BIGEarl
Well-known member
January 31, 2009: Mount Washington
Trails: Jewell Trail, Gulfside Trail, Trinity Heights Connector, Crawford Path (planned), Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail
Summits: Mount Washington
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue), MadRiver (Rick), Fitz, Bryan, and me
A temperature of -8 degrees, a wind speed of 44 mph, and visibility of ~300 feet combined to make things interesting. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
The day started with our plan being a traverse of the Southern Presidentials including Washington, Monroe, Eisenhower, Pierce, and Jackson. When we set off the temperature was 11 degrees, the wind was calm, seven mile visibility, and we had overcast sky at 3700 feet. Pretty good conditions for a hike. First, we split up. I went to check the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail and Bryan went to check the Jewell Trail. If either was broken out that would be our route to the treeline. Since neither was broken out and a west-northwest wind was forecast above the treeline, we decided to hike the Jewell Trail. This route is .6 miles further but we would have the wind on our back hiking above the treeline (the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail would have us hiking into the wind above the treeline).
The trail had a solid base with eight to twelve inches of dry, fluffy powder on top. Bryan took a shot at breaking the trail first. We made our way through amazing scenery on the hike to the treeline. The trees were loaded with fresh powder and all of us were covered in no time. Approximately half way to the treeline, Sue took the lead and held it the rest of the way to the treeline. Bryan and Sue did a terrific job of breaking out the Jewell trail and the three of us “old guys” followed behind trying to complete a little grooming to finish the job. All of the way there was no wind. Based on the forecast, we were expecting a wind of ~18 knots, but the wind was calm. When we finally reached the treeline it seemed that Mother Nature was in a mood. The wind came up and snow started to fly. Visibility dropped to a couple hundred feet when it was good, less at other times. Our first move was to add some layers.
All layered up we headed for the Gulfside Trail. Roughly half way to the Gulfside Trail we lost track of the cairns and trail. That’s not really a problem since all we needed to do was head straight up to find the Gulfside trail. The cairns on the Gulfside Trail are spaced closer together and very large. We had no trouble finding the trail. We made the right and headed for Mount Washington. The wind was coming up and the visibility had gone down with blowing snow. Slowly we made our way through the drifts and were soon at the junction of the Clay Loop Trail and Gulfside Trail. We made a brief stop for a couple pictures. A quick discussion of what was coming up for trail junctions and hike options and we were back on the hike to Washington.
We came to the Gulfside – West Side trails junction, discussed possibly heading directly for the LOC Hut or heading to the summit, and set off for the summit. We managed to wander off the Gulfside trail and reached the Cog tracks below the actual crossing location. This is common since the turn just before the Cog tracks is easy to miss. No harm, no foul, we simply followed the Cog tracks to the Gulfside crossing, made the turn, and headed for Trinity Heights Connector. With each step it seemed the wind came up a little and the visibility further degraded. We reached Trinity Heights Connector and made the turn. It’s only .2 miles from the turn to the summit. We couldn’t make out any of the summit buildings. Eventually, once we were within a couple hundred feet of the summit we could see the ghosts of buildings at the summit. We finished the climb to the summit, wandered to the summit sign post for the usual pictures, and headed to the area of shelter near the hiker log for a quick break. According to the National Weather Service we had a temperature of -8 degrees, a wind speed of 44 mph, and visibility of ~300 feet while on the summit. The wind continued to increase through the afternoon.
With the break done we set off for the Crawford Path and points south. All of us had used our goggles on the climb and all of us now had goggles that were iced up and nearly impossible to see through. Add this to the poor visibility and our exit from the summit was interesting. Bryan and I removed our goggles to see and attempt to locate the cairns marking the Crawford Path. No luck, we were unable to locate the trail off the summit. So, we simply relied on our knowledge of the area, navigation skills, and our plans. We set off descending the summit cone to find the Crawford Path after its junction with the Gulfside trail. It makes a hard turn to the south and was crossing in front of us, somewhere. It seems we must have passed between two cairns that we didn’t see and kept descending. Eventually, we decided to make a turn toward our objective (LOC Hut). We made the turn and continued to look for a cairn. Nothing. We pulled out a map to agree on where we believed to be our location and to pick a course toward the hut. At the same time, I pulled out my compass to verify the wind direction. I intended to use the wind as a navigation tool since working a compass with mittens is inconvenient. We had a solid west wind, not gusty and not swirling. As a navigation tool it worked fine. Due to the limited visibility landmarks were not available and there was no sun that we could see. A solid, consistent wind was our best choice.
We set off on a south-southwest course. The intent was to stay on the west side of the ridge. Before long we found ourselves hiking down into the upper part of a ravine. The place was familiar. Bryan also recognized it. A slug of clear air blew past and we got a glimpse of the far side and the ridge that was located there. We decided to make a direct route to the far side of the ravine and to climb the ridge. I recognized the ridge as the location of the upper part of the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. Essentially, we short-cut the turn at the LOC Hut. Once we hit the ridge we also found the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. The question was asked should we head to the hut and pick up where we left off or just head out. We decided to head out and finish the hike later. All of us had our fill of fresh air for the day.
The Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail was broken out since the morning and we had clear sailing back to Marshfield Station. The broken trail led straight to a spot next to our parked vehicle, the place where I had hiked in to check it out in the morning.
Tough to imagine a hike to Mount Washington as a short hike but that’s what we had – much shorter than planned. We didn’t have a short day. But, we had a good day.
Thanks to everybody for a very interesting day on Mount Washington.
Pictures will follow
Tough day for pictures but I’ve posted a few interesting shots from the hike.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
Trails: Jewell Trail, Gulfside Trail, Trinity Heights Connector, Crawford Path (planned), Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail
Summits: Mount Washington
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue), MadRiver (Rick), Fitz, Bryan, and me
A temperature of -8 degrees, a wind speed of 44 mph, and visibility of ~300 feet combined to make things interesting. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
The day started with our plan being a traverse of the Southern Presidentials including Washington, Monroe, Eisenhower, Pierce, and Jackson. When we set off the temperature was 11 degrees, the wind was calm, seven mile visibility, and we had overcast sky at 3700 feet. Pretty good conditions for a hike. First, we split up. I went to check the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail and Bryan went to check the Jewell Trail. If either was broken out that would be our route to the treeline. Since neither was broken out and a west-northwest wind was forecast above the treeline, we decided to hike the Jewell Trail. This route is .6 miles further but we would have the wind on our back hiking above the treeline (the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail would have us hiking into the wind above the treeline).
The trail had a solid base with eight to twelve inches of dry, fluffy powder on top. Bryan took a shot at breaking the trail first. We made our way through amazing scenery on the hike to the treeline. The trees were loaded with fresh powder and all of us were covered in no time. Approximately half way to the treeline, Sue took the lead and held it the rest of the way to the treeline. Bryan and Sue did a terrific job of breaking out the Jewell trail and the three of us “old guys” followed behind trying to complete a little grooming to finish the job. All of the way there was no wind. Based on the forecast, we were expecting a wind of ~18 knots, but the wind was calm. When we finally reached the treeline it seemed that Mother Nature was in a mood. The wind came up and snow started to fly. Visibility dropped to a couple hundred feet when it was good, less at other times. Our first move was to add some layers.
All layered up we headed for the Gulfside Trail. Roughly half way to the Gulfside Trail we lost track of the cairns and trail. That’s not really a problem since all we needed to do was head straight up to find the Gulfside trail. The cairns on the Gulfside Trail are spaced closer together and very large. We had no trouble finding the trail. We made the right and headed for Mount Washington. The wind was coming up and the visibility had gone down with blowing snow. Slowly we made our way through the drifts and were soon at the junction of the Clay Loop Trail and Gulfside Trail. We made a brief stop for a couple pictures. A quick discussion of what was coming up for trail junctions and hike options and we were back on the hike to Washington.
We came to the Gulfside – West Side trails junction, discussed possibly heading directly for the LOC Hut or heading to the summit, and set off for the summit. We managed to wander off the Gulfside trail and reached the Cog tracks below the actual crossing location. This is common since the turn just before the Cog tracks is easy to miss. No harm, no foul, we simply followed the Cog tracks to the Gulfside crossing, made the turn, and headed for Trinity Heights Connector. With each step it seemed the wind came up a little and the visibility further degraded. We reached Trinity Heights Connector and made the turn. It’s only .2 miles from the turn to the summit. We couldn’t make out any of the summit buildings. Eventually, once we were within a couple hundred feet of the summit we could see the ghosts of buildings at the summit. We finished the climb to the summit, wandered to the summit sign post for the usual pictures, and headed to the area of shelter near the hiker log for a quick break. According to the National Weather Service we had a temperature of -8 degrees, a wind speed of 44 mph, and visibility of ~300 feet while on the summit. The wind continued to increase through the afternoon.
With the break done we set off for the Crawford Path and points south. All of us had used our goggles on the climb and all of us now had goggles that were iced up and nearly impossible to see through. Add this to the poor visibility and our exit from the summit was interesting. Bryan and I removed our goggles to see and attempt to locate the cairns marking the Crawford Path. No luck, we were unable to locate the trail off the summit. So, we simply relied on our knowledge of the area, navigation skills, and our plans. We set off descending the summit cone to find the Crawford Path after its junction with the Gulfside trail. It makes a hard turn to the south and was crossing in front of us, somewhere. It seems we must have passed between two cairns that we didn’t see and kept descending. Eventually, we decided to make a turn toward our objective (LOC Hut). We made the turn and continued to look for a cairn. Nothing. We pulled out a map to agree on where we believed to be our location and to pick a course toward the hut. At the same time, I pulled out my compass to verify the wind direction. I intended to use the wind as a navigation tool since working a compass with mittens is inconvenient. We had a solid west wind, not gusty and not swirling. As a navigation tool it worked fine. Due to the limited visibility landmarks were not available and there was no sun that we could see. A solid, consistent wind was our best choice.
We set off on a south-southwest course. The intent was to stay on the west side of the ridge. Before long we found ourselves hiking down into the upper part of a ravine. The place was familiar. Bryan also recognized it. A slug of clear air blew past and we got a glimpse of the far side and the ridge that was located there. We decided to make a direct route to the far side of the ravine and to climb the ridge. I recognized the ridge as the location of the upper part of the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. Essentially, we short-cut the turn at the LOC Hut. Once we hit the ridge we also found the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. The question was asked should we head to the hut and pick up where we left off or just head out. We decided to head out and finish the hike later. All of us had our fill of fresh air for the day.
The Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail was broken out since the morning and we had clear sailing back to Marshfield Station. The broken trail led straight to a spot next to our parked vehicle, the place where I had hiked in to check it out in the morning.
Tough to imagine a hike to Mount Washington as a short hike but that’s what we had – much shorter than planned. We didn’t have a short day. But, we had a good day.
Thanks to everybody for a very interesting day on Mount Washington.
Pictures will follow
Tough day for pictures but I’ve posted a few interesting shots from the hike.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
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