BobC
Active member
There's a longer version of this report on Rocksontop, if you care to read some of the "backstory" of my 48 journey and some boring philosophical stuff. But here's the stuff about the hike itself:
This Saturday, June 13, I finished the New Hampshire 4000-footers on Mt. Madison. Eight of us set off from Appalachia trailhead at 8:30, bound for King Ravine. The hiking group include Trail Trotter (Sue), Poison Ivy (Amy), happyhiker (Karen), jdr6453 (Joe), New Hampshire (Brian), Bobby, and Kevinmac. Sue, Amy and I had been part of a group that hiked through King Ravine last year; the rest of the group hadn’t been there before. We started on the Amphribrach trail, which provides a gentle approach to the King Ravine trail. There was some mud and a lot of wet rocks, but the trail is generally easy on the legs.
Once we got past Mossy Fall, the fun began. Before you get onto the floor of the ravine itself, there are some pretty big boulders to scramble on. We all huffed and puffed our way up and made it into the ravine, where we sat on some rocks on ate lunch. We contemplated whether we should take the Subway, which is a serious scramble over and under some very large boulders, or the Elevated trail which avoids the Subway route. After we finished lunch we all decided to skip the Subway, to save some time (and energy). When we got to the Ice Caves loop, some of us went that way while the rest of the group stayed on the Elevated. Sue had some fun making a snowman, which was soon decapitated by Kevin as he slipped on a rock. Sue and I were then witness to a heroic rescue of Kevin’s hiking pole, which had fallen down a gap between some rocks. I had forgotten how tough the Ice Caves loop was, but we struggled and eventually pushed our way out and back to the Elevated to join the rest of the group.
After regrouping, the serious climbing up the headwall begin. There are three routes up the headwall, and the King Ravine trail is the easiest, but it’s all relative. The trail climbs 1100 feet in just half a mile. If you like scrambling, this is the trail for you. We had a lot of laughs as we made our way up, sweating, panting and wondering if we were crazy to take this route. Sue, in her usual speedy style, was the first to reach the top – I’m pretty sure she made it all the way up before anyone else reached the halfway point. The forecast for the day was for partial cloudiness, with rain possible in the early evening. As we climbed the headwall it started to look a little more threatening up high, but for now the rain was holding off.
We all finally reached the top of the headwall, and took a break while we looked down on Madison Spring hut, and our final target for the day, Mt. Madison. I knew several other hikers had chosen different routes but were hoping to meet up with me, and we were pushing towards the end of the time range I had given them for reaching the summit. So we made our way to the hut and stopped in to see if anyone was waiting for us. I found Sunshine Chris in there, and then had the pleasant surprise of seeing Dave Bear strolling into the hut. He had called me in the morning to say he was at work and couldn’t make it, but apparently got out of work early enough to arrive at the trailhead at 12:30 and raced up Valley Way to meet us.
So we set off for the final goal as a light rain started to fall. Some of the people I had spoken to earlier had already made their way to the summit, due to the threat of rain, so I met them as they were making their way back down to the hut. This separate group included Bob & Geri Hayes, DiamondRidge and her daughter Georgia, Gwynna, Trish and Alex, Dave Metsky, Windy, and Jaytrek. I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone. Thanks to all who waited as long as they could to go to the summit with me – I wish I could have timed things better. Windy and Jaytrek decided to turn around and climb up to the summit again with me. So I made that final climb, and was a bit embarrassed to have everyone cheering for me as I reached my final, rocky goal. Mt. Madison is a great peak to finish on, and it was nice to have such a fantastic group of people to share my happy moment. Celebratory beers and chocolate were passed around (thanks Dave!), and we all enjoyed a windy, cloudy time on the summit before heading back down to the hut.
After taking a break at the hut we all decided to head down Valley Way. We had discussed possibly heading down Howker Ridge or Airline, but with the still-ominous clouds and a lot of tired people, we opted for the easiest route down.
After the hike, most of us made our way over to Bob & Geri’s campsite in Twin Mountain, where they were very gracious to host an after-party. Bob Hayes presented me with an AMC 4000-footer patch and we all enjoyed some food and good times to cap off the day.
Thanks very much to everyone that joined me. It was a great day.
Here are some pics from the trip.
This Saturday, June 13, I finished the New Hampshire 4000-footers on Mt. Madison. Eight of us set off from Appalachia trailhead at 8:30, bound for King Ravine. The hiking group include Trail Trotter (Sue), Poison Ivy (Amy), happyhiker (Karen), jdr6453 (Joe), New Hampshire (Brian), Bobby, and Kevinmac. Sue, Amy and I had been part of a group that hiked through King Ravine last year; the rest of the group hadn’t been there before. We started on the Amphribrach trail, which provides a gentle approach to the King Ravine trail. There was some mud and a lot of wet rocks, but the trail is generally easy on the legs.
Once we got past Mossy Fall, the fun began. Before you get onto the floor of the ravine itself, there are some pretty big boulders to scramble on. We all huffed and puffed our way up and made it into the ravine, where we sat on some rocks on ate lunch. We contemplated whether we should take the Subway, which is a serious scramble over and under some very large boulders, or the Elevated trail which avoids the Subway route. After we finished lunch we all decided to skip the Subway, to save some time (and energy). When we got to the Ice Caves loop, some of us went that way while the rest of the group stayed on the Elevated. Sue had some fun making a snowman, which was soon decapitated by Kevin as he slipped on a rock. Sue and I were then witness to a heroic rescue of Kevin’s hiking pole, which had fallen down a gap between some rocks. I had forgotten how tough the Ice Caves loop was, but we struggled and eventually pushed our way out and back to the Elevated to join the rest of the group.
After regrouping, the serious climbing up the headwall begin. There are three routes up the headwall, and the King Ravine trail is the easiest, but it’s all relative. The trail climbs 1100 feet in just half a mile. If you like scrambling, this is the trail for you. We had a lot of laughs as we made our way up, sweating, panting and wondering if we were crazy to take this route. Sue, in her usual speedy style, was the first to reach the top – I’m pretty sure she made it all the way up before anyone else reached the halfway point. The forecast for the day was for partial cloudiness, with rain possible in the early evening. As we climbed the headwall it started to look a little more threatening up high, but for now the rain was holding off.
We all finally reached the top of the headwall, and took a break while we looked down on Madison Spring hut, and our final target for the day, Mt. Madison. I knew several other hikers had chosen different routes but were hoping to meet up with me, and we were pushing towards the end of the time range I had given them for reaching the summit. So we made our way to the hut and stopped in to see if anyone was waiting for us. I found Sunshine Chris in there, and then had the pleasant surprise of seeing Dave Bear strolling into the hut. He had called me in the morning to say he was at work and couldn’t make it, but apparently got out of work early enough to arrive at the trailhead at 12:30 and raced up Valley Way to meet us.
So we set off for the final goal as a light rain started to fall. Some of the people I had spoken to earlier had already made their way to the summit, due to the threat of rain, so I met them as they were making their way back down to the hut. This separate group included Bob & Geri Hayes, DiamondRidge and her daughter Georgia, Gwynna, Trish and Alex, Dave Metsky, Windy, and Jaytrek. I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone. Thanks to all who waited as long as they could to go to the summit with me – I wish I could have timed things better. Windy and Jaytrek decided to turn around and climb up to the summit again with me. So I made that final climb, and was a bit embarrassed to have everyone cheering for me as I reached my final, rocky goal. Mt. Madison is a great peak to finish on, and it was nice to have such a fantastic group of people to share my happy moment. Celebratory beers and chocolate were passed around (thanks Dave!), and we all enjoyed a windy, cloudy time on the summit before heading back down to the hut.
After taking a break at the hut we all decided to head down Valley Way. We had discussed possibly heading down Howker Ridge or Airline, but with the still-ominous clouds and a lot of tired people, we opted for the easiest route down.
After the hike, most of us made our way over to Bob & Geri’s campsite in Twin Mountain, where they were very gracious to host an after-party. Bob Hayes presented me with an AMC 4000-footer patch and we all enjoyed some food and good times to cap off the day.
Thanks very much to everyone that joined me. It was a great day.
Here are some pics from the trip.
Last edited:
