King Ravine > Howker Ridge

[arm]

just checked out a great four-day weekend in the Whites

headed up thursday night and set up basecamp ... woke up fryday, chained my bike to a tree at Skookumchuck Trailhead, drove around to Gale River Trail, and hiked up to Galehead ... foliage is kicking in pretty good this week

treked over Garfield, hanging out on the summit and enjoying incredible views into the Pemi Wilderness ... made it up to Lafayette before hiking down Skookumchuck Trail, biking back to basecamp

joined the gang for MichaelJ's Moosilauke hike saturday, hiking up scenic Beaver Brook Trail, down Benton Trail, celebrating at Woodstock Brewery

hiked up into King Ravine monday, crawling through boulder caves on Subway and Ice Caves - an awesome trek that reminded me of a cross between Mahoosuc Notch and TriPyramid's North Slide

King Ravine was the hiking highlight of the weekend, especially with the foliage - i'd love to head back and hike Great Gully sometime soon

made it up to Mount Adams, where black flies were furious ! mooned the cog, then swung by J.Q. Adams on the way over to Mount Madison

treked down Howker Ridge from there, wrapping up one of my favorite hikes this year

posted a few pics from the weekend here: http://community.webshots.com/user/armmon

 

[Gris]

damn i'm jealous, been wanting to do King ravine 4-ever!!!

 

[SherpaKroto]

arm: when I heal, Great Gully has long been on my list to "complete". It's been a long while (I didn't even know the name of the trail then), but I got to one spot where I could not bring myself to continue alone. I'm in - but it will be a while.

Gris: next time up, eh?

 

[Quietman]

Arm, Thanks for the pics.
King Ravine is my favorite place in the Whites. I have spent many hours in the caves and laying on the rock that juts out from the top of the ridge in your Chemin Des Dames picture, we called it the "Elephant's Trunk".
Let me know when you tackle Great Gully, it's near the top of my must do list.

 

[MarkJ]

fein Bericht!!

Fein Bericht Herr Arm,Pics sind schoern,wackin ist gut!!!!!

 

[Gris]

SHerp - define "a while" - i'm trying to get up there post leaf (10/22,23) sore neck/back (auto crash) and all. Maybe Fri eve up to RMC cabin, then all day Sat. in Ravine...? i need a "fix" regardless, or maybe even because, of physical condition....

 

[SherpaKroto]

Gris, sitting here with an Aircast on my right leg (stress fractures of the 2nd metatarsal which is not healing, and tibia, just above the ankle, which is healing. It happened in June in BSP). Doc says at least 4 weeks, which puts anything serious out of my reach until the snow falls. I'm not doing the Great Gully in the snow, so next summer is the likely time for me.

Now don't you feel guilty about giving me grief when I complained about the foot/ankle?

 

[donna]

Hey Arm, nice job, sounds like you had an awesome hiking weekend.

Great pictures...I couldn't find the one of you mooning the cog. Did I miss it? I was hoping to compare it with the SherpaK one I have.

 

[Bushwacked]

Great pics. I'm up in the Presi's for 2 days/nights next week. Cant' wait, hope I get weather half as good as yours!

 

[Gris]

Now don't you feel guilty about giving me grief when I complained about the foot/ankle?

Nope, I'd say it just proves I reported it accurately. Never said you weren't hurt, quite the contrary. Said yer "summit fever" cancelled out yer hurts! Guilt's not in my bag of tricks anyway.

Sherp, yer just a warrior like me! Like when I whooped all comers (10-S) at "the farm" during Haystack trip. Had a complete tear of rotator at the time! (still got it) Pain is my name, maybe yers too!

Now i'm walk'n sideways from this car crash, but it ain't gonna keep me down. Seems Oct. 23 oughta be about perfect for both of us (4 weeks). You tell'n me you can keep out of the woods longer n that??? Plus, i already got a plane ticket.

Maybe you just need to put your boots (not shoes) on and scale back the miles. You should know me by now, I'm no obsessive death march type. Just do what feels good. Might be just what the Dr. ordered!

Come on, buck up!

 

[SherpaKroto]

Gris: 10/23 is definitely out. If I don't let this break heal, I am facing a much longer rehab, including surgery. The metatarsal fracture has shown no evidence of healing, and it happened on 6/18. The tibia fracture is nearly healed (God only knows how!). If I don't treat it appropriately, the body will just stop the healing process on the metatarsal. I'm wearing the Aircast for 4 weeks, and having electrostimulation and ultrasound therapy 2-3 times a week. 11/5 is target date for hiking return (whacker weekend) and I will do something on the easier scale on that trip. Sorry about that - 10/23 ADK trip is out.

 

[Gris]

maybe i should just switch to 11/5 if i can...?

 

[SherpaKroto]

Gris: If you want to meet a crazy cross section of the bunch, that would be the way to go. I'm either heading up early on Friday 11/5), or late on Thursday (11/4)

 

[Bob Kittredge]

Great Gully

When I did GG a couple of years ago, we made a nice loop out of it by coming down the Spur Trail and the Amphibrach. That takes you by Knight's Castle with super views down into King Ravine.

This past April we came up the Airline, reached treeline and pulled over to have some lunch. As we sat there, someone noticed three backcountry skiers slowly making their way down Great Gully. Boggled my mind, I can tell you.

 

[Gris]

Sherp - stuck w 10/23 for time bring (got trials 11/5 & 11/8). First one will probably resolve, but second one's a real donnybrook.

 

[Lovetohike]

King Ravine is truly one of the "top ten" hikes for me in the Whites! Great pictures. I have to say though, that I was disappointed the couple times I did the Great Gully section. The book kind of scares you with the comment about one very tricky section. It's not that bad, and, the trail itself winds through a lot of scrub, with not as many sweeping views as the King Ravine trail up the headwall. Also, that last section of the Short Line and King Ravine trails, before it actually gets to the Subway, is particularly demanding, very much a jumble of rocks and boulders, kind of like Mahoosuc notch in some ways.

Bob, I also like coming down the Spur and Amphibrach. Do you, or anyone, remember when there were two Spurs, the "Old Spur" and the "New Spur"? As I recall, the Old Spur had a few more exposed views than the current Spur, but that was a while ago... Last time I was on the Spur it was pretty beat up, perhaps from all the Crag Camp traffic.