Webster Cliff question

[arghman]

I would like to hike Mt Webster & Jackson (and possibly Pierce) with some friends starting with the Webster Cliff Trail. The part below Mt Webster that includes Webster Cliff is the only part I have not yet been to personally. I need a sense of when not to hike that part. This may be on Saturday morning and the weather forecast looks rainy up until Saturday itself.

If it has been wet recently, is this a bad idea, or is the Webster Cliff trail itself fairly negotiable?

 

[Double Bow]

Gator and I came down this trail on Friday and although it hadn't been raining the trail was wet and slick. We each took a tumble. If you do it in the rain, be VERY careful, especially higher up where it is steeper and therre are scamble sections.

 

[poison ivy]

Webster Cliff is pretty steep and open in spots, as Double Bow says, that would be a very bad place to take a fall. I'd personally opt for another route on a rainy day.

- Ivy

 

[arghman]

hmmmm... other than the H20-slippery factor (I will definitely steer clear of the cliffs if there is rain) how does it compare with other steep trails? e.g. the Hi-Cannon trail up Cannon Mtn, or Star Lake Trail up Mt Adams, or the ledges on S Baldface? (or Blueberry Mtn towards Speckled Mtn in Evans Notch but that one's a bit hazy in my memory) I posted a hike & I personally really would like to head up the cliffs but am reluctant to bring other people along if it's a difficult trail & I haven't been there myself.

 

[HAMTERO]

smoker's olympics

There were quite a few cigerette butts (picked them up) on Webster cliff when I was up there mid-May. If they can make it up, most people can. Stay back from the edge of the cliffs if is wet. I would say it is easier than south Baldface ledges. Just a medium steep wooded trail that opens into the cliff walk. Cool views of the notch. Don't do it in an electrical storm.

 

[arghman]

The trail up Webster Cliff was fine & appeared less dangerous than I was expecting. Not quite the slip-and-you-fall-off-the-edge category like Welch/Dickey or N Percy; maybe in the same category as the Success Trail (slip in a few places and you might fall 5-10 feet) but a little bit worse because of the exposure to the weather (30+mph winds yesterday w/ gusts) -- although there definitely were some off-trail spots at the tops of the cliff that I wouldn't recommend for acrophobes. I wouldn't want to hike this area when it is rainy/stormy; if the rocks were wet + no chance of rain, I could still see myself going up the W. Cliff trail. If I were going downhill from Webster I'd rather descend via Webster-Jackson Trail.