Double Bow
New member
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2005
- Messages
- 1,172
- Reaction score
- 219
Having a new outlook on hiking after the Bonds hike the day before, I set out with Shammie on this day to visit my last NH 5K and my last hut. I had looked at routes a little bit before but, I didn't decide on this one until the night before. I had thought about revisiting Adams (my first) while we were at it but, found that it's the only one left with a good view that Shammie hasn't done and we figured that would be the best for her to finish on.
That being said, I wanted to take a really fun and interesting route and so, we went up Howker Ridge. This is a facinating trail! We enjoyed seeing all of the falls and rock features like Bear Pit and Devil's Kitchen. Of course, Shammie was less than thrilled with the idea of gaining elevation and then losing some of it as we went over the Howks but, it made things more interesting and gave us some great views, plus we avoided all the crowds at Appalachia! This was definately one of the most enjoyable ascents I can remember. Getting there really was half the fun!
We had our slowest going making our way down to Madison Spring Hut. That, compounded by the fact that they had no baked goods
made the hut visit a bit of a let down. We were surprised to find that they had flush toilets there and I told Shammmie that they pumped it into Star Lake What was more disturbing was the guys washing themselves with soap in the stream just outside the hut Unfortunately, we had to navigate them as we started down Valley Way.
Now, this is where our route got interesting. We started down Valley Way and woman soon came up behind us. We offered to let her pass but, she said that we were faster and that she'd slow us down and insisted that we go first though she followed close behind. We continued down fairly quickly until we got to the juction with the Upper Bruin trail where we stopped because that was where we were turning. Shammie wished the woman a good hike and was given attitude! The woman must have thought we were trying to lose her or something.
Anyway, from there we took the Upper Bruin (which could definately use some trailwork) to Watson Path to Brookside to Kelton. We really enjoyed Kelton and made great time going over the long flatish stretch there as well as the steeper parts as we made our way back to Howker Ridge.
The way up was fantastic and this was definately a great route down. With all of the falls, rock features, and lookouts along the way, this loop is simply one of the best routes I have ever taken anywhere!
That being said, I wanted to take a really fun and interesting route and so, we went up Howker Ridge. This is a facinating trail! We enjoyed seeing all of the falls and rock features like Bear Pit and Devil's Kitchen. Of course, Shammie was less than thrilled with the idea of gaining elevation and then losing some of it as we went over the Howks but, it made things more interesting and gave us some great views, plus we avoided all the crowds at Appalachia! This was definately one of the most enjoyable ascents I can remember. Getting there really was half the fun!
We had our slowest going making our way down to Madison Spring Hut. That, compounded by the fact that they had no baked goods
made the hut visit a bit of a let down. We were surprised to find that they had flush toilets there and I told Shammmie that they pumped it into Star Lake What was more disturbing was the guys washing themselves with soap in the stream just outside the hut Unfortunately, we had to navigate them as we started down Valley Way.Now, this is where our route got interesting. We started down Valley Way and woman soon came up behind us. We offered to let her pass but, she said that we were faster and that she'd slow us down and insisted that we go first though she followed close behind. We continued down fairly quickly until we got to the juction with the Upper Bruin trail where we stopped because that was where we were turning. Shammie wished the woman a good hike and was given attitude! The woman must have thought we were trying to lose her or something.
Anyway, from there we took the Upper Bruin (which could definately use some trailwork) to Watson Path to Brookside to Kelton. We really enjoyed Kelton and made great time going over the long flatish stretch there as well as the steeper parts as we made our way back to Howker Ridge.
The way up was fantastic and this was definately a great route down. With all of the falls, rock features, and lookouts along the way, this loop is simply one of the best routes I have ever taken anywhere!
