I know this trail so well

[Mike P.]

Recent comments in the latest Presidential thread & some recent other events got me thinking.

Which trails do you think you know so well, you think you can get down them in the most miserable of conditions?

Finding where the Ammo goes into the trees, Edmands Path on Ike or Valley Way from Madison Hut (maybe the easiest). Or Greenleaf into the trees above the hut, Falling Waters from Little Haystack.

Personally, Falling Waters I've done in good weather, stand with my back on the sign in front of the summit, walk straight ahead can't miss it - in 75 MPH & no visibility, straight is probably much harder than I think. (I't been a couple of years, is the sign still there - oops there's a hole in my can't fail strategy....)

I've been up Pierce a few times in less than fair weather but not zero visibility, seems straight forward)

 

[dug]

This is a great idea for a thread, Mike. For me, I have done the Crawford Path to Mt. Pierce so many times I can pretty much tell exactly where I am just by the landscape or my watch. Also, the trail up to Roger's Ledge via the Mill Brook Trail I have done a few dozen times, same result.

 

[rocket21]

This is a great idea for a thread, Mike. For me, I have done the Crawford Path to Mt. Pierce so many times I can pretty much tell exactly where I am just by the landscape

I echo that - great idea, Mike!

In regard to the landscape comment, I have found it amazing how much drifting can affect the way an area looks. While I might know where a highpoint is, for instance, a new snowdrift nearby can get me second guessing it in the very least.

One reason I prefer out and backs when solo in the winter (vs. loops or traverses with roadwalks) is that the mental GPS kicks in. In addition, you can have a better idea if you're entering a bad situation, rather than ending up in one.

Example - descending Mt. Washington the other day (late afternoon became night due to these issues actually), our knowledge of the Crawford Path proper didn't matter too much. First, it was drifted in with a potentially dangerous sidehill. While I was tempted to double back and climb up to the top of the ridge and then over, we decided to pull out ice gear instead and stick to the 'trail' (which was actually off alignment of the summer route in quite a few places).

Just below that, one couldn't continue to the hut via the trail proper, as an ice dam had just broken on one of the Lakes and resulted in water gushing across the Crawford Path. Even with a familiarity of the topography, one couldn't have safely navigated the area with no visibility. Why? First of all, the drifting covered potential obstacles. Secondly, due to the ice dam break, there was undermining (ie step on what looks to be a solid, hardpack surface, and instead punch through into rushing water). We eventually found a way to cross since we had our headlamps on and decent visibility, but it could have been a potentially sticky situation had we reached that technical issue with sudden loss of visibility and high winds, regardless of our familiarity with the area.

 

[dentonfabrics]

This is a great idea for a thread, Mike. For me, I have done the Crawford Path to Mt. Pierce so many times I can pretty much tell exactly where I am just by the landscape or my watch. Also, the trail up to Roger's Ledge via the Mill Brook Trail I have done a few dozen times, same result.

Ditto on the Crawford Path to Pierce.

 

[David Metsky]

There are several trails on Moosilauke that I've helped build and I've climbed well over 75 times. I'm down to the point of knowing most of the rocks by this point. Around the summit I think I would be hard pressed to get turned around.

 

[RollingRock]

I swear I could almost hike up Mt. Lafayette from the Old Bridal Path/Greenleaf Trail route blindfolded! I've gone up many times when everybody else was turning back due to poor visibility. Wind on the other hand is a whole other story

 

[Trainwreck]

I am 100% positive I could get to the Hermit shelter on the TR trail!!!

 

[DougPaul]

I know a trail (1.6mi, 1000 vert ft, between Rte 9N and Jabes Pond, Lake George Region, NY) well enough that I have done it by feel when it was so dark that the brightest light you could see was a very dim grey channel between the trees when you looked up. There was absolutely no ground visibility. (We had lights with us, the game was to go up to the pond, watch the sunset, and hike back in the dark without using the lights.)

I have done this both with and without poles. Poles can be a big help--think insect antennae.

I have probably hiked this trail over a hundred times (mostly in the light ) in my lifetime.

Doug

 

[wardsgirl]

I would like to think I know many trails very well, however when it comes right down to it, I'm not so sure. I once lost my battery power about 10 minutes from Zealand Road on Zealand Trail. I have hiked this stretch of trail over 100 times (I'm a trail maintainer on the Twinway), and thought I knew it like the back of my hand. Instead of changing my batteries, I stubbornly insisted to myself that I could get to the car without light. It was early December (no snow yet) and very dark! Well, I ended up wandering aimlessly all over the woods, insisting to myself that my path would "hook a little to the right, descend a rock staircase, make a left and beeline for the parking lot," before I finally gave up and installed new batteries. It took a bit of wandering to find my way back to the trail and I was surprised at how far off I had been. I don't think I can rely on past visits to help me get along in "miserable conditions" or darkness!

 

[nartreb]

Variation on the topic: which trail can you never follow in bad conditions?

The top of Monadnock's White Arrow gets me every winter. Luckily, climbing straight up the rocks is a lot of fun!

 

[jn316]

anyone can become confused!

It's sobering how a very familiar trail can be confusing in severe winter conditions (often with frosted goggles).
I've hiked the recently-discussed upper Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail probably a couple hundred times, naming most of the rocks. Knowing the trail has helped me find the fast way down in some very difficult conditions. But there have been a couple of times that no matter how familiar the area, I've been confused: a new snowdrift, a normally high scrub patch buried, familiar rocks distorted by rime. Those times I've felt my finding the right way was less because of my knowledge or ability and more because of answered prayer.

A couple years ago, after one of the winter rescues near the Franconia ridge, a frequent poster on VFTT and I were admitting that even though we'd each descended from the summit of Lafayette over a hundred times, we also each found ourselves in low winter visibility almost about to head down the Franconia ridge trail by mistake.

Of course, these examples are in severe weather. Now I tend to hike the Ammonoosuc only on nice days. But that creates its own problems: missing a critical turn because of chatting (see 1HappyHiker's report on Tripoli Rd!), or just being distracted by the splendor of the mts on a sunny August day.

 

[Stash]

Being a relative rookie in comparison to most here I'd like to hope that I don't get to know any trail too well. On those peaks where's I've had the chance for multiples I like to look for different routes, or at least different conditions. This gives me the chance to see even more of the beauty of the area I've been able to experience so far.

 

[DougPaul]

Being a relative rookie in comparison to most here I'd like to hope that I don't get to know any trail too well. On those peaks where's I've had the chance for multiples I like to look for different routes, or at least different conditions. This gives me the chance to see even more of the beauty of the area I've been able to experience so far.

It can go both ways...

A familiar trail can change with the seasons and over the years and it can be nice to know its different "moods". Or sometimes you see animal tracks, sometimes you don't.

It can also be nice to visit new terrain.

I try to do some of each and enjoy each for what it is.

Doug