Mt Washington via the Great Gulf, 6/12

[blaze]

A small group is planning to hike Mount Washington on Saturday 6/12. We'll ascend via the Great Gulf Trail and descend via Boott Spur. In my book, the views from the Great Gulf are unsurpassed in the Whites.

Distance is 13+-. Gain is 5,000'. Pace will be fast. We are not trail runners... but we walk fast.

This is a shakedown cruise for the Pemi Loop the following weekend. You need not be Looping to participate in the 6/12 hike, but you do need to be in excellent condition.

If time and energy permit, we may add on Monroe on descent. We'd take Crawford to the Lakes hut, bag the summit, then take Camel Trail to Davis Path to Boott Spur. That would add 2+ miles to the total distance.

I am screening for this hike... so if you are interested, PM me and let me know what you have doing for hikes, lately, and what you do (besides hiking) to stay in shape. Please and thank you.

This will be cross posted on the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club event calendar, and probably on the New England Meetup calendar as well.

Fair weather only. Rain date is Sunday 6/13.

 

[Bob Kittredge]

Good luck on the headwall. I found it tricky to follow the trail when I did it a couple years ago. Being a wilderness area, I don't think the yellow blazes are being maintained, so they must get fainter every year. And the cairns tend to be pretty small and may get swept away by the winter snows. Throw in some fog, and everyone's going to have to keep their eyes peeled.

 

[NeoAkela]

How did it go? I'm curious about the trail conditions up near Spaulding Lake - they were almost impassible a few weeks ago.

 

[blaze]

How did it go? I'm curious about the trail conditions up near Spaulding Lake - they were almost impassible a few weeks ago.

First, sorry to be a bit slow in responding... just saw this today!

No particular difficulties in the vicinity of Spaulding Lake. What did you encounter?

Bob, you were correct about blazes being hard to spot on the headwall. I recall this being the case last July. Sherwin Williams could conduct a "yellow paint torture test" on this trail. But we were able to follow the trail with only occasional extracurricular unintentional off-trail perambulations.

The Great Gulf remains a favorite trail for solitude and scenery. I continue to have a love/hate relationship with Boott Spur, which is terrific (above treeline) and sort of muddy and miserable (below).

I had never been on the Camel Trail, which we took from Lakes hut to the Davis Path, en route to Boott Spur. I really enjoyed it.

 

[NeoAkela]

Back on May 22nd there were masses of blowdowns, flooding, and 2-3 feet of snow up near Weetamoo falls where I finally turned around. Amazing what a couple weeks of warm weather will do!