The Trifecta- Great Gully, Sphinx and Six Husbands Trails

[J&J]

A few weeks back I emailed my friend Tim about possibly hiking one of the following trails: Great Gully, the Sphinx or the Six Husbands trail. He immediately answered back, "Want to do all three?" I thought about it and responded "I like the way you think." We had a plan, now we just needed a decent day. The first planned day didn't work because of weather but yesterday (7-11-11) we had a stellar day (albeit a bit warm and humid) and off we went.

Lots of pictures below. There were so many neat things to see that I had a difficult time weeding them down so I weeded down the best I could and still give a reasonable glimpse into our day. I hope you will enjoy them.

We headed up the Airline and Shortline to the start of the Great Gully trail.

The Great Gully

Same piece of ice that forestgnome and BeccaM recently posted about.

The Great Gully up close and personal.

A view to the floor of King Ravine

Alpine willow-herb.

Arnica with visitor.

A nice patch of Arnica.

Getting higher above King Ravine.

Mountain Avens.

Beginning to top out.

TO BE CONTINUED...........

 

[J&J]

The Great Gully completed. A fun, incredibly beautiful, rough trail.

A view to Madison.

Along the Gulfside to the start of the Sphinx trail with Clay and Washington watching us.

About to head down the Sphinx.

Sphinx Col. One of the neatest spots in the Whites, especially in winter.

The Sphinx? We had a debate about this. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

The Sphinx trail follows this brook most of the way down. Lots of beautiful cascades.

Alpine Marsh Violet

One of numerous cascades along the Sphinx.

Another cascade.

Mt. Adams with the Six Husbands trail heading up that ridge in the foreground.

Time for more up via the Six Husbands.

TO BE CONTINUED.........

 

[J&J]

Many giant boulders along the way. One for each Husband perhaps?

Another huge boulder.

A tight squeeze.

The Buttress trail runs right through that big boulder field.

The first of many ladders to get up the trail.

A view to Mt. Adams with the abandoned Adams Slide trail prominent.

Looking down one of the ladders.

A view up another ladder.

Looking down the same ladder.

The top of a ladder with a viewpoint at the end.

A very tricky spot here. They really should have a short ladder here.

There was a 30% chance of t-storms today but we saw zero signs of any. This was looking to the east over Maine. Maybe they got some t-storms.

TO BE CONTINUED........... (last time, I promise).

 

[J&J]

Shadow of Jefferson's Knee on the trees below.

View of Mt. Washington

The Knee is near.

Bog on the floor of Jefferson Ravine, a seldom visited spot.

Looking back at the top of Jefferson's Knee.

Back on Gulfside looking toward Jefferson's Knee and the end of the Six Husbands trail. Another fun, exciting trail.

Looking down on King Ravine from the Gulfside. Airline trail running along Durand Ridge.

A look at the newly remodeled Madison Hut sitting at the foot of Mt. Madison. We headed down the Valley Way from here back to our waiting car.

This was an incredibly beautiful, fun, exciting day. Other than at Madison Hut, we only saw 14 people all day, all on the Gulfside trail. Thanks Tim for joining me on our Trifecta of trails.

 

[Raven]

Wow - Beautiful pictures and a great hike. That's a fantastic cloud shot near the end.

 

[1HappyHiker]

Doesn't get much better than this! Simply superb!

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Outstanding!

I know I wouldn't have the stamina for this hike! Great shots of a great day!

KDT

 

[NeoAkela]

Ouch! That hurt just reading about such an epic hike! You should have topped it off with a descent down King Ravine. Great photos and narrative! I especially like the shot of the Jefferson Ravine bog - looks like a cool spot.

 

[PETCH]

Fantastic loop and great pics. That sounds like a tough one.

Petch

 

[Silverfox]

what a great hike..

the cloud shot is particularly excellent

 

[una_dogger]

what a great hike..

the cloud shot is particularly excellent

Agreed...so when are we going? ;-)

 

[mirabela]

Wow, that's a pretty big day on some seldom-seen trails. Good, strong work ...

 

[cooperhill]

I love the wild'ness of the Great Gulf. Warren Hart built some amazing trails.

Thanks for sharing.