I just came back from a 7 day, 6 night hiking trip through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, staying at the AMC huts along the way.  I started in Franconia Notch and finished at Appalachia (on Route US 2, north of Mt. Adams).  Four friends joined me the first four days and I was solo the last two days.  Since I had already done the AT through this section last year, I took the liberty of exploring the many wonderful side trails and mountain peaks.

I summited 10 new 4000 foot peaks and revisited 7 others I had been to before.  In spite of the rain and fog (which appeared on 6 of the 7 days), it was a glorious trek through an awesome section of the trail.

This note is but a summary. A detailed day-by-day trip report will follow (I hope).


Sunday (July 20th) - Franconia Notch to Greenleaf Hut.  We had stayed the previous night in Gorham after the long drive from NYC the day before. The weather was bright sunshine and blue sky.  Sunburn weather.  We got going from the "Old Bridle Path" trailhead in Franconia Notch a bit after 10 AM.  This is a fairly steep trail (2500' in about 3 miles) but there were no terribly rough sections.  We made the ascent to Greenleaf Hut in just under 2 hours and relaxed during the afternoon.  The sight of the Franconia Ridge in the clear blue sky across the Greenleaf Col was stunning.  Unfortunately we would not enjoy the likes of this for most of the remainder of the week.  Miles: 2.9, elevation gain: 2450'.


Monday (July 21st) - Loop over the Franconia Ridge.  Originally I had planed to hike up to the ridge and go south as far as Flume Mountain and then return along the ridge (about 12 miles).  But due to the low visibility on the ridge and possibility of afternoon rain, we decided to go only as far as Little Haystack, then descend the Falling Waters Trail, and finally back up to Greenleaf.  This route had more elevation loss and gain but was shorter and safer.  Lafayette, Lincoln and Little Haystack (all above tree line) were all fogged in with gusty winds - probably above 30 MPH.  It was fun up there but we missed the views.  The Falling Waters Trail down to the Notch is gorgeous but slow going, due to it's steepness (it drops 3000' in 3.2 miles).  I tend to be slower going down this type of trail than up.  The lower part of the trail passes numerous waterfalls including one over 60 feet high.  At the bottom we tried to hitch a up the road a couple of miles so as to get back to the Hut via the Greenleaf Trail, but having no luck, we gave it up and ascended via the Old Bridle Path as we had done the day before.  Miles: 9.0, elevation gain 4050', peaks: Lafayette, Lincoln, Little Haystack.


Tuesday (July 22nd) - Greenleaf Hut to Galehead Hut.   For this hike we followed the Garfield Ridge Trail which coincides with the AT from the summit of Lafayette to the Hut.  The mileage was just 7.7 miles and on paper it looked pretty easy going with just Mt. Garfield as a major peak (of course after climbing Mt. Lafayette again), but we found with a steep rocky trail and occasional rain to keep the rocks wet, the going was very slow.  In fact the book even says this section is much harder than you might think.  It is.  It took us over 7 hours - longer than yesterday's 9 mile trek.  Note to self: this section is tough!.  After we got to the hut, I did the easy side trail to the top of Mt. Galehead, adding 1.2 miles to the day's total. After supper, the skies cleared and we had a glorious sunset!  All was forgiven!  Miles: 8.9, elevation gain: 3200', peaks: Lafayette, Garfield, Galehead*.

* - a new 4000' peak for me.


Wednesday (July 23rd) - Galehead Hut to Zealand Falls Hut.  Today I would take several side trips to bag some peaks while my partners would proceed along the normal course (The Twinway, which is the AT).  The hardest climb hits right away: 1150' in .8 miles up South Twin.  I remembered this as steep but it was just steep, not rough. No hand over hand scrambling. So it was not as bad as yesterday's slopes.  When we got to South Twin, I took the rather easy side trail to North Twin (1.3 miles each way) while my friends went on.  This is reputed to have great views.  All I got was a quick glimpse of the Franconia peaks through the swirling clouds.  Once back to the main trail, I hiked easily to the Bondcliff trail which I took to bag Mt. Bond and West Bond.  This is a lovely area along a ridge partly above tree line, and it was actually rather a nice feeling being by myself for this section.  Returning to the main trail again, I proceeded along the ridge line and took the side trail to Mt. Zealand - a rather short and flat spur leading to this summit.  Then it was very steeply down to the Hut.  What we had given to climb South Twin, we got back here.  But there were few slippery rocky sections so it was not too bad.  After supper a couple of us checked out Zealand Falls, down the slope a bit from the hut, and this was very impressive. It was a long day for me but a good one. Miles: 13.4, elevation gain: 3550', peaks: South Twin, North Twin*, West Bond*, Bond*, Zealand*.


Thursday (July 24th).  Today my friends would depart and return to NYC.  They took the short Zealand Trail out and got an early start.  Meanwhile I had trails to hike and peaks to climb.  Today's trek was almost entirely off of the AT.  I took the A-Z trail up to the Willey Ridge (which goes along the west side of Crawford Notch) and bagged the 3 peaks along that ridge: Mt.Tom, Field and Willey.  This was all fairly easy.  The trail down to the Notch goes right by Mt. Avalon which I had not considered at all.  When I got there, the sign said "Mt. Avalon, 100 yds".  So I said to myself "100 yards? How had can that be?".  Well the answer is "very hard".  It was basically a rocky pinnacle rising above the rest of the ridge which took a lot of huffing and puffing and hand-over-hands pulling.  There was a nice view though, so I'm glad I did those 100 yards.  Now back to the trail, it was down to Crawford Notch.  Most of the week we were hiking above 3000' but here it was all the way down around 2000'.  The trail down was steep and tiring but not too daunting.  At the Notch there was an old renovated train station and lots of tourists.  After a short break I crossed the road and started up the Crawford Path, originally cut in 1819 and the first route up Mt. Washington.  Like many trails I had hiked this week, this was quite steep, but not too rough.  It climbs about 2000' in 2.6 miles and brought me to Mizpah Spring Hut.  I liked this hut - it was well laid out and actually had a separate library room. Another long day ended.  Miles: 13.6,   elevation gain: 3950', peaks: Mt. Tom*, Field*, Willey*, Avalon.


Friday (July 25th): Mizpah Spring Hut to Lakes of the Clouds Hut.  Today I planned to go way, way off the beaten path and summit Mt.Isolation. As the name might indicate, this is a very long way from anywhere, although starting at the hut instead of at a road gave me a good advantage.  It lies in the middle of the Dry River Wilderness area south of Mt. Washington, where trails and hikers are few and far between.  My trek took me down to and across the Dry River (a scary crossing - lucky the water level was fairly low in spite of the rain), past Dry River Falls (awesome), up the Isolation Trail and finally along the Davis Path to Mt. Isolation.  The sense of wilderness and beauty was pregnant. I seemed like no one had been here in years. The trails were somewhat overgrown and the forest was filled with very old trees and blowdows. In the higher elevations, walking through the fir waves was humbling.  I can't put it adequately in words but it was juts raw, beautiful wildness.  Unfortunately the reverie was broken by several other hikers who also decided this was the day to climb Mt. Isolation.  For one hiker at the summit, today was the completion of the last of New Hampshire's 48 4000' peaks.  He was justly proud of that accomplishment.  The view was stunning from Isolation.  Not a sign of civilization in any direction.  Even the ugly radio towers atop Mt. Washington were mercifully shrouded in clouds.  But I was hardly done: I had another 6 miles or so to get to Lakes of the Clouds Hut, and that by going over Boott Spur, a shoulder of Mt. Washington.  It rained off and on for an hour or so and I heard distant thunder so I was apprehensive since I had a couple of miles above tree line to go.  But the rain abated as I got to tree line on the Davis Path and suddenly there were brief glimpses of blue sky.  But standing ahead of me, Washington stayed cloud covered.  I took the cutoff trail that skirted the south side of the peak and as I started to descend again there was Lakes, my destination, and the sky was clearing!  By the time I arrived after one of the most beautiful hikes I had ever done, the sun was out!  Life was indeed good!  Miles: 12.1, elevation gain 4250', peaks: Isolation*.


Saturday (July 26th): Lakes of the Clouds Hut to Appalachia.  The primary goal today was to summit Mt. Adams, the one Presidential peak I had missed last year.  But since the weather looked favorable with the lower areas partly sunny and only the tops of the peaks in clouds, I decide to go for a northern Presidential traverse (minus Mt. Madison).  I also decided to hike up to the Washington summit via the Tuckerman Ravine trail, which I had never done. This was a bit rougher, but would be in the lea of the summit till the very top. The forecast was for 55 - 75 MPH winds on the high summits today.  The going was rough but steady and when I finally reached the road, visibility was down to about 10 yards with very high winds.  I stood on the peak for a photo op (taken by another brave soul) and the winds felt very strong.  The sort of winds where you have to hold on to something every step of the way.  After the picture, I went into the visitor's center and the real time weather readout was temperature 49, winds 50, gusting to 57 MPH.  That was confirmation - winds over 50 MPH are strong!.  After a short break I tried to go down the Crawford Path, but I just couldn't find it!  I finally found a cairn and another leading down and followed my way down the northwest side of the cone (the side facing the wind) and upon reaching the Gulfside Trail at the base of the cone I found that I had come down the Trinity Connector (which parallels the Crawford path).  Now It was off to summit first Clay, then Jefferson and finally Adams.  At the Jefferson summit I again felt those 50 MPH winds but when I reached Adams after a long day on the ridge, the winds actually increased to what I would estimate to be at least 60 MPH!.  I had decided to descend via the Air Line with a brief break at Madison Springs Hut.  Once off the Adams cone, the wind abated and the fog lifted and it was down the stunning "knife edge" of the Durand Ridge which the Air Line follows.  It was slow going, moreso because I tried to take a million pictures of the scenery.  Eventually I hit tree line and now it was slow going because of the steepness.  But all things, good or bad, come to an end and after my longest day, nearly 10 hours of hiking, I reached Appalachia.  The next evening I would be home with many a happy memory.  Miles: 13.8, elevation gain: 3950', elevation loss: -7320', peaks: Washington, Clay, Jefferson, Adams*.


Total miles: 73.7, Total elevation gain: 25,400.


The album of pictures from this trip is here: http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_2003_Whites  The captions are in pretty good shape.

Note on the photos:  We had a few nice days and a lot of rainy or foggy days.  The photos therefore are very uneven in coverage.  Some days I would just take a few. Other nice sunny days (or parts of days) I would take a zillion.  And the pictures taken in the fog came out, well ... foggy.  You get the idea.  Nevertheless there are lots of good photos, so enjoy.

Just give me some time on my detailed report. I am now two trips behind.

Regards
Pb
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