DSettahr
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Climbed Mt. Washington with a friend while I was staying in Pinkham Notch, visiting some friends on trail crew. We ascended the Boott Spur trail and descended the Tuckerman Ravine Trail.
The Boott Spur trail is in pretty good shape. The AMC trail guide said it had some wet spots but we only saw a couple of puddles, nothing major. It offered great views of Tuckermans Ravine and Lion Head. One thing to note is that the actual summit of Boott Spur is a little bit south of the trail when you reach the top- look for a metal marker spiked into a rock outcroping.
We then took the Lawn Cutoff trail directly to the summit. This trail is well marked with plenty of cairns, so should be rather easy to follow in all but the thickest fog. We only encountered a few other hikers on Boott Spur, it seems most people ascend via the Tuckermans trail. The trail to the summit had a lot of loose rocks, making footing somewhat difficult at times.
Steep doesnt even begin to describe the Tuckerman trail. It ascends the headwall, gaining a signifigant amount of elevation in a relatively short distance. If I had to do the hike again, I probably would choose to ascend via Tuckermans and descend via Boott Spurr. (We were told not to even attempt the Huntington Ravine trail up or down in the summer.) The trail from Hermit Lake back down to the visitors center is also very well worn, and requires a lot of rock hopping and carefull steps to get around the exposed roots and rocks.
Didn't get any view from the summit either- everywhere else the skies were pretty clear, but there was some orographic lifting going on, and a cloud had parked itself right on the summit the day we ascended. Also had a lot of fun in the cafe at the summit placing bets on whether people had hiked, rode the train, or drove to the summit. It wasn't always as easy to tell as you'd think.
The Boott Spur trail is in pretty good shape. The AMC trail guide said it had some wet spots but we only saw a couple of puddles, nothing major. It offered great views of Tuckermans Ravine and Lion Head. One thing to note is that the actual summit of Boott Spur is a little bit south of the trail when you reach the top- look for a metal marker spiked into a rock outcroping.
We then took the Lawn Cutoff trail directly to the summit. This trail is well marked with plenty of cairns, so should be rather easy to follow in all but the thickest fog. We only encountered a few other hikers on Boott Spur, it seems most people ascend via the Tuckermans trail. The trail to the summit had a lot of loose rocks, making footing somewhat difficult at times.
Steep doesnt even begin to describe the Tuckerman trail. It ascends the headwall, gaining a signifigant amount of elevation in a relatively short distance. If I had to do the hike again, I probably would choose to ascend via Tuckermans and descend via Boott Spurr. (We were told not to even attempt the Huntington Ravine trail up or down in the summer.) The trail from Hermit Lake back down to the visitors center is also very well worn, and requires a lot of rock hopping and carefull steps to get around the exposed roots and rocks.
Didn't get any view from the summit either- everywhere else the skies were pretty clear, but there was some orographic lifting going on, and a cloud had parked itself right on the summit the day we ascended. Also had a lot of fun in the cafe at the summit placing bets on whether people had hiked, rode the train, or drove to the summit. It wasn't always as easy to tell as you'd think.
