It had been way too long since I had gotten lost on the Great Gulf Trail, and I was itching to do it again. I also wanted to finally explore the Sphinx Trail. And since my one-day round trip drive from RI was already going to be long enough, I decided to park at Ammo/Jewell and skip the extra drive to Pinkham Notch. So it would be up Jewell to Mt Clay, down Sphinx, up Great Gulf to Mt Washington, then down Crawford/Ammo. On Mt Clay, the skies were a bit hazy, which made for contrasty and sometimes blownout photos and video. But it's still always awesome on that summit. The Sphinx Trail is fun and beautiful and has a great wild feel to it. Thanks to Chris Dailey for the great Sphinx Trail info in his blog. And yes, I did get lost when I got on the Great Gulf Trail....well, not really lost, I just unintentionally explored a few bogus herd paths before doubling back and realizing that this particular stream I had crossed was actually the trail, and so it was meant to be hiked rather than crossed. The headwall was once again a non-stop optical illusion whereby the headwall and surrounding peaks seem to get higher as you get higher. The bottom of the headwall is a moss-covered rocky cascading brook. Once past that part, the headwall is one big rock-slide. There are really no cairns and precious few blazes to follow, but all roads lead to Rome, so as long as you're climbing the slide you're generally going in the right direction. When I topped out, I was about a hundred feet to the left of the trail. And based on the herd path I followed back to the trail proper, I wasn't the first one to have drifted left. The 20'ish MPH breeze on the summit cone was most welcome.
Here's a little video from the day. This isn't from a mounted GoPro camera. It's from a hand-held point-and-shoot camera. Tried my best for steady, level shooting while hiking. And of course I had to put the camera away on the steep, slippery parts of the trail, where two hands were needed.
The clockwise GPS track
View from Mt Clay. Great Gulf trail slicing up the center of the headwall
View from the shelf near the top of the Sphinx Trail before dropping steeply into the woods
About halfway up the Great Gulf headwall
Looking up the headwall
Looking down the headwall
Mt Washington summit
Crawford Path, LOC Hut, and Mt Monroe
Lakes of the Clouds Hut
One of the Lakes of the Clouds
All photos here
Definitely check out the Sphinx and Great Gulf trails if you get the chance.
Here's a little video from the day. This isn't from a mounted GoPro camera. It's from a hand-held point-and-shoot camera. Tried my best for steady, level shooting while hiking. And of course I had to put the camera away on the steep, slippery parts of the trail, where two hands were needed.
The clockwise GPS track
View from Mt Clay. Great Gulf trail slicing up the center of the headwall
View from the shelf near the top of the Sphinx Trail before dropping steeply into the woods
About halfway up the Great Gulf headwall
Looking up the headwall
Looking down the headwall
Mt Washington summit
Crawford Path, LOC Hut, and Mt Monroe
Lakes of the Clouds Hut
One of the Lakes of the Clouds
All photos here
Definitely check out the Sphinx and Great Gulf trails if you get the chance.
