Least favorite trails in the Whites

[Seeker]

Hands down, the Cornice around the North/West side of Jefferson.

I agreed completely!

(I tried to just write "YES!" but it said that my message was too short. Huh.)

 

[mtnpa]

Wamsutta Trail descending from near the top of the Mt Washington Auto Road into the Great Gulf Wilderness...I was coming down with the flu while on the trail, but I remember spots where we had to drop our packs, hang down and hope for a good landing spot. At camp that night we were trading stories with the ranger about our hikes. He said the only way he'd go on that trail was if someone needed help

 

[BryantsDad]

I know all of us here love hiking, but I was wondering if anyone ever "regretted" taking a certain trail and vowed never to use it again.

As it turns out, I second your assessment of Mt Clinton. A friend and I came down in the rain a couple of weeks ago and it was a nightmare. We were drenched in just a few minutes due to the water from the trees obscuring the trail. We had great difficulty finding the trail at times. About a quarter to a half a mile down my friend said "this really isn't a trail at all any more". I was in no mood to turn back.

Unfortunately, the vegetation also obscures any view of the ground, so you don't see that you are about to step into a bog or a brook. Both our feet were soaked in no time. The trail seems to favor bogs, and has several spots where there is no log to walk on, and with the heavy vegetation, there's no way around. Just hope you don't wind up mid-shin in mud. And many of the logs were rotted away anyway.

There were numerous unstripped blowdowns, which would have been fine except for the fact that you couldn't go around them. And me with no axe. I had to snap branches off, and climb over - no mean feat with a heavy backpack.

One blowdown next to the trail was obscured by vegetation, and I nearly got a branch right straight in the eye.

My fear was that we'd wind up at the top of a waterfall with no way down. I had very little confidence that the trail actually went all the way down to the Dry River.

I couldn't believe this was a named trail. I had to keep an eye out for the odd footprint and trampled grass to reassure myself that we were on a trail at all.

Yeah, I'll never use that trail again.

I'm sorry to hear your experience mirrored mine.

As for Tuck's, I went up that in the pouring rain last year and actually kind of enjoyed it. Sadly I couldn't see a thing, so I have no idea what I climbed.

I've been hiking in the Whites twice. It rained all of the time both times.

I bet the views are nice when it's not raining

 

[Bobonanda]

My Three votes...

In reverse order:

3) Hutmen's Trail. Straight up to nothing. Why is it there?

2) The Link on Jefferson. Much agreement, here.

1) Upper Bruin. What a disaster. It's the only trail I ever traveled where I was just, plain pi$$ed off at the condition.

 

[giggy]

lowes path - not that I don't like it - its just that i have done it so many times (good approach to grey knob for winter base) - you just seem to can't wait to get to the cabin to drop heavy gear - so you just count every trail intersection, log cabin, etc... then wa-la- the quay. and all is well.

Valley Way bores the hell out me.

I actually like tucks - I am not in the norm where I relish on being "alone in the wilderness". I quite enjoy going up tucks and chatting/meeting people on the way up. its quite fun. It's a fun trail as well. crowds don't bother me in the wood - but bother me everywhere else - odd.

 

[Jim lombard]

1. Twinways-Done it several times, hated each.

Sorry, I have to disagree with you there. I've hiked this probably a dozen times from Zealand to Galehead Hut and have loved every moment of it.

The Link is my least favorite. Mt Tecumseh trail in winter from the parking lot with music blaring is up there too.

 

[coldmountain]

The Cornice is NOT a trail.
Its a jumble of jagged rocks that tilt when you step on them. Its long its tedious and it doesnt bring you further down OR up the mountain. Its still better than not hiking as long as you dont mind moving really really slow without being able to look around as your full focus is needed on your feet.

 

[Steve-o]

Lincoln woods trail.

although this is a major hub to many fine peaks in the pemi,
I like to get off this trail as quickly and cleanly as possible.
Guess why?

 

[TMax]

If anyone's counting, The Link seems to be leading the pack and I agree. I just posted on another thread saying it was the worst maintained trail I've been on! It's as if the trail is being pulled by gravity off the side off the mountain creating all kinds of hazards an ankle busters! Number two on my list is descending Daniel Webster. First time I did it was in the rain after a wicked storm caught me on top of Madison during a traverse. It colored my exerience of that trail for ever more! I've tried it again a couple of times (what's that definition of insanity? Repeating the same mistakes expecting different results ??) in better weather, but I still dislike it immensely! It's steep with all those big boulders that sometimes move when you step on them!

 

[Periwinkle]

Just gotta second the vote for the Fishin' Jimmy. I refer to it as the F'in Fishin' Jimmy. I can't put my finger on exactly what bothered me the most about it -- I just know that I obsessed about descending it the entire hike up. Really threw my day off. My only regret is that if I ever get to thru-hike the AT, I'm gonna have to do it again....

And I was not a huge fan of the Bunnell Notch trail in its former state. "A sty" was my trail description.

But, do I truly regret hiking either one? Nope! The views from N. & S. Kinsman were great, and a night at the Cabot Cabin escaping the roar of bike week was well worth wallowing thru mud holes!

 

[Head]

the ones that lead me back to the road!! hence,back to work!

Now we're talkin'!

 

[jessbee]

One mans misery is another mans pleasure.
You guys are killing me with talk of disliking the tough trails!

Seriously, I am so glad to step out onto a challenging trail, that I would never call it a "least favorite", in fact for me, that's what real mountain climbing is all about, the hard way up ...or down.

BTW, I am working on my "list" of climbing the Top Ten most challenging trails in the NH Whites. Don't know which ones will make the final cut, so I got to hike em' all!
But to date, Huntington's Ravine sits at number one.

Brownie

Agreed. The tough ones are the most rewarding and fun. The flat, old, not-steep logging roads like Wilderness and the one leading up to the Tripyramids are painfully boring to me. The worst!

Brownie, let me know what other trails make your list, I'll be sure to hit them. I've done Huntington Ravine, so I'd hate to think I've already hiked the toughest one!! I guess it's time to move out West

 

[David Metsky]

I vote for the Cornice between Edmands Col and the Caps Ridge trail, only because I haven't hiked the Link yet.

-dave-

 

[shamples]

I remember the section of Crawford Path below Eisenhower wasn't fun and I was wishing we had just gone up to the summit and back down to Edmands instead of looping down off the summit to Crawford and back below around. I don't complain much of trails though, I mean what can we really expect from these mountain trails anyway? They aren't supposed to be easy.

 

[Sadie]

Least favorite

My least favorite trail I've done so far is Owl's Head slide, just so frustrating and time consuming. Doesn't mean I wouldn't do it again-- there's still something strangely fun about the challenge even if I don't enjoy it at the time!

 

[Nate]

I think it needs to be said too that even the worst "maintained" trails aren't nearly as bad as some bushwhacks out there. At least trails give you a gap between the trees to follow. With the tougher bushwhacks you have to fight with dense spruce trees and negotiate blowdowns much of the time. Plus, with trails the worst you can do is make a wrong turn. With bushwhacking, if you happen to accidentally drop off the wrong side of the mountain, there are no signs or markers to indicate you're going the wrong way. It's only once you pop out of the woods at someplace other than your car that you can even begin to notice that you're miles and miles from where you left your vehicle. On a cold, wet day with rapidly diminishing daylight this definitely isn't fun. Needless to say, I've never encountered this problem when hiking on trails. And just overall, if the highest point in New England is only 6,288 feet, then we really have nothing to complain about compared to the the real mountains out west.
But, to answer the question at hand, I personally haven't met any trails I loathed. As long as the rocks aren't too wet or ice covered and the stream crossings don't want for usable rocks, I'm just happy to be out somewhere where the boss isn't yelling at me... as much.

 

[sweeper]

I think it needs to be said too that even the worst "maintained" trails aren't nearly as bad as some bushwhacks out there. At least trails give you a gap between the trees to follow. With the tougher bushwhacks you have to fight with dense spruce trees and negotiate blowdowns much of the time... .

..And thus the name.

 

[AntlerPeak]

One mans misery is another mans pleasure. Seriously, I am so glad to step out onto a challenging trail,
Brownie

Then you would really like this one.