09/17/06 Hiking Tuckerman Ravine Trail (Loop):
Took the van into a dealer on Thursday, got a rebuilt transmission on Friday, back up in the White Mountains on Sunday. Coming back across the Kancamagus Highway (ME 112) I saw lots of red meaning the maples have changed. Peak foliage season should begin next week.
Sunny and mid-70's today. Tuckerman Ravine has been known to me for 20-30 years. I've heard mostly about skiing in the spring time and avalanche deaths. Today I decided to hike it. I read the guide book and studied the map up to Hermit's Hut and the caretaker's cabin and it seemed like something I could do.
I thought once I got to the end of the trail I'd swing over to the Boot Spur Cutoff Trail and take the Boot Spur Trail back to where I started. And that's exactly how it played out although it wasn't quite what I expected... not by a long shot.
Most of the Mt Washington trails begin behind the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center mid-way (more or less) between North Conway and Gorham on US 16. The Tuckerman Ravine Trail is 2.4 miles and gains 1850 feet from 2025 to 3875 at the Hermit's Hut Shelter. Cascades Falls are nice at .4 miles of the trail. The trail is an old rocky road the entire way. The incline is moderate the entire way too but there is little letup. It is moderate continuously. I took about two hours to get there and then took a 30 minute break while I chatted with some folks at picnic tables at the caretaker's cabin.
I picked up the Boot Spur Link Trail at the cabin and expected it to head down or to at least remain level. Oh no! It started upwards and remained upward it's entire .6 miles and 800 feet to the Boot Spur Trail to about 4500 feet. It started out over large rocks but that soon changed to large boulders. Unlike a trail the other day, these weren't too bad climbing. Coming back down would be another story.
I really didn't see a lot of people on the trail. The first mile of continuous moderate probably weeded out all of the non-hikers, those who woke up this morning and said 'Let's climb Mt Washington today!'. A total of 10-15 backpackers returned down the trail as I was going up.
Most trails get steeper as the top is neared but Boot Spur Link eased up some and switched from jumbled boulders to scattered boulders and loose stones until it topped out at a ridge I assume is named Boot Spur. Really great views once I reached the alpine zone and the trees fell behind. The headwalls of both Tuckerman and Hunting Ravine are visible as is the Wildcat Ski Resort and what I called the Wildcat Mountain Range across US 16.
Fog started moving in quickly while I was at the caretakers and all but the top of Wildcat was obscured in the fog until I reached the Boot Spur Trail. Then it dissipated and I had a good view of everything. Great views on the Boot Spur Trail until I got out of the alpine zone again. I could see one mountain range after another although they were pretty hazy. Much of the vegetation had already changed from green to reds and yellows to add another nice feature.
The hike down the Boot Spur was not a great deal of fun. I had to give back all of the 2500 feet I'd gained and it was sharply downhill over wet rocks and many muddy spots the whole way. Took me 2.5 hours but I was being overly cautious to avoid taking a header. One guy coming up the trail said he had seen a moose on the trail and a couple behind him said they saw 4. I saw squat... gotta be in the right place at the right time.
09/18/06 Hiking Raymond Path:
Sunny and 70's today but it became overcast as the day wore on. Things got off to a bad start though. I came out of the campground on the way to Pinkham Notch and saw a tractor trailer plowed into the side of a granite rock face. Looked like the engine was pushed all the way back to the trailer. No skid marks on the road so the guy must have fallen asleep and didn't wake up during the crash. Looked like he wasn't going to either.
Back up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail again today. 1.7 miles to the Huntington Ravine Trail junction. Thought I might go up Huntington Ravine for a ways if I felt like it, if not, pick up Raymond Path instead. It was .5 miles on the side trail to Harvard Cabin but it was a fairly tough .5 miles for me. Guess the old legs hadn't recovered from yesterday's surprise. The trail picked up a few hundred feet and I swung on to the Raymond Path to begin the return loop.
Moderate declines most of the 1.8 miles to Old Jackson Road. 2/3 of the trail is pretty clear. The other 1/3 has small, jumbled, moss covered boulders, lots of roots, some mud. I could see where a moose had gone before and saw a single, fairly large bear print in the mud.
No views at all on Tuckerman or Raymond or the 1.5 miles back on Old Jackson Road. Several small trails branch off Old Jackson Road .5 miles from Pinkham Notch. I found a couple of views there, one of Mount Washington and one of Wildcat. Stopped for lunch overlooking Wildcat and finished the loop in 5 hours.
09/19/06 Hiking Imp Mountain Trail (6.3 mile loop).
Cooler today and sunny. Imp Mountain is on the other side of US 16 from Mt Washington and up the road a bit from Wildcat. I had been looking at this hike since I got here but was intimidated by the elevation; 1900 feet in 2.2 miles. A thousand feet a mile? Previous hikes in the White Mountains gave me a little more confidence so off I went.
The first mile was mostly flat with some uphill spots. While this is easy hiking I still had most of the 1900 feet to do and fewer miles to do it in. The trail passed through hemlocks and then into hardwoods, none of them yet changing colors. Then came the steep part. I expected big boulders and steep ledges to climb. Instead all I got was a steady, steep incline for the most part. I did have to make a number of giant steps upward and had to pause frequently.
I figured it would take me 3 hours to get to the top. At what I thought was about the halfway point, I had a sit down break and checked the GPS for elevation. Instead of 900 feet to go as I expected I only had 200 feet more. Boy was that good news.
No views on the way up. Towards the top I could see some mountain ranges through the trees. The top is a fair sized open area with the best views imaginable of the Presidentials across the highway. Not good for pictures today because of heavy haze. Lots of great views to the left too.
On the way down I met a young woman who was hiking through the Appalachia Trail. She left Georgia May 1st and still had 233 miles to go when she got to Gorham. A lot of scars and scabs on both her arms and legs from various falls she had on the way. The Appalachia Trail goes through the Presidentials and after 2000 miles she didn't think they were that difficult.
It clouded over by the time I finished the hike but the rain held off till 4pm and then lasted to near midnight.