Hiking in the White Mountains: Mount Webster

Date of Hike: 7/28/24

Webster Cliff Trail: 6.4 miles / Mount Clinton Trail: 3.0 miles / Dry River Trail: 2.4 miles / Sacco River Trail: 1.6 miles / Webster Cliff Trail: 0.3 miles

Total Miles: 13.7 miles (4,050' Elevation gained)

Trip Report:

- After a double Washington and duel 300th summit of Washington for Todd and I on Friday, it was time to take a break from rock hopping up and down the rockpile and head back to some of the lighter used trails with Sarge.

- Our route for the morning was to start on the Appalachian Trail at the Route 302 crossing and follow that to Mizpah Spring Hut before dropping down into the Dry River Wilderness along the seldom used Mount Clinton Trail to the Dry River where we'd hook onto the Dry River Trail and then the Sacco River Trail to loop back to the start.

- Webster Cliff Trail (A.T.) wastes no time turning into a rock staircase, it ascends almost 2,000 feet in 1.8 miles to the first open ledge. The gnarly and steep hike up is worth it as one traverses the next 1.5 miles to Mount Webster's summit by passing open ledges with great views of Crawford Notch.

Sarge, looking thrilled, at the old A.T. sign on 302. I will miss this one when it's replaced.

Webster Cliff Trail, it's a steep staircase in spots

Sarge catching his breath at the first open ledge with Mount Willey in the background

Sarge on along Webster's cliffs

Sarge looking down into Crawford Notch

Taking in the views from Mount Webster's summit

- Next up was the easy hike over Mount Jackson and down to Mizpah Spring Hut. By this time Sarge was muddy and enjoying being up high where it was cooler and not as humid. As we approached the hut we ran into a dozen hikers but from the hut until the end of the hike we would only see one more person, a backpacker who spent the night camping along the Dry River.

One of the few non muddy sections between Webster and Jackson. Sarge already in full mud mode

Dirty Dood on Mount Jackson!

The famous alpine bog just north of Mount Jackson

Sarge sporting some knee high brown boots

Mizpah Spring Hut

- Now it was time for the highlight of the loop, dropping down into the Dry River Wilderness via the Mount Clinton Trail. The trail is a mix of a beautiful soft footing tunnel to a muddy and washed-out semi disaster. Most of the trail descending is easy to follow, only a couple of spots where you have to pay attention closely; one is where there is a huge mud pit, it looks like the trail continues straight but it actually bends to the right up a tiny embankment before straightening out again. The second one is the following water crossing a few minutes later, it's a decent drop down to the brook and the trail on the other side is not easily distinguished as it heads back up the embankment before straightening out again. The third one is always a head scratcher to me, just before the last crossing of Mount Clinton Brook the trail travels along a nice old logging road before veering off down a steep embankment to cross the brook, however the logging road continues straight before petering out, and the turn off the old logging road is barely noticeable, half the time I miss it. The good news is that the drop down to the brook via a short bushwhack is less steep and you're at the water crossing in short order. Finally, is the crossing of the Dry River, the Mount Clinton Trail falls into the river as an old section that parallelled the river has been washed away over the past dozen years. Basically, you have to find the best way of dropping into the river and then walking the river for a few hundred feet before crossing it for good and hooking onto the Dry River Trail. Usually there are a few cairns here and there to help navigate, but do not expect these to be there after any big storm.

Sarge entering the Dry River Wilderness

Nice flowing trail to washed out and rocky

Sarge cooling off at one of the seven brook crossings

Old logging road just before the last brook crossing along the Mount Clinton Trail, and Sarge on a nice flat section of the Dry River Trail later on

Sarge standing where the Mount Clinton trail abruptly falls 10+ feet into the Dry River. We double backed about a hundred feet and found a safe place to drop into the river, or you could parallel the river in the woods heading downstream and drop in where there is not cliff.

Water levels really low so we roam around the river before finally crossing

- Once on the Dry River Trail we made our way past the suspension bridge and to a swimming hole we used to visit near the wilderness boundary, however it is no longer there after the December storm re-arranged the river. We did find an old piece of rail which was a cool find and a nice way to end the day!

Happy to see the suspension bridge still standing after last December's storm

Sarge finds an old rail near a swimming hole that no longer exists

From Friday, Todd and I both summitting Washington for the 300th time!

Date of Hike: 6/15/14

Valley Way: 3.8 miles / Osgood Trail: .8 miles / Gulfside Trail: .3 miles / Star Lake Trail: 1.0 miles / Lowe's Path: 0.3 miles / Gulfside Trail: 1.5 miles / Mount Jefferson Loop: .6 miles / Gulfside Trail: .7 miles / Mount Clay Loop: 1.2 miles / Gulfside Trail: .9 miles / Crawford Path: 1.8 miles / Mount Monroe Loop: .7 miles / Crawford Path: 1.3 miles / Mount Eisenhower Loop: .8 miles / Crawford Path: 1.2 miles / Webster Cliff Trail: 4.0 miles / Webster-Jackson Trail (Including Mount Webster Summit): 2.5 miles Total Miles: 23.8 (10,000 + feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- Sunday's forecast for Mount Washington was the following: In the clouds and fog until 9 a.m., then in and out of the clouds, under partly sunny skies, winds 25-30 mph with higher gusts. Perfect weather for a Presidential Range Traverse.
- Joining in on the hike was Tony and Kyle. Tony had done the Presi Traverse before, it would be Kyle's first. They are both really strong hikers and trail runners so it was great group to be doing a Presi Traverse with, especially since the weather forecast was absolutely wrong!
- We met in Crawford Notch at 7 a.m. where there was a light but steady rain, temps in the mid 40's, and it was windy, perfect conditions for hypothermia! Luckily, as we drove north to Appalachia the showers all but stopped as we headed up the Valley Way Trail. Temps were hovering around 50 in the woods and there was a light mist with heavy fog and clouds in the air.
- It was a quick hike up to treeline where the temperatures dropped back into the forties. Our first stop was Madison Springs Hut, where we warmed up before heading up the summit cone of Mount Madison. We all layered up and put on our windbreakers as the wind was out in full force as we started up the Osgood Trail. I had not been on the summit of Mount Madison since October with Kelsey for her first Presi Traverse. It was great to be back up the northern most peak in the Presidential Range, even if the conditions were sub-par.
- We didn't linger for long at the summit, we snapped a few pictures and rock hopped back down to the hut to heat up again. From here we had three options to summit Mount Adams. One, we could take the most popular route up the Airline via Gulfside, two, we could travel along the Gulfside to Thunderstorm Junction and 'backdoor' the summit via Lowe's Path (longest but most gradual approach), or three, we could just head up the Star Lake Trail (steepest approach). Since the wind was a factor we decided on the Star Lake Trail, once we hooked onto the trail we were out of the wind and back in t-shirts within minutes. We actually caught some great views down into Pinkham Notch but it was just a momentary clearing.
- Once we hit the summit we were back in the clouds and high winds so the jackets and hats went back on. We took a few quick pics and headed down the Lowe's Path to intercept the Gulfside Trail just south of Thunderstorm Junction.
- From here we quickly made the gradual drop over rugged terrain to the Edmands Col. We were out of the wind for about half of this trek and then got slammed again around the southern most sub peak of Mount Adams. Luckily, we were out of most of it heading up the short steep burst up from Edmands Col to the Jefferson Loop Trail.
- The wind around Jefferson's summit was pretty fierce, so we got out of the wind a little bit to refuel and warm up before heading down to Monticello Lawn and south to Sphinx Col.
- In great weather this is one of my favorite stretches in the White Mountains. You have views of Mount Adams and Jefferson behind you, the Great Gulf looms off to your left, Mount Washington's summit cone rises high above Mount Clay, which looks like a lump compared to Washington. As you cross over Mount Clay the Cog Railroad and the Southern Presidential Range come into full view. It's the first spot along the traverse where you can take in most of where you came from and all of where you are going. Unfortunately we were in the clouds for most of it so we missed out on the big views.
- Once past Clay we made the final push over to Mount Washington and were greeted with gusts of 60 mph plus winds a few times. I went off trail and up the tracks to get a few pics of Tony and Kyle as the Great Gulf cleared up a little bit behind them. As we crossed the tracks a train was slowly chugging up the tracks. The passengers got a pretty cool couple of minutes of clearing as they approached the summit. I think it costs close to $70 to ride the train these days, so at least the people on this ride got some cool views.
- The summit was a zoo but we were able to find a table without having to escape down to the pack room. I was happy to be out of the wind, my body runs cold and I needed about a twenty minute break to warm up and refuel. We all pigged out on disgusting cafeteria food, but when you have a craving you'll eat anything. Plus, where else can you get a hot dog on mile elevenish of a twenty-flourish mile hike??!!
- I switched out from my wind breaker to long sleeve hoody for the rock hop down to Lakes of the Clouds. This stretch of trail is 1.5 miles long, and is a rock staircase and sidewalk. The rock placement for the boulders during parts of this 1.5 mile stretch is a work of art in trail maintenance. Often you will see the hut crew jogging down the trail with an old wooden frame pack carrying around fifty pounds of gear, very impressive!
- We stopped in at the hut for a few minutes before our last adventure into the wind. Even though Mount Monroe is a thousand feet below Mount Washington, it packs a punch when it comes to wind speed. It always seems windy, and on this day it didn't disappoint. However, it was now early afternoon and the temperature was on the rise so it didn't feel as cold as earlier in the day. Mount Monroe is a pretty easy hike from the Lakes of the Clouds, it's around 0.4 miles. Once again, we didn't linger too long on the summit before heading south to Mount Franklin.
- Along the way we ran into Andrew, who I hiked with in the Great Gulf this past January. Him, his dog, and a friends stayed off the Davis Path and the night before and were doing a Davis - Crawford Path backpack. That's a pretty cool route, lots of great views along the way.
- Mount Franklin is a herd path off the Crawford Path, it's adds about fifty feet to the hike, if that, and has really great views into the Dry River Wilderness, but not on this day.
- From Franklin we motored our way south to the Eisenhower Loop Trail and then march up to the big cairn on the summit. The Clouds finally started to break on our way off Eisenhower and it started to warm up and in no time we were all in light layers again.
- The Crawford Path between Eisenhower and Pierce was a standing water / mud pit. Worst conditions I have ever seen in that stretch. Most of the bog bridges are rotted out and half submerged, they need to be replaced or the trail is going to get ripped to shreds and become wider puddles / mud pits.
- We finally got huge views from the summit of Mount Pierce. Mount Washington was still in the clouds but the rest of the range had cleared off. It was pretty cool to see how far we had came. From here, Kyle and myself kept hiking south while Tony had to jet down to the Highland Center to get back to take care of his Dog, Duke.
- Kyle set a good pace down to Mizpah Hut, where we took a ten minute break before the final stretch over to Jackson then Webster. We were back in the woods, it was warmer, and the trails were more or less a brook. Our feet were soaked but we didn't care!
- Views from Jackson were incredible, and views from Webster were even better as more clouds cleared away from the mountains.
- After enjoying the summit of Mount Webster we had the 2.5 slog back to the car. It went by quickly as Kyle recited George Carlin and Bill Cosby Lines. It made the descent over the crummy footing much more enjoyable!

- We hit route 302 just over ten hours after starting. It was Kyle's first Presi Traverse, and he had a blast. It was a great day out with Tony and Kyle and I look forward to other long hikes with them in the future!