Hiking in the White Mountains

Tuckerman Ravine Throwdown & RUN NH48 #47

Tuckerman Ravine Trail: 8.4 miles, 4,250' elevation gained

Fall started off with extended summer weather until the second week of October. My initial plan was to run Mount Lafayette for my RUN NH48 project I have been working on for now ten years. Lafayette would have been peak #47, saving my home mountain, Washington, for #48. However, Andrew Drummond of White Mountain Ski Company & Run the Whites put out a challenge to all trail runners called the Tuckerman Ravine Throwdown. He would give out gift cards to the top ten fastest uphill ascents on Tuckerman Ravine Trail for both men and women between September 19th and October 14th. I wouldn't be able to sniff the top ten, but I thought it would be a blast to incorporate this into my up and down speed run of Washington for #47.

- I break the Tuckerman Ravine Trail down into two sections, the first is Pinkham Notch to Hermit Lake (Hojo's), 2.4 miles and 1850' elevation gained over moderate grades with a mix of dirt and rocks of all sizes, followed by HoJo's to the summit, 1.8 miles 2400' feet elevation gain with steep grades over a rock staircase and odd sized big boulders.

- My goal for running Mount Washington has always been an under two hours up & down. With perfect conditions I knew I could go under forty minutes on the descent but it was going sub 1:20 on the ascent that would be the make/break point. I set my goal for this ascent at a 1:18, (previous PR was low 1:20's) which should leave me just enough time to break the two-hour mark.

- On Tuesday, September 24th I woke up, packed my running vest, drove ten minutes down the road to Pinkham Notch, and started my run at dawn around 6:30am. It was a nice cool morning, temps were in the mid-forties, perfect for running as I motored up the first 2.4 miles to HoJo's. I passed a couple of early morning hikers in the first half mile then I wouldn't see anyone else on trail until halfway down the mountain. my previous PR to Hojo's was 35:49, last September, this time around I was hoping to knock 90 seconds off, mission accomplished, I huffed and puffed my way to a 33:15 with Hermit Lakes caretaker, Jimmy Rips, popping out of the ranger's cabin and cheering me on. As you can see from the screenshot below, I did not come close to the top ten on this Strava segment but still impressive none the less considering how many people have "ran" Tucks.

Very impressive times, it's mind-boggling to me how fast the top ten covers this first section of Tuckerman Ravine trail

- From HoJo's to the summit is when it gets steep, first up a rock staircase to the first aid cache, 0.6 miles 600', then a short reprieve to Lunch Rocks, followed by another steep rock staircase the parallels the waterfall to the switchback, then the trail steeply rises up to the lip and above it to Tuckerman Junction over rocks of all sizes, some loose and some stable, 0.6 miles 900'. From Tuckerman Junction to the Auto Road it is rock hopping at its finest over boulders of all sizes, 0.4 miles 700', finally it's 0.2 miles and 200' of road/staircase/gravel/summit rock pile.

- I love the second half of Tuckerman Ravie Trail, it's steep and gnarly with breathtaking views. I made good time to the bottom of the waterfall/Lunch Rocks making it to the second rock staircase in about twelve minutes, from there I held on up through the lip to Tuckerman Junction in fourteen minutes, making the turn towards the summit in just under an hour.

- From Tuckerman Junction to the summit the grade eases ever so slightly, it's still steep but turning over the legs is not as difficult as going through the two staircase sections below the headwall. I covered the last 0.6 miles in about fifteen minutes arriving at the summit in 1:14:52, three minutes ahead of my goal.

Sub one hour for the elites, let that sink in for a minute, incredible! Not too shabby time for me too!!

- Sub two was definitely in sight, and as I started rock hopping down I kept picking up the pace, tap dancing through the technical terrain past Tuckerman Junction down the headwall and by Lunch Rocks to HoJo's. The rocks below Hojo's were dry and grippy and I ripped it down. While I can't keep up on the uphill with the elites I'm proud to say I can hang with any of them on the technical descents, trying to navigate quickly downhill over this type of terrain levels the playing field, advantage me! I made it from the summit to the bottom in under 35 minutes easily attaining my round-trip goal with a 1:49:51. A run I will never forget!

- Over the next week Sarge and I would do our usual early morning hikes up the Rockpile and cheer on other runners who we'd see taking part in the TRT Throwdown, it was really great to see trail runners from all over coming up to Pinkham and giving TRT all they had. It was a really cool challenge that Andrew put out there and I hope it becomes an annual tradition, maybe a Lion Head King of the Mountain next fall??!!

I can hang on the descents. For a week I even held the top spot!

Really proud to do a sub two and to be in the top ten, for now!

Washington & Leaf Peeping Sarge: Waumbek, Great Glen, Cabot

- Sarge and I spent the first week of October getting in a few more hikes of Mount Washington and then the second week of October we stayed below treeline as a cold front came through dropping a few inches of snow up high.

- Foliage was peaking in several spots in the White Mountains which draws a crowd, so we stayed away from the awful traffic areas while getting in some great peeping days.

Early morning in Tuckerman Ravine

Sarge enjoying the clouds floating high above him as the sun rises

Another spectacular morning for the Dood

Hiking up the Starr King Trail

Starr King Trail blanketed in leaves

Great Glen, That is one happy Dood!

Leaf Peepin' at Great Glen

Bunnell Rock and Cabot Cabin

Bunnell Notch Trail

Crawford Notch Loop

Ethan Pond Trail: 1.6 miles / Willey Range Trail: 3.4 miles / Mount Tom Spur: 1.2 miles / A-Z Trail: 2.3 miles / Crawford Path: 3.1 miles / Webster-Cliff Trail: 7.3 miles / Willey House Station Road: 0.2 miles

Total Miles: 19.1 (7,350' elevation gained)

- Sunday morning I made the drive over to Crawford Notch to get in some miles while staying relatively low as the cold front and high winds still had a stronghold above 5K.

- I started the day with a steep hike up Mount Willey along the Willey Range Trail. This trail has seen better days as it becomes more eroded each year and the famous ladder section is looking pretty grim with several steps missing making for an adventurous ascent. It's all worth it though as views from the Willey outlook on this early morning were pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Crossing the train tracks at the start of the Ethan Pond Trail (A.T.)

Oooff, looking pretty sad

Awesome early morning view from Mount Willey Outlook

- After Willey I made the not so exciting trek past Field and over to Tom. Both have obstructed views near the summit but the trees have slowly been swallowing those up over the sixteen years I have hiked these peaks.

- From Tom I dropped back down to 302, after seeing two hikers between Field and Tom I now saw over fifty over the final two miles, all happily enjoying their morning on trail.

- Back down to the road I crossed the street and hooked onto the oldest maintain footpath in the United States, the Crawford Path. Trail was pretty crowded heading up but everyone was in high spirits, amazingly I had the summit and the stellar late morning views to myself before dropping down to Mispah Spring Hut to refill my water.

Mount Eisenhower, Monroe, Washington, Clay, and Jefferson. Boott Spur can be seen all the way to the right

Mizpah Spring Hut

- Webster-Cliff Trail was mostly quiet as I headed over to Jackson and then to Webster. The descent off Webster was the part of the day I was really looking forward to, it was around noon and temps had warmed up and I got to enjoy the views from the many open ledges the trail passes by before dropping into the woods for good. The last group I saw on the day also had a Goldendoodle with them so that made my day, Sarge would have been jealous if he had been with me as I told the pup that they were a handsome Dood!

- Once back to 302 I crossed the road and ran uphill back into the tourist zone as there were cars parked everywhere on Willey Station Road, to add to this nonsense was someone during the day decided to stand on my Jeep's bumper, shoe prints on it and hand smudges on my hood, presumably for a foliage picture while on a Jeep??!! This isn't the first time something like this has happened, there has been a time or two in the summer while out hiking that some boob has sat in my Jeep at Pinkham when I had the doors off, or the one time I actually saw some influencer at the Grand Canyon squat in front of my Jeep posing, my Jeep is not "tricked out" or modded, so very strange and a just a bit creepy!