Hut Road Rally . . . AMC Huts in a Day / Trailhead to the Huts (TH2H)

Date of Hike: 9/8/18

Nineteen Mile Brook Trail: 7.6 miles  /  Valley Way: 7.6 miles  /  Zealand Trail: 5.6 Miles  /  Crawford Path & Mizpah Cutoff: 5.2 miles  /  Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail: 6.2 miles  /  Gale River & Garfield Ridge Trail: 9.4 miles  /  Old Bridle Path: 5.8 miles  /  Lonesome Lake Trail: 2.8 miles
Total Miles: 50.25 (18,150 feet elevation gained) A.M.C. White Mountain Guide Online

Trip Report:
- A little twist on visiting all the huts in one day, doing them all individually from their respective trailheads!
- Starting at midnight, I left 19 Mile Brook Trail and beat feet up to Carter Notch Hut and back down in the cool temps, passing one other hiker attempting the standard H2H. Once back down I drove 13.5 miles over to Appalachia. As I started up Valley Way the temps continued to fall making for great night hiking on the way to Madison Spring Hut. On the descent I started seeing hikers around 4:30AM, in fact I'd see about two dozen over the last mile, yowzers!
- Leaving Appalachia, I drove 24.6 miles to the Zealand trailhead and trail ran back and forth to Zealand Falls Hut.  During the ascent I was happy to ditch the headlamp making things much easier.  The trail was very quiet as I only saw a few hikers near the end of my run.
- Next up was a 9.9 mile drive to the Highland Center for a quick up and down to Mizpah Spring Hut. On the descent I started seeing quite few hikers, I was happy to get out of Crwaford Notch before the conga line formed!
- From the notch I made the quick 9.6 mile drive up Base Station Road to the Ammo trailhead. I made relatively quick work up to Lakes of the Clouds, mainly because there were a lot of goofers on the trail. Usually I say hi to everyone, but this was head down and get out of dodge time on the descent.
- The morning portion of the rally was over as the clock struck noon during my 17 mile drive to Gale River trailhead. The hike up to Galehead was not that exciting but the trails were basically empty until closing in on the hut, which had no baked goods, a major disappointment! I ran back down from the hut making it to the Jeep just before 3PM.
- Now was the most difficult part of the day, finding a place to park in Franconia Notch! Luckily, I hit the notch during a sweet spot timing wise, as there were plenty of open spaces on both sides of Lafayette Place. (11.4 miles driven)
- The hike up to Greenleaf Hut was a rough one, not that I was too tired but as I was going up a hundred plus hikers were coming down, what a zoo! I reached the hut just before 4:30PM, it was a madhouse inside so I just turned around, forgetting to sign the guest book. I was dreading the run down but luckily it was only congested during the first mile followed by several good gaps for running down low aided by taking the hut croo shortcut.
- As I reached Lafayette Place, I motored my way up to Lonesome Lake Hut, signed the book, snapped a few pics, and ran back to the car finishing at 5:56PM
- It was a challenging and extremely fun day visiting the huts and traveling around the Whites. I also rolled the Jeep over 200K miles during the outing. :) 

Stats: 17 hours 56 minutes total time / 14 hours 40 minutes hiking / 3 hours 16 minutes driving and gearing up / 90 miles driven between trailheads / 140 miles driven door to door.

19MBT 12AM, Carter Notch Hut 1:03AM, back down at 1:53AM / Valley way 2:21AM, Madison Spring 3:48AM, back down 4:50AM / Zealand Trail 5:37AM, Zealand Falls Hut 6:18AM, back down 6:51AM / Crawford Path 7:27AM, Mizpah Springs 8:20AM, back down 9AM / Ammo Trail 9:21AM, Lakes 10:32AM, back down 11:27AM / Gale River Trail 12:10PM, Galehead Hut 1:41PM, back down 2:45PM / Old Bridle Path 3:17PM, Greenleaf Hut 4:24PM, back down 5:07PM / Lonesome Lake Hut 5:37PM, back down 5:56 PM

 Elevation over distance profile

map of route, trails and driving (16, 2, 115, 3, 302, 93, Zealand Road,  Base Station Road, Gale River Road

Hut signs: CN 1:53AM / MS 3:48AM / ZF 6:18AM / MzS 8:20AM / LOC 10:32AM / GH 1:41PM / GL 4:24PM / LL 5:37PM

Trails taken

Mizpah Cutoff.  Well placed rock step have stopped erosion along this trail, if not it'd be a deep half pipe tunnel

Gem Pool on the Ammo Trail

Approaching Lakes of the Clouds with Mount Monroe in view

Descending Ammo Trail

I love this old little sturdy ladder along the Ammo Trail

Twin Brook & Franconia Brook valley

Mount Lafayette & Lincoln.  It appears that Lincoln is higher than Lafayette but that's not the case, it's just the angle from where the pic is snapped

Lonesome Lake and Kinsman Ridge as seen from Agony Ridge 

Greenleaf Hut and Mount Lafayette

Lonesome Lake

I nabbed the best spot in Lafayette Place, right at my finish line!!

Sunset in the Presi's: Monroe and Washington Loop

Date of Hike: 9/20/13

Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail: 3.1 miles  / Monroe Loop Trail: 0.6 miles / Crawford Path: 1.7 miles  /  Gulfside Trail: 1.4 miles  /  Jewell Trail: 3.1 miles  /  Base Road: 0.5 miles
Total Miles: 10.4 miles (4,200 feet elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- Friday I hit the trail at 5pm and zoomed up the Ammonnosuc Ravine Trail with the idea to catch sunset somewhere along the Crawford Path between Lakes of the Clouds and the summit of Mount Washington.
- The weather was absolutely perfect for the second to last night of the summer.  Temps were in the high 50's and the wind was light and variable for the whole hike.  the Ammo Trail is one of my favorites in the Whites, it starts off gradual for the first two miles to the Gem Pool.  From here you gain over 1,500 feet in just one mile.  It's relentlessly steep with ok to rough footing, which is right in my wheel house!
- As the Ammo Trail gains elevation it travels near and across some small cascades over ledges as the trees grow smaller and the views of Washington get bigger.
- As I started to gain the ridge I smelled food, hut food!  I thought I was going coo-coo bananas because I always remembered Madison Springs and Lakes of the Clouds huts to be closed by early September.  To my surprise I reached the hut just before six as the guests where milling around outside enjoying the weather and views before eating a yummy dinner.
- I quickly headed up and down Mount Monroe to get the classic Lakes of the Clouds and Washington summit cone view from the Monroe Loop Trail and the Southern Presidential Range view from the summit of Monroe.
-  As I passed by the hut they were now serving food, it smelled really good and I thought about heading in to try and score a free meal but I was making great time and now could make it close to the summit before sunset.
-  I was still in a t-shirt as I made my way up to the summit cone as the day faded away.  The shadows kept growing, the sun kept dropping, and the colors kept changing from yellow to gold to orange to purple, red, blue, and orange all at once.
- The sun slowly set behind the Green Mountains of Vermont and I could pick out Mount Mansfield's profile of the 'chin', 'nose', and 'forehead' off in the distance.
- I made it to the summit just as the sun vanished while standing on the observatory deck at 6,288 feet as darkness slowly fell around me.  There was one OBS volunteer up there taking pictures, he would be the last person I saw until I got back to my car.
- It was a little cooler on the summit, temps in the 40's and light wind so I put on my long sleeve and my light mittens before heading down the cog tracks to intercept the Gulfside Trail at the Westside Trail junction.
- From here I rocked hopped my way to the Jewel Trail junction were I had my supper, a PB&J sandwich.  I finally had to put on my headlamp on the Jewell Trail.  Eventhough the sun set about a half hour ago it was still easy enough to navigate above treeline with no light.  I did hike too fast so the full moon wasn't even close to dominating the sky above, if it was I wouldn't have needed my headlamp until treeline.
- The hike out in the dark was peaceful and calming.  I was back in a t-shirt and mitten-less a few minutes after heading down the Jewell Trail.  I could see distant lights from houses and cars down in the valley as I made my way back to my car.  It was a quick hike and run back to the car, my headlamp lights up the trail so I was comfortable running with no issues.
- When I reached the junction that lead to the old Jewell trailhead which began at the Cog Station I took it and enjoyed the nice half mile walk along Base Road back to my car, ending a perfect sunset hike!

 

 Nice little rock hop section on the lower end of the Ammonoosuc Ravine trail

 A new short re-route near a washout

 Ammonoosuc River

 Gem Pool

 Above the Gem Pool the Ammo Trail gets steep

 A short little ladder to help the vertically challenged ;)

 Looking down a slab section of the trail

Small cascades along the trail

 'Algae' Cascade

Upper ends of the Ammonoosuc River 

 Stairway to the Alpine Zone

 A helpful sign to keep you headed the right way

 Gaining the ridge, Lakes of the Clouds Hut

 The last train of the day passes by Jacob's Ladder

 Lakes of the Clouds and Mount Washington

 Lakes of the Clouds Hut

 Lil' Monroe and the Southern Presidential Range

 Lil' Monroe

 View from the summit of Mount Monroe

 Mount Clay and Jefferson, if you look really closely you can see Mount Adams, looks like a shadow to the right of Clay!

 Mount Washington Hotel and Golf Course

 Summit cone of Mount Washington

 Late day sun shining bright over the western shoulder of Mount Monroe

 Lakes of the Clouds Hut

 The hut and the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail junction

 Crawford Path heading north

 Mount Monroe and Lakes of the Clouds Hut

 The Crawford Path has had exception trail work since it's heavily used

 Golden grass fields of Mount Washington

 Mount Monroe

 Lakes of the Clouds

 One of the best views in the Whites, a little more than 24 hours later there were 50 mph winds, low visibility, and driving rain! 

 Twin Range, Franconia Ridge, and the 'Moose' to the south

 Sun slowly falling to the west

 A grassy knoll about a half mile from the summit

 Southern Presidential Range

 The final 0.3 miles to the summit

 Sunset at 6:43 p.m.

 Twin Range and Franconia Ridge in a purple Haze

Southern Presidential Range during twilight 

 Newly painted rocks near the top!

 Sunset over the Green mountains

 Summit Cone

 All alone on Mount Washington's summit

 Mount Jefferson, Adams, and Madison

 Observation deck at sunset

 Mount Madison and Madison Springs Hut

 Mount Jefferson

 A plane flying southwest as the sun dissapears

 Sunset from the observatory

 Cog Tracks

 Mount Washington OBS - 'Castle in the Clouds'

 Mount Masfield

 Getting darker

 The Gulfside Trail

 Beautiful mix of colors while skirting around Mount Clay's summit cone on the Gulfside Trail

 Gulfside / Jewell Trail junction

 Jewell Trail

 Ammonoosuc Brook

 Cog Station at Base Road

Historical marker at the Cog Station on Base Road