"Steep-ing" it up the Six Husbands Trail to Mount Jefferson, Adams, and Madison

Date of Hike: 5/30/10

Great Gulf Trail: 4.5 miles
Six Husbands Trail: 2.3 miles
(Buttress Trail/ Abondoned Adams Slide Trail): .5 miles
Jefferson Loop Trail: .4 miles
Gulfside Trail: 1.4 miles
Lowe's Path/Isreal Ridge: .3 miles
Star Lake Trail: 1.0 miles
Osgood Trail: 3.8 miles
Great Gulf Trail: 1.8 miles
Total Miles: 16 miles (6,050 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- The Six Husbands Trail is named in honor of the six successive husbands of Weetamoo, queen of the Pocasset Tribe who forced all her husbands to place old wooden ladders through the extremely steep and unnerving sections just below treeline on this trail...and one by one they all would fall off the side of the mountain so she'd have to re-marry! (I kid I kid, she pushed them off when they weren't looking!)
- On trail at 7:30am, finished at 5:15pm, temps below treeline in 60's, temps above treeline in 40's, very windy,  hazy/smokey from a Wild Fire in Ontario Canada, with high cloud coverage but good views.
- After hiking 30 plus miles the day before I was surprisingly not sore at all and made good time up the Great Gulf Trail to the Six Husband Trail junction were things got extremely interesting to say the least!
- The Six Husbands trail is rough and rugged and to add to the roughness were numerous blowdowns all along the trail that made for some slow going and a couple of gnarly falls on my A$$, stomach, and one upside down fall onto my shoulder when walking over a group of blowdowns that gave way cutting myself up pretty good...Wish I brought a chainsaw!
- Along the way the Buttress Trail diverges to the right and I took a little side trip on this trail until it took a sharp right across a large open boulder field.  Instead of taking a right I went strait up into the woods in search of the abandoned Adam Slide Trail, I hiked strait up a few hundred yards searching for any signs of an old trail that has been out-of-use since before 1970, it's extremely steep and totally overgrown with blowdowns everywhere but I found what I was looking for...an old red paint blaze on a rock signaling I was on the trail (Click here for pic)
- Back I went to the Six Husband Trail and forged through more blowdowns until the real fun began with huge boulders and steep sections that need ladders to get up the trail (Click here for pic).
- It was so much fun until the ladders stopped and I was left under an overhanging rock on a mostly wet ledge making things very dicey with a huge drop just five feet to my left!  The next 50 feet which went under then around and up this overhanging rock actually terrified me...Huntington Ravine style!
- I carefully pulled my way up and around with the majority of my weight and force in my upper body because of the wet rock surface making sure not to put much pressure on my boots because they kept slipping on the wet surfaces. Once past that 50 foot section I finally breathed normally again and knew the tough sections were behind me!
- From here I would be above treeline for the next 6 miles or so, the weather dropped and the wind was between 50-60 mph seemingly out of every direction except the east forcing me to put on my hat, gloves, and wind-breaker until coming off Jefferson's summit.  The views were pretty impressive and there were still three minor snow slopes I'd have to deal with (talus slope on the east side of Jefferson, a steep rock slope above Jefferson Ravine on the Gulfside which I avoided, and a fun section of snow on the Gulfside below a sub-peak of Adams.
- The hike down to Madison Springs Hut on the Star Lake Trail was steeper and more fun than I remembered while the hike to treeline on the Osgood Trail from Madison's summit was alot longer than I thought it would be and the wind was relentless!
- Below treeline was a struggle, not tough but all the trails in the Great Gulf Wilderness are in the middle of nowhere meaning there's a few long sections of not so thrilling walking in the woods...Nonetheless it was a really wild hike, the Six Husbands Trail is out of this world, searching for the abandoned Adams Slide Trail was a rush, and the views above treeline with high cloud cover were great!

Pictures: Click here for all pics

Ladder on the Six Husbands Trail

Mount Jefferson and Washington from Gulfside Trail

Star Lake and Mount Madison

Mount Madison and Adams

Pemi Loop (Clockwise)

Date of Hike: 5/29/10

Lincoln Woods Trail: 1.4 miles
Osseo Trail: 4.1 miles
Franconia Ridge: 5.0 miles
Garfield Ridge Trail: 6.6 miles
Twinway: 2.8 miles
Boncliff Trail: .4 miles
West Bond Spur: 1.0 miles
Bondcliff Trail: 6.5 miles
LW/Wilderness Trail: 4.7 miles
Total Miles: 32.5 miles (9,500 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- Backpacker magazine rates the Pemi Loop America's second hardest dayhike, with extreme miles, rough/rugged footing, knee hammering rocks, couple of sections of Alpine Zone, and (if doing it clockwise) a final 4.7 miles on the most boring/mind numbing flat section of trail known on earth...So with that being said it was time to finally hike this awesome endurance hike with a stop at West Bond along the way!
- Left RI at 2am, on trail at 5am, Galehead Hut at 12:30pm, Bondcliff Summit at 4pm, hallucinations of a little old man and his dog in a canoe that would paddle me down the Pemi River back to my car at 6:23pm, finished at 7:30 pm
- Temps were above 60 all day, partly cloudy skies with hazy but great views, light wind, terrific trail conditions!
- From the onset I hiked at a pretty good pace, there were more step ladders on the Osseo trail than I had remembered and they were very well placed. Views to Owl's Head and the Bonds in the early morning from the Osseo Trail outlook were exceptional.
- Views from Flume and Liberty were great and as always coming up above treeline before Little Haystack never gets old.
- Hit my first wall hiking up to Lincoln and that's when I saw the first of many people of the day, a trail runner zooming along with only a bottle of water in hand.
- At the summit of Lafayette is the end of the Franconia Ridge Trail and so begins the "Dreaded" Garfield Ridge Trail. It's like a mini rollercoaster ride if you walked the tracks in hiking boots, after the first mile it's 5.6 miles in the woods of elevation gains and losses of every kind imaginable with maybe one or two views...I counted 20 ups and downs and of course the only time the whole day the weather was subpar was on the Garfield Ridge.
- The Garfield Ridge ends at the Galehead Hut 17 miles into the hike, wear I stopped, relaxed, and refueled.  I debated hiking up to Galehead's summit but I was just there two weeks ago and hiking 10 minutes to see a pile of rocks with no views was not going to happen.
- Next up was the Twinway and it's steep ascent up to South Twin, along the way I ran into Big Earl who was doing a Twins, Galehead, and Garfield traverse, nice running into you Earl!
- Views from South Twin were phenomenal as always and the hike over to Bondcliff Trail went pretty fast even with the annoying patches of snow hanging around in spots.
- One of my favorite spots in the Pemi is the section above treeline up to Mount Guyot, views are unbelievable on a good day!
- On the Bondcliff Trail at the Guyot Campsite Trail Junction sign, I took a pic of my favorite trail sign that says 0.7 miles to Bond which I like to photoshop extra letters and a zero in there (Click here to see what I mean)
- At this point of the hike I could feel the my legs wearing down but the views from West Bond, Bond, and the hike down to Bondcliff is so awesome that any pain just goes away.
- However, the hike down from Bondcliff to the LW/W Trail is brutal, every step is killer on your knees and then is followed by 4.7 miles on the flat LW/W Trail which after 28 miles becomes an ultimate gut-check.
- Luckily on this last stretch I didn't lose my marbles or get distracted by my favorite old rusted pieces of railroad parts/trash except for when I thought "Hey if I had a boogie-board I could boogie-down the pemi river and back to my car in about 15 minutes"
- Back at the car I stretched my legs for 15 minutes all the while thrilled about what a great hike I had just completed...a perfect day in the Pemigewesset Wilderness...it was Epic!

Pictures: Click Here for all Pictures

Mount Liberty Summit

Franconia Ridge Trail with Mount Liberty and Flume Summits

Bondcliff Trail Mount Guyot

Bondcliff, Bond, and west Bond Summits

"The Devil's Playground"

Date of Hike: 5/22/10

Devil's Path
Prediger Road Trailhead to Stony Clove Notch NY 214: 13.1 miles (4,800 feet elevation gain)
Stoney Clove Notch back to Prediger Road Trailhead: 13.1 miles (4,300 feet elevation gain)
Total Miles: 26.2 (9,100 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- My original plan was to hike the Devil's Path in one day East to West in June but after last weeks hike in the lingering annoying snow I had had enough so it was time to go on a kick ass endurance hike with my favorite daypack on!  I was going to see if I could find a car spot or try to join in on the huge group doing a one day traverse of the Devil's Path on Sunday until I took a closer look at my maps and guide book.
- The Devil's Path is 24.5 miles with an elevation gain of around 8,250 feet, however I noticed that most of the steep and fun sections are located on the eastern part of the trail and if I did an out and back of that it would be 26.2 miles with a gain of 9,100 feet!  So I figured bring on the hike I will call..."Devil's Playground"
- On trail at 5:30am, Stony Clove Notch 11:00am, Minor hallucinations 4:37pm, finished 5:15pm.  Cloudy with hazy sun, temps in the 60's, light wind above 3500 feet, good views from the many outlooks.
- The best way to describe this hike is "elevation up, elevation down" there would be six times throughout the hike where I would ascend over 850 feet at a time. Along with the gains and losses are about a half dozen vertical scrambles best described as "Chutes or Steeps" which were a blast to go up and pretty easy to find excellent grips.
- The "Steeps/Scrambles" reminded me of the "Chimney" between Osceola East Peak and Mount Osceola except not as high.  As for the "elevation ups" they were equal to the Wildcat Ridge Trail from Route 16 to Wildcat "E" Peak.
- I had trouble getting into a good hiking pace until I finally saw some views below Indian Head Mountain and got to the first and most fun scramble (click here for video clip) followed shortly by another quick scramble where an old tree and its roots are conveniently placed to help you up.
- I hit my first wall of the day coming down Sugarloaf Mountain and up to Plateau Mountain but once on Plateau the grade is flat for a good mile plus and I zoomed along the ridge and then made good time on the steep descent to Stony Clove Notch.
- I refueled and relaxed for about 15 minutes and then it was time to rehike in the opposite direction and a battle through seeing the same terrain again.  Hiking back up to Plateau Mountain I chatted it up with two guys who I met earlier who hiked the Devil's Path to Mink Hollow the day before and where hiking the remaining miles to the end of the Devil's Path at Spruceton Road!
- Hit another wall hiking back up to Sugarloaf Mountain but caught my 5th wind for the hike up to Twin which has the second most fun scramble on the trail, it's wet, steep, and like the other scrambles has great foot and hand-holds making it lots of fun....just wish it were longer!
- Hiking up to Indian Head I knew it would be my last ascent so I was in good spirits especially as I passed two guys, one an old hippie and the other one best described as a pirate, all that was missing was an eye patch and a parrot on the shoulder, they smelled...like weed, as where I smelled like a weed after 20 plus miles...Happy Hiking!
- The last two miles were a battle of the wills (Lincoln Woods/ Wilderness trail style!) as I had run out of water,  my legs were wasted, and I started "sightseeing" hallucinating.
- A pretty kickass hike for endurance hikers, the pros - lots of ups and downs with major elevation changes which will keep pushing you as well as the fun "Steeps". The cons - lack of continous views, when you hit a wall you can't just take a break and take in the views and get a boost of energy as if you were above treeline, instead you're in the woods and just have to suck it up!

Pictures (Click here for all pictures)

Platte Clove and Katterskill High Peak

Devil's Path (Sugarloaf Mountain)

Devil's Path (Twin Mountain)

Notch Lake

Hiking up to Twin Mountain

Killing Kittens on Galehead, South Twin & North Twin Mountain

Date of Hike: 5/18/10

Gale River/Garfield Ridge Trail: 4.6 miles
Frost Trail: 1.0 miles
Twinway: .8 miles
North Twin Spur: 2.6 miles
Twinway: .8 miles
Gale River/Garfield Ridge Trail: 4.6 miles
Total Miles: 14.4 miles (elevation gain 4,400 feet)

Trip Report
- With warmer temperatures and rotting unpredictable snow comes the joyful pleasure of what is called "postholing" which is what happens when you're pleasently walking along on top of several feet of snow and all of a sudden your right foot punches through the snow and you leg dissapears up to your waist and you fall awkwardly as your other leg is still on top of the snow.  So you get yourself up brush the wet snow off curse alot (if that's your thing) then you walk another ten steps and your other leg shoots through the snow and you fall into a tree...after about a dozen times you sort of get used to it and you just hope you don't posthole your knee into a rock...However it's not all bad because I've been told that for every time you posthole you kill a kitten so at least you have that going for you (I kid I kid!)
- Monday's forecast was another perfect day to hike with temps in the 50's at higher elevations and clear skies making for some great views from Galehead Hut, South Twin, and North Twin Summit with winds out of the north at 20 MPH
- The hike up to Galehead Hut went quickly as the only annoying snow was on the .6 miles on the dreaded Garfield Ridge Trail.  Once at the hut I relaxed for a bit in the sun looking into the Pemi Wilderness before I made the quick hike up the Frost Trail to Galehead's summit.  The hut is open for self service until it officially opens in a few weeks so no one was in there, the caretaker was out for the day so I had it all to myself!
- The Frost Trail was a bit of a pain with some narrow and slanted "monorail" snow (see pic below) making for slow going in a few spots.  Monorail snow is a pretty bizarre formation of snow that lingers around in the middle of the trail as a result of being packed down from hikers over the winter months...unfortunately this type of monorail doesn't take you to the Magic Kingdom!
- The hike up the Twinway to South Twin is one of my favorite hikes in all the White Mountains, it gains 1,150 feet in just .8 mile and I usually make it a challenge to see how fast I can hike up it.  My personal best is 25 minutes but today it beat me up pretty good because of all the unstable snow and it took 35 minutes.
- South Twin Summit has some of the best views in all of the White Mountains and I took a break and had lunch before I headed over to North Twin.
- The hike over and back to North Twin was pretty fast, the trail is faint to follow with pine needles blanketing the snow on the trail which is still several feet deep.
- Back at South Twin I took another break to enjoy the views and then I quickly descended the Twinway back to the hut postholing several times along the way.  Back at Galehead hut there was still no one around it was so very quiet as I relaxed and changed into my 3rd pair of dry socks and relaxed on the front steps of the hut in the sun for awhile and then made the 4.6 mile hike back to the car.
- Perfect day for a hike other than the lingering snow.  On trail at 8:30 am finished at 3:40 pm, postholed about two dozen times...ohhh those poor kittens!

Pics: Click here for all pics

Monorail Snow on Frost Trail

South Twin Summit

Galehead Hut and the Pemigewasset Wilderness

Return of the "Knee Hammering" Rocks (Mount Washington)

Date of Hike: 5/16/10

Tuckerman Ravine Trail: 2.5 miles
Lion Head Trail: 1.6 miles
Tuckerman Ravine Trail: 1.0 miles
Lawn Cutoff: .4 miles
Davis Path: .6 miles
Boot Spur: .7 miles
Boot Spur Link: .6 miles
Tuckerman Ravine Trail: 3.9
Total Miles: 11.3 miles (elevation gain 5,100 feet)

Trip Report:

- For the past 5 months I have been hiking in full winter gear or with the gear strapped or stuffed in my pack and although I have enjoyed almost every minute of hiking during the winter I have about had it carrying extra weight seeing that it is now the middle of May. I almost decided to go hike the Catskills this weekend but I figured this would probably be the last time I'd have to bring the gear along eventhough I'd probably use it for only 5 tenths of a mile....I was wrong I only needed it for about 2 tenths of a mile! So I sucked it up and with great weather forecast for Sunday I set my sights on checking out the skiers and boarders in Tuckerman Ravine and of course a quick hike up to Mount Washington's summit.
- Left RI at 4:15am, on trail at 8am, summited 11am, finished at 3:30pm. Temps at trailhead to Hermit Lakes Shelter 50-60 degrees, temps on summit 30 degrees, 50-70 MPH winds, wind chill 10-20 degrees...clouds gave way to a clear bright sunny sky with 100 + visibility!
- The route that I had planned to hike was Tuckerman Ravine trail to Lion Head trail (up and down), and head over to the bottom of Tuckerman Ravine and watch the skiers from Lunch Rocks.
- I stopped in at Hermit Lake Shelter to ask the caretaker about trail conditions and just to double check the weather report. After refueling and changing gear I went back to the Lion Head Trail junction and started on my way towards treeline.
- Above treeline winds were constantly whipping out of the west/north west right into my face and I had to break out gloves/hat/winter wind breaker
- Lion Head Trail is mostly snow free now and the knee hammering rocks have returned after months of being hidden beneath the snow. There were a couple of steep sections of spring snow just past the Alpine Garden junction where I used my crampons for about 5 minutes eventhough they were not needed and didn't help much.
- The trail hooks back up with the Tuckerman Ravine trail .4 miles below the summit and the trail becomes a series of boulders which you get to enjoy until just below the summit where the trail ends at the lower parking lot where you are greeted by about 50 of the most annoying wooden steps known to man!
- Wind speeds at the summit were fast and furious making it fun to try and attempt to stand upright on the observation deck
- The inside of the summit building is now open for hikers but nothing else is up and going inside, but it's nice and warm and was a perfect chance to eat lunch and warm up.
- On descent when I arrived at the Tuckerman/Lion Head junction and decided "screw it I'm going over to the Boot Spur and down the boot Spur Link!"
- The hike over the Lawn cutoff, Davis Path, and Boot Spur was very windy but the views and almost no one on the trail made it a great hike.
- The Boot Spur Link on the other hand was not so much fun below treeline where the snow still lingers a few feet deep and the trail is extremely steep. I started off kicking in step after step for .1 mile...to no avail, then I decided to butt slide for .1 mile...way to fast and not safe, so with my A$$ and hands numb I had to put on my snowshoes for about .1 mile until it leveled out where I took off the snowshoes and immediately postholed both legs into the snow up to my waist!
- The Boot Spur Link conveniently comes out right at Hermit Lakes Shelter where I then hiked .7 miles up to Lunch Rocks at the bottom of the Tuckerman Ravine Headwall to relax for a while and watch all the skiers slowly make there way up parts of the ravine then ski back down. There were about three dozen people watching from lunch rocks and about two dozen skiers scattered all over the ravine where there were no crevasses.
- The hike back to Pinkham Notch was pretty fast and very boring as the Tuckerman Ravine trail from Hermit Lakes to PNVC is not difficult but after a long day your knees get beat up on the rocky trail-bed which is not so enjoyable!
- back at the car I went to the pack room to stretch and relax before I headed to stay in Gorham for the night to prepare for Monday's hike of Galehead and the Twin Mountains...all in all another awesome day of hiking above treeline!

Pictures: Click here to view all pictures

Hermit Lake Shelter

Tuckerman Ravine Headwall

Wildcat and Cater Mountains from Boot Spur Trail

Tuckerman Ravine

Lunch Rocks

Breaking Trail...In May! (Zealand Mountain & Mount Hale)

Date of Hike: 5/1/10

Zealand Road: 3.5 miles
Zealand Trail: 2.5 miles
Twinway, Buswhack, & Zealand Spur: 7.9 miles
Lend-a-Hand Trail: 2.7 miles
Hale Brook Trail: 2.2 miles
Zealand Road: 2.7 miles
Total Miles: 21.5 (elevation gain 4,300)

Trip Report:
- Initially my plans were to attempt a Pemi Loop (32 miles of ups and downs) however while driving up to NH the night before the hike I started to have a bad feeling that with the recent snow (18 inches during the week) that the dreaded Garfield Ridge Trail was out to get revenge on me for kicking it's A$$ last June for payback after it had made me cry when I was nine years old.  So I played it safe (or if you ask the Garfield Ridge I wimped out) and decided to Hike up to Zealand Mountain with plans on hiking up to Mount Guyot.
- I started hiking at 6:45am on Zealand Road which is still gated for another week or two so I had to hike up the boring road, I was hoping to see a moose which I did only it was being pulled behind the back of a WMNF vehicle...obviously it was dead and very smelly.
- I hadn't hiked on the Zealand Trail since I was really little and it was a very easy walk with good views from Zealand Pond and some pretty nifty pond dams built by some eager beavers as you pass around the pond.
- At Zealand Falls Hut is when things started getting interesting, the caretaker told me how the trail up to Zealand past the Zeacliff trail junction is not broken and would be hard to follow.  There were two groups of two ahead of me but I passed them before the lookout on the Twinway, however the trail seemed to be broken out past zeacliff and I was thrilled until I realized I was on a bushwhack and then before I knew it it completely stopped about .5 miles from the last white AT blaze I had saw.
- I backtracked to the last white blaze which was located above the steep sections past the Zeacliff Pond trail junction and searched for the next blaze, it took about ten minutes to find the trail "corridor" and that's when I realized what the previous hikers had missed.  They where going along smoothly but veered off to the right of the trail and within 100 yards they actually crossed the trail but kept going off to the left then straitened out and then wandered to the left again before coming to a dead end.  I cut off some dead branches and put them over the bushwhack to help prevent people from following them.
- From here to the summit of Zealand I was breaking trail, anywhere from six to eighteen inches of wet, heavy, spring snow which made for slow going hiking blaze to blaze.  I decided at the summit to head back down and not continue to break trail up to Mount Guyot.
- On the way back I ran into two groups of two doing a Zealand-Bonds Traverse! (Big Earl & Sue, LRiz & Una-Dogger, and Terra the trail breaking dog!)  This hike is done with a car spot (Lincoln Woods off the Kanc and Zealand Trail/Route 302) is a great hike with the terrific views while asecending and descending the Bonds.
- The Twinway has this awesome outlook into Zealand Notch all the way to Carrigain Notch, with Mount Washington and Monroe looming large over Mount Tom, Field, and Willey.  I stopped for lunch here, and shed layers because it was very warm out.
-  On the hike down I was pretty disapointed that I had not continued to go up to Guyot, so I made a quick decision when I came to the Lend-a-Hand Trail junction to hike up to Mount Hale.  This was 2.7 miles of unbroken snow trail with the same conditions on the Twinway except more wet muddy post-holes.  It was about 60 degrees out by this time so I was in a t-shirt with snowshoes on mashing away at the snow!  Luckily the blazes on this trail are much easier to locate, whoever painted them should be given an award, they are perfectly placed! 
- The hike down Hale Brook Trail was fast and uneventfull, however the hike back down Zealand Road was beyond boring, it's worse than Lincoln Woods/Winderness Trail, at least that trail the RR ties keep you semi alert.  I did run into a skier who had been skiing down Mount Hale which was pretty cool.  I also passed about a dozen girls from Gordon College (or as I call it "our lady of perpetual sorrow") hiking up to spend a night at Zealand Falls Hut!
- In the end it was a long day...Started at 6:45am, Zealand Summit at 12pm, Hale Summit at 3pm, back at car at 5pm. Temps started in 30's quickly rose into 50's higher up and 70's down below, high clouds and hazy, but very good visibility. Fell twice on Twinway, one nasty face first fall on Lend-a-Hand trail almost into a shallow brook (I blame the snowshoes for these three falls!).  Took about a dozen direct shots to arms from branches due to high snow on Twinway that left a few marks.  All in all an awesome long hike!

Pictures: Click here for all Pics

Zealand Pond

Carrigain Notch

Whitewall Mountain

Lend-a-Hand Trail