Mt Garfield, up close and personal with the Pemi. Friday Sep. 16, 2016

After looking at the forecast early in the week and seeing a beautiful, late summer, sunny day forecast for Friday, I put in for a vacation day and began planning a hike.  Mt. Garfield had been near the top of a lot of my short lists for hikes of late.  Having really pushed it with a lot of big elevation gain hikes on steep trails the past few weeks, I was looking for something a little bit mellower this time out.  Being a clear sunny day, another criteria for the hike was a good view.  After perusing Steve Smith's trip reports for Mt. Garfield and the Garfield trail on his blog Mountain Wandering, I decided that Mt Garfield fit the bill perfectly.  You can read those reviews by clicking here.

I got a nice early start from Quincy and was on the trail by 7:24.  The Garfield trail is a beautiful trail with a gentle to moderate grade for the 4.8 miles till it meets up with the Garfield ridge trail near the summit of Mt. Garfield.

Some nice hard wood and conifer forests line the way as you meander gradually upward over the good footing and never overly steep terrain.

Morning sunlight streaming through the leaves of this beautiful tall White Birch along the trail.

This spindly Birches that have been stripped of their leaves made for interesting pictures against the clear blue of this late summer sky.  It would be interesting to know how their leaves were stripped.  Perhaps in a storm because they are so much taller than the surrounding trees.

These Hobble Bush leaves are beginning to take on a deep reddish purple hue as autumn nears.

A gorgeous stand of White Birches beside the trail.

 When you reach the summit of Mt. Garfield, you are rewarded with up close and personal views of the Pemigewasset Wilderness that are nothing short of spectacular.   In this picture the twin horns of Flume and Liberty are framed by Owl's Head on the left and the Franconia ridge on the left.

A great view of the Franconia ridge and the broad backside of Lafayette.

Adam, a hiker from Lowell, MA was kind enough to take my summit photo.

Owl's Head front and center.  Holding court with the lofty peaks all around.

A beautiful look into the depths of the Franconia Brook Valley.  From left to right can be seen, some of Guyot, West Bond, Carrigain peaking over, Bond Cliff, the Hancocks, Passaconaway in the back, the Tripyramids, the Osceolas on the right, Mt. Huntington and Hitchcock in the center of the picture and of course the ever present Owl's head dominating the right side of the picture.

A nice perspective of North Twin, South Twin and Galehead.  Hiker's lounging in the sunshine taking in the views.

There also wide vistas out to Vermont to the West and Northwest.

It was a beautiful day on a great Mountain.  I have a feeling I will be revisiting this one soon to check out the Autumn colors.

Mt. Washington Saturday September 3 2016, Beautiful Day and Lessons Learned

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear as advertised.  I had been watching the weather forecast all week and was excited to get above tree line in the Presidential range.  After the usual excitement of the pre hike route planning on the White Mountain Guide Online site (invaluable resource, highly recommended), I couldn't wait to get out on the trail.

Saturday's destination was Mount Washington.  To get the most time above tree line I settled on taking the Boott Spur up to the Davis Path then Joining the Tuckerman Ravine Trail to the Summit.  I chose Lion's Head to the Tuckerman Ravine Trail for the descending route.

The day's hike would be chock full of amazing views.  As it turned, out it the last third of the day would be chock full of psychological stress.  This stress could have been avoided with better planning.  I learned a difficult but thankfully not perilous lesson about planning and preparedness.  More on that later.

Shortly after leaving the visitors center at Pinkham Notch, the Tuckerman Ravine Trail crosses the Cutler River.  There is a beautiful downstream look at a cascade and the Southern Eastern knob of Wildcat D as you cross the bridge.

The Boott Spur Trail gets right down to business, climbing steeply up Boott Spur with the aide, in one place, of what looks to be a fairly new ladder, over a particularly steep section.

Bog bridges on one the leveler sections of the trail.  

As the trail begins to crest the lower section of the ridge, by turning around and looking back you get this standing view of the Wildcat Ski Area.

From a side path marked "Outlook", on your right as head up the trail, you get this restricted view of the head wall of Huntington Ravine.

Further up the ridge, a side path leads to the Harvard Rock outlook which provides this great view into Tuckerman's ravine.

This outlook also provides a great view of North and Middle Carter and Imp Face to the Northeast.

When you see this sign you know you are about to break out above tree line and on a day like Saturday the payoff in views is worth the arduous climb to get there.

Once above tree line the views are nothing short of spectacular.  Here you see DoubleHead just right of center and North Kearsage to the right of that.

As you continue along the ridge, if you turn around and look behind you to the Northeast, you get a fantastic panorama of the Wildcats, Carter Dome, Mt. Hight and all three of the Carters.  Little Wildcat is in right center of the frame, in front of North Carter.

The trail passes by the interesting Split Rock.

Just past here, there is a nice view to the Southwest across the Glen Boulder trail and Gulf of Slides, with Attitash, North and Middle Moat on the right sight of the picture.

A look up across the Boott Spur ridge and Tuckerman's Ravine at the summit of Mt. Washington.

Heading up toward Boot Spur.

A great view to the South across the Boot Spur ridge.  The Moats, Chocorua and I believe Carrigain and the Osceolas are visible in this shot.  I am still working on my mountain identification skills.

Heading across Bigelow Lawn on the Lawn Cutoff.

A view back at the hulking Boott Spur and the South Headwall of Tuckerman's Ravine while heading up the summit cone.

Looking out across the southern Presidentials with Monroe in the foreground.

A crowded summit and endless views on this beautiful Labor Day weekend.   

Heading down Lion's Head trail as the sun was setting beautifully on this spectacular day.

This is where the cautionary part of the tale begins.  First I will say that I was very impressed by the kindness of strangers as I began my descent.  I had numerous hikers ask me if I had a head lamp, if I realized it was a long descent and that I would be hiking out in the dark.  At one point two obviously very experienced rock climbers actually waited for me to catch up with them to ask if I was prepared for a night descent.  I assured them that I had extra layers in my backpack, plenty of food and water, a headlamp with extra batteries and a backup flashlight.  It was very heartwarming to see that kind of concern exhibited by strangers.  

I was not overly concerned about hiking out by headlamp.  I felt I was prepared and though it may be tedious and tiring, I would be fine.  When I got to the bottom of Lion's Head trail, where it connects with the Tuckerman's Ravine trail, I took a right turn.  In the dark I misinterpreted the signs and headed up towards Hermit Lake shelter.  I passed Hermit Lake shelter and continued on.  Soon the trail began to climb.  I know that occasionally on a descent, trails will go uphill for a short period, but after about a quarter of a mile I realized that the trail was climbing steeply in the way that trails going up the mountain do.  At this point I resignedly turned around, frustrated that I had wasted all this time and energy heading back up the mountain.  I also was confused as to how I had headed in the wrong direction on the trail.  When I got back to the Hermit Lake shelter, I stopped and asked one of the campers if they knew how to get back to the Pinkham Notch visitor center.  They pulled out a map and pointed out to me where I had gone wrong.  At this point it was clear to me that I had made a serious error in not bringing a hard copy of a map with me.  I had been relying on the GPS app on my iphone to navigate by.  The problem was, I had not downloaded the map for the trail I was on and because there was no cell reception the app could not download the maps on the fly.  

I got back on the trail and began hiking out again.  It was 2.4 miles to Pinkham Notch.  I was making good time but had a gnawing anxiety at the back of my mind, wondering if I were really on the right trail.  I was pretty sure I was but it was not until much further along when I saw the sign for the Boott Spur trail, where I had started earlier in the day, that a feeling of relief swept over me.  

I learned several valuable lessons.  First, file a hiking "flight plan" with loved ones before leaving.  I normally text my plans to my girlfriend from the trailhead but today there was no cell phone reception.  My girlfriend had no way of knowing if I were okay, where I was, or even if I had made it to the mountain.  Second, bring a hard copy of a map.  Third, download the map for the GPS app for the trail before going out of cell range.  These are things I could have and should have done.  Luckily all ended well.  

It was a beautiful hike and a learning experience.  

Mt Adams Saturday August 27th, 2016

Another early wake up and departure.  On the road by 4:30 from Quincy MA.  I was on the trail at 8:10.  I had been looking at the AMC White Mountain Guide online planning which route to take.  Sometimes planning the route and poring over the maps is a big part of the fun.  I finally settled on going up Valley Way from Appalachia and then cutting over the Scar Trail to the Airline trail to change things up.  I also wanted to check out the views from Durand Scar.  Steve Smith, co-author of the White Mountain Guide has recommended the trail in his blog.  I highly recommend Steve Smith's blog Mountain Wandering. There is a wealth of good information there about the trails and peaks in White Mountains and beyond. Click here to check it out.

Interesting Waterfalls along Falls Way at the beginning of the hike from Appalachia.

Neat up look to John Quincy Adams and Adams from Durand Scar, an interesting side route as advertised.

Down look through Snyder Brook Valley from the same spot.

I loved the mossy corridor of the Scar Trail.  I am continually fascinated by the varying shades of green when you trek through a mossy corridor on the mountainside.

This little guy had built a wonderfully symmetrical web between two trees on the Scar trail.

Cool Mushrooms along the trail.

after connecting with the Airline trail and some more climbing I broke out above the tree line.  The views from up there just never get old.

A view across King Ravine to the upper reaches of Nowell Ridge.

A view of the "Knife's Edge" of Durand Ridge from higher up on the Airline trail.  Such a picturesque ridge.

 Mr. Madison with the Madison Spring Hit nestled below.

Another perspective on Durand Ridge.

 A hiker coming up out of the gateway of the King Ravine trail.

 A different glimpse of Madison looking even more sharply Pyramidal.

As one makes their way up the Airline trail towards Mt. Adams, one cannot help but keep stopping to turn around and take in the vast panoramas.

 At the summit of Adams.  Some 4500 ft of elevation from the trailhead.  A cardio workout for sure!

The views from the Summit are top notch and worth every ache and pain along the way.

 The massive hulk of Mt. Washington.

I decided to come down Lowe's path to Thunderstorm Junction and loop around to Madison Hut via the Gulfside trail.  There is a giant Cairn marking Thunderstorm junction.

The views along the Gulfside trail are expansive and ruggedly beautiful.

Hikers making their way along the Gulfside trail with endlessly beautiful views all along the way.

  A couple more perspectives of Durand Ridge.

Evening shadows encroaching and putting Madison in the spotlight.

 Interesting highlights on Madison.

Darkness caught up with me with about 1.5 miles left on my Valley Way walkout, so it was headlamp hiking the rest of the way.  It was a fantastic day to be above tree line on the Northern Presidentials on a hike that could be repeated time and again and still inspire and thrill.