Hiking in the White Mountains: Nelson Crag Trail

Date of Hike: 8/30/17

Old Jackson Road: 1.8 miles / Nelson Crag Trail: 3.6 miles / Gulfside Trail: 0.9 miles / Westside Trail: 0.9 miles / Davis Path: 0.4 miles / Tux X-Over: 0.8 miles / Crawford Path: 0.8 miles / Mount Monroe Loop: 0.7 miles / Crawford Path: 1.6 miles / Tuckerman Ravine Trail: 4.3 miles
Total Miles: 15.8 (6,736 feet elevation gained) A.M.C. White Mountain Guide Online

Trip Report
- Wednesday, I had some free time to sneak in a hike before having to be back home for noon. I woke up early and headed to Pinkham Notch to quick hike Mount Washington and Mount Monroe. I decided to ascend Washington via Old Jackson Road and Nelson Crag Trail. Old Jackson Road is an easy hike with easy grades, it's not too exciting but it goes by quick until the real hiking begins on the Nelson Crag Trail. The trail is rough and steep to treeline, it's a real butt-kicker, but it's worth it as the views are great once above treeline. The trail is also less traveled, so even in the summer you're not likely to see many hikers. It does go by the auto road at Cragway Spring, so there will be some commotion there, but overall it's mostly a quiet hike up the Crags. Since I was on the trail at 6:40AM, there were only a few Auto Road workers on the road when I passed by just before 8AM.
- I reached the summit just before 9AM, I had the summit sign all to myself and took a five minute break sitting underneath it while eating a snack before continuing on. It's not very often you can lounge around the summit sign undisturbed for as long as you please, so it was a pretty cool moment.
- Next I continued on, taking a less than direct route to Mount Monroe via Gulfside, Westside, Davis Path, Tuckerman Crossover, Crawford Path around Mount Monroe, then Mount Monroe Loop over the summit from the south. It was a fun and different way of dropping down to Monroe.
- From Monroe's summit I headed down to Lakes of the Clouds and then back up to Mount Washington's summit arriving back on top at 10:42AM. This time there were hikers and tourists out and about, but it was still relatively quiet, there was one couple taking a picture at the summit sign, so I went back up again and enjoyed a moment alone at the sign after they left.
- Now it was time to head back home, since I wanted to be back for noon, I "ran" down the Tuckerman Ravine Trail. For the most part, the trail is not runnable until passing by the first aid cache at the floor of the ravine, so pace is determined on rock-hopping, where you have to be very careful to pick and choose boulders, not smaller rocks that move, to "tap dance" down. From the first aid cache the trail can be trail run at a decent pace, keeping in mind to be courteous to hikers and not running up on or into them.
- Since conditions were favorable, (dry rocks) it was a quick "run" down to PNVC, making it to my jeep in fifty minutes, and then making the ten minute drive back home, arriving a few minutes before noon. It was the second straight year I was able to hike Mount Washington on the anniversary of my first hike of the rock pile back in 1988, hopefully I can make this an annual occurrence since moving up to the White Mountains in November of 2105. I am very lucky to have been able to spend an absurd amount of time on this mountain, something I am always grateful for. :)

The bottom of the Nelson Crag Trail, rough and steep, below treeline White Mountain hiking at its finest

Breaking above treeline on the Nelson Crag Trail

Once above treeline there is a great view across the notch of the Wildcat Range

An Auto Road worker driving up to the summit early in the morning

Looking to the south out of Pinkham Notch

Heading up the Crags, Ball and Nelson, with Washington

The final push to the summit of Mount Washington

Nelson Crag Trail terminus at the summit

Top of the northeast!

Hiking over the tracks along the Gulfside Trail

The Great Gulf Wilderness and the Northern Presidential Range

(Jefferson, Adams, Madison)

Mount Monroe and the Southern Presidential Range from the Westside Trail

The beautiful layout of the Davis Path

Tux X-Over junction

Looking down at an odd clearing, which is a spot where the original cut of the Crawford Path went through, I do believe this is where horses were tied to hitching posts.

Mount Monroe

Crawford Path southbound below Mount Monroe

Looking at Mount Washington from 'Monroe Bend.' The first train of the day, the old coal cog train's smoke can be seen.

Monroe and Washington as seen from Little Monroe

Lakes of the Clouds and Mount Washington

Hiking down Tuckerman ravine Trail

Tuckerman Ravine, the bowl

Tuckerman Ravine, the headwall

Crystal Cascade

Trail signs spotted from Pinkham Notch Camp to Mount Washington's summit

Trail signs spotted from Washington's summit until the end at Pinkham

Date of Hike: 8/29/15

Tuckerman Ravine Trail / Nelson Crag Trail / Old Jackson Road
Total Miles: 10.6 (4,621 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- Mount Washington will always have a special place in my heart. The mountain that beats to a different drum, it's only 6,288 feet above sea level but packs a punch that can snap any hiker back to reality when the weather rapidly deteriorates. I've experienced it all on the mountain over the twenty-seven years I've hiked it; snow, rain, thunder, lightening, fog, clouds, undercast, no visibility, and wind, oh that famous wind!
- On Saturday, I had an easy sunny and low wind day so I decided to go hike the most famous trail up to the rock pile, the Tuckerman Ravine Trail. I made sure to get an early start to beat the crowds up to the summit, as on a sunny weekend day in the summer there are hundreds of people who hike up this trail.
- The trail starts at the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center and easily travels two miles to Hermit Lake Shelter over a very wide access road. I passed by about two dozen hikers as I made my way past Hermit Lakes and then to the floor of the ravine. From here I only saw a handful of hikers and was able to hike up the trail in relative quietness with only the water falling from the headwall as birds chirped as they flew around the ravine.
- Hiking up next to the headwall is a great experience, the massive rock wall is quite the site to hike by, next to, and then above as water splashes down over the rocks from water that gushes out of the earth. While the trail is relatively easy, it's one of the few places where stepping off trail can have grave consequences. Unfortunately, every few summers a hiker will try and hike off trail toward the waterfalls and slip and fall to their death. The trail has been cut into the side of the ravine and even stepping off a few feet to thew left or right in spots can result in a serious injury or worse.
- After topping out above the headwall I made my way to the top over the boulder field that makes up the summit cone of Washington. I made it to the summit around 9:30 a.m. and there were hardly anyone else up there. I even had the summit sign to myself for a few minutes, which was really nice since it marked the fiftieth time I had summited Mount Washington. From the summit I went onto the observation deck and watched the last of the remaining clouds blow off the Northern Presidential Range.
- After taking in the views I took a nice break in the cafeteria and chatted with two guys who road their motorcycles to the summit. They asked me a bunch of questions about hiking and seemed really pumped to get out and try hiking Mount Washington in the near future.
- After eating some food I wandered around the summit a little longer, I headed into the Tip-Top House, went back to the summit sign, took in more views from the observation deck as a couple of the Cog Railroad trains came chugging up the tracks.
- Once the trains come up quiet time on the summit cone disappears and the the rock pile takes on a circus type atmosphere. This was my Q to leave, I have nothing against the swarms of people on the summit, I think it's really great that people get up here, plus I know where to go if I need to avoid the summit crowds, I just was enjoying the peace and quiet of the morning so I moseyed on down the Nelson Crag Trail.
- Within minutes of starting my decent I took another small detour to explore, this time it was just past the road crossing where I spotted and old concrete / boulder foundation and some iron rungs. I want to say this was part of an old military facility / testing hanger but I'm not quite sure as I couldn't find any information online and forgot where I had read about it in the past.
- After exploring I descended down the long exposed ridge the Nelson Crag Trail travels along. I had only descended the trail once before and had forgotten had beautiful the views were while descending. It stays above treeline for a long time before dropping down into the woods and probably has the best views of the Wildcat-Carter Range around. The other cool thing is it descends near the auto road so you get to watch the cars go up and down and see how many of them over heat!
- Once back below treeline I made quick work down to Old Jackson Road and back over to the Jeep in Pinkham Notch.
- It was a really nice morning hiking Mount Washington, I couldn't have asked for a better day for my fiftieth time hiking up the old rock pile. :)