Nelson Crag on Sunday the 19th

[Bob Kittredge]

I've been interested in doing the Nelson Crag trail up Mount Washington for some time, and I was hoping to have a crack at it yesterday. After breakfast at Pinkham I checked the weather: 50mph winds, temps in the 30s, 10-20 degree windchill, but no mention of rain. What the heck, I'll give it a try and be prepared to turn back if it gets too gnarly. Made sure I had a sufficient number of layers in the pack.

Off on Old Jackson Road at 7:15, nary a soul in sight. By the start of Nelson Crag Trail, the sun was poking through occasionally. Nice trail: narrow and well-maintained. Doesn't get a whole lot of use, but I did see some relatively fresh footprints now and then. Moderately steep with some nice scrambles in the lower section. By 4300' it started to break out of the trees and I stopped to layer up. The trail soon passes right next to the Auto Road and I saw a few tourists stopping at a turnout to take in the views. These were the only people I was to see between Pinkham and the summit.

Now I was getting up into the clouds and was glad to see there were lots and lots of cairns. Thank you trail crews! Winds stronger now, and occasionally a gust would push me to my left. The upper section of the trail approaches the summit from the northeast, so you're very exposed to the prevailing northwesterlies. I put on my leather-palmed gloves both to keep my hands warm and to protect them from the rough rocks. Got to the junction with Huntington Ravine Trail without too much trouble, but the wind gusts were still getting stronger, and the blowing fog was getting both the rocks and my glasses wet. I strongly considered ducking down into Alpine Garden to get out of the wind, but decided I would be warm enough and able to follow the trail.

Up on Ball Crag things got fairly hairy at one point. I was really being knocked around; how do people manage to get around when winds are at 70 and above? And I was having trouble finding the next cairn. I ducked down out of the wind and adjusted my gear. My gloves were getting wet and my hands cold. Just last month I had pulled the handwarmer out of my belly bag and said, "Hell, it's summer; I don't need no stinkin' handwarmer". Fortunately I did have a second pair of dry gloves. I also tucked my wet glasses away and found I could see the trail much better. Oh yes, and by now I was encountering the remnants of the previous day's rime ice on cairns and outcrops; not enough to make it slippery underfoot though. I soldiered on.

I'd been hearing the cog railway for a while now, and soon I crossed the auto road and then the cog tracks. I considered waiting around to moon the cog, but thought better of it. I was maybe 100 feet away from the summit before I could make out the building looming over me. 11:40.

Man, that bowl of chili tasted good! A check of the displays showed temps in the 30s and peak gusts around 60.

Met lots of people coming up Tux as I descended. Much less windy on this sheltered side of the mountain. Nice waterfalls and wildflowers in the ravine. A half mile from Pinkham a moose grazed in the woods about 30 feet from the trail.

I highly recommend Nelson Crag Trail, especially if you like to avoid the crowds. You might want to do it on a calmer day though.

 

[bigmoose]

My daughter Erin and I hiked up Carrigain Saturday and overnighted at the old firewarden's cabin site. We were thankful for our zero degree bags!
In the morning she wouldn't leave the tent. I had to pass her hot coffee through the flap.
I finally got her out at 8:30. We went up to the tower/"dance floor" and took in the view.
In the northern distance the ceiling appeared to be about 5,000'... The top 1200' of Washington was obsured by the thick cloud bank.
"You think it's cold up here?" I said to Erin. "At least we have some sun. Anybody up there on Washington, in the clouds, probably wishes they'd picked another mountain. That looks like some serious frozen fog up there."
She just looked at me and shivered in the cold wind.
(She had left southern Connecticut early Saturday morning where it was still 80 degrees and summer. Twelve hours later it was in the thirties, and winter.) Ya gotta love New England.

 

[marty]

Bob - it is quite possible that we may have run into each other without knowing that. I was descending Tux in early afternoon with two others. We got to the Visitor Center at 3:15. Wish we could have met.

Sounds like you had a great hike. We decided not to summit from Tux Junction due to crowds and clouds, but had a fabulous hike anyway!

Huntington and Nelson Crag are next on my Rockpile list.

Best regards,
Marty

 

[--M.]

Great job, Bob.

It makes me think maybe a fun, challenging day would be up Nelson and down Boott Spur. Good scrambles and tremendous exposure. I guess better weather would be prerequisite.

Thanks for the account!

--Mike

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Nelson Crag

Nice job, Bob! My wife, dog and I climbed Nelson Crag twice in '05. The first time, my camera died, so, I made another trip to get pictures. It's a long steep climb with lots of rock hopping. One of the tougher trails to the summit that isn't in a ravine, if you ask me. I loved it, my wife hated it. Every time she looks at the east side of Mount Washington and sees Nelson Crag, she groans. Lots of false summits. You think, "OK, if we get over this, it will level off for a while". No such luck. Where else on Mount Washington can you hike and not see anyone else? Only a few trails, and even then you usually see a few people. On the two trips I think we saw one other person that actually took the trail to the summit, the rest of the time we were alone, except for near the Auto Road and the summit. Nice trip report, it brings back fond memories.

KD Talbot