Hiking in the White Mountains: From Subpar to Super Views

Date of Hikes: 9/24/11 & 9/25/11

Pemi East Side Trail & Lincoln Woods Trails: 6.0 miles
Hancock Notch/Cedar Brook/Hancock Loop Trails: 8.0 miles (2,000 elevation gain)
Click here for Trail Descriptions

Trip Report:
- Saturday's weather forecast was kind of crummy so I decided to check out the Pemi East Side Trail to see what Storm Irene did to it. It was heavily eroded and had some wash outs including one section where a huge water flow pipe washed away (click link below to see picture).
- When I reached the Wilderness boundary I went down to the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River and decided to cross the river. I took off my boots and waded across where there was one ten foot spot where I was up to my waist but the current was slow so I just had to make sure I had good footing.
- I headed back to the car and then went to the hairpin turn on the Kanc to meet up with Alton and her friend Mike for a late afternoon hike in over the Hancock's.
- We got on the trail at 4:45pm, Alton and Mike had just biked the Kanc East to West then back, so they were exhausted! To make things worse the weather was still sub-par for views and with all the recent rain we had to stick to the trails and bypass the Arrow Slide.
- We made it close to the summit of North Hancock and decided to turn back which was fine with me.
- The Cedar Brook Trail is eroded from Storm Irene and sand has been deposited in heavy amounts in other spots from the brook breaking its banks, pretty wild stuff.
- It was good to see Alton again, I hadn't hiked with her since the Hut to Hut attempt. She's very fast on the trails which I'm hoping I can be one day!
- Once back at the car I headed to the Woodstock Inn Brewery for dinner and a drink before heading to Haystack Road where I crashed in my tent for a good nights sleep before Sunday's hike in the Presidential Range.

- Click Here for Pictures

-Sunday-

Trail	Miles	.	.	.	.	.	.
Jewell	3.7	Gulfside	0.9	Sphinx	2.2	Gulfside	0.1
Mount Clay Loop	1.2	Gulfside	1.1	Crawford Path	1.5	Camel Trail	1.4
Mount Monroe Loop	0.6	Ammonoosuc Ravine	3.1	.	.	.	.
Total Miles	15.8	.	.	.	.	.	.
Elevation Gain	6,550	.	.	.	.-	.-	.-

Trip Report:
- Sunday's weather broke just right as the fog and clouds cleared off the higher elevations by 8am and I was rewarded with great early morning views on the Jewell Trail.
- The Jewell Trail is a very easy trail in good weather and has excellent views into Burt's Ravine across to the Cog Tracks. As soon as I broke above treeline the Cog Train was slowly moving up the tracks to the Halfway House before crawling up and over Jacob's Ladder. I followed it and took several picture as I hiked up to the Gulfside Trail.
- Once on the Gulfside Trail I headed north and dropped down to the Sphinx Col. It was mid morning by the time I reached the Sphinx Trail and with unseasonably warm temps I wished I had brought my sunscreen as I knew I would get some sun burn later as I headed up to Mount Washington.
- I headed down the Sphinx Trail to see how far up the landslide from Irene damaged the trail. To my surprise it had been cleared out by the Forest Service Trail Crew. There was about 200 feet of the trail where they removed some pretty nasty blowdowns, it was and incredible job done and the trail underneath held up pretty well and is still easy to follow.
- When I reached the bottom of the Sphinx Trail I turned around and hiked back up and did some minor clipping back of the trail where it needed to be brushed back above the landslide until the broken ledge with the running water just below treeline.
- Back on the Gulfside Trail I quickly turned onto the Mount Clay Loop Trail over Clay and then up to Mount Washington where I refilled my water and headed down to Lakes of the clouds drafting and older guy who turned off onto the Tuckerman Crossover Trail.
- Right before the hut I turned onto the Camel Trail to try and locate an old emergency shelter that used to be at the height of Land on the Camel Trail where the original Crawford Path ran across. As I reached a flat grassy section I noticed off to my right a rock about twenty feet off trail with two iron rods sticking out of it, I walked over and sure enough it was the location of the old shelter, I looked around in the general vacinity of the rods and found lots of old rusted nails and some old shell casings for a gun, pretty wild stuff!
- I then hiked the rest of the Camel Trail to Davis Path and ran back into the older guy who earlier had turned off on Tuckerman Crossover, we chatted for a few minutes about how great the weather and this section of trail are before heading our separate ways.
- At the Davis Path Trail junction I turned back around and hiked the Camel Trail back to Lakes of the Clouds.
- On the way back as I neared the site of the old shelter I noticed a depression in the grass running towards the rock and remembered the original Crawford Path ran through here, I then looked to the north and noticed the depression heading past the Camel Trail so I followed it for a few hundred feet, it's barely noticeable but if you look pay attention you can keep following it. I'll head back here again to see how much of it I can follow in the future.
- Once back at the hut I headed over to the summit of Mount Monroe and took a nice long break to eat a late lunch before heading down the Ammoosuc Ravine Trail where I turned on my radio just in time to hear the Pats lose, son-of-a....
- It was one of the best days in the White Mountains I've had this year, the weather was perfect and the views were awesome!

Click here for all pictures