Bombadil
Active member
Date of hike: 9/2/11-9/4/11
I was frankly sick of the same old same old hike so this past weekend I opted to venture into the Great Gulf to spend a few days backpacking and exploring a section of the Whites I hadn't visited before. I figured if trails were impassible I'd still have a bottle of wine and plenty of solitude to re-read Thoreau's Walden...
Friday, 9/2/11: Adams and Madison via Great Gulf, Osgood, Osgood Cutoff, Madison Gulf, Star Lake Trail, Airline, Parapet, Osgood
Conveniently I had a work commitment in Whitefield on Friday but got out early and hit the Great Gulf trailhead at noon. I set up camp along the way and made my way up Madison Gulf. As 1happyhiker mentioned in a previous report (http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=41777 ), the Great Gulf Trail and Osgood Cutoff are in good shape, with little to no damage.
Madison Gulf was in surprisingly good shape though in the middle section there were a few minor blowdowns and spots with minor trail erosion. Water crossings were a non-issue. Up at Star Lake I got a nice look at the cow moose that's been the talk of the hut. I took Star Lake Trail up Adams in part because I dislike the upper Airline and also so I could check out the less commonly used trail up the summit. I liked it! Arguably better views, certainly easier navigating, and similar time to ascend, Star Lake is alright in my opinion.
Star Lake Moose
Star Lake from Adams. The moose is at about 5 o'clock on the edge of the lake.
Continuing in my wave of trying new trails I opted to take the Parapet over to Osgood (no storm-related issues but could use some brushing in the middle section). Still making good time I opted to head up Madison. As I did some clouds rolled in from the south filling up the Great Gulf:
Someone left the fog machine running down in the Gulf... Washington and Adams from Parapet Trail
Madison and Adams casting their shadows on the Carters
By the time I made it back down to Osgood junction the clouds were gone and I zipped down into the Gulf for the night.
Saturday, 9/3/11: Washington via Great Gulf/Wamsutta et al
I got a rude wakeup at 6 am when a thunderstorm rolled on through and delayed my hike until 11 am when conditions improved. Naturally the trails were soaked and moving along the Great Gulf Trail I was moving deeper and deeper into fog/clouds whereas early-on I could spin around and see blue skies above Osgood at the other end of the Gulf. Along the way I ran into Chris Dailey (Dailey7779) who informed me that he ventured up the Sphinx Trail and found it impassible due to a slide. That threw a wrench in my plans for the next day as I had hoped to do a Six Husbands/Sphinx loop. As he mentioned in his report (http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=41838), Great Gulf up to Six Husbands was OK.
I'm guessing one of these is Wetamoe Cascade
Continuing along Great Gulf Trail there were some patches with erosion and a few decent blowdowns blocking the trail. Beyond the Sphinx Jct. there was more water on the trail (one or two spots reminded me of Rocky Branch by the height of land), some blowdowns, but all-in-all the trail was ok--just wet. Having busted my Merrell trail runners on a hike a few weeks prior I had to resort to an older pair of kicks I wasn't too fond of. They made me pay numerous times for neglecting them this Summer, the worst of which was my first fall just below Spaulding Lake on an elevated sidesloping wet rock where I smacked my wrist quite well and thought I broke it. It hurt like hell and was nearly useless for the rest of the hike and though it's a nice shade of purple I doubt it's any more than a bad bone bruise.
Anyways, the Great Gulf headwall is almost entirely rock so there wasn't any soil erosion but there were tons of rocks that were placed quite perilously due to the assumed ridiculous flow that came down there last weekend. About halfway up I came across a pair of hikers that were bailing due to zero visibility and difficulty following the trail. One of the two was a little banged up from a fall as well. I continued ascending the easiest way I could spot in the central part of the headwall, sometimes ascending through the raging brook/cascade and other times going for larger, more stable rocks. I took a pair of tumbles when even larger (~100 pounders?) rocks rolled over backwards when I stepped on them. The guidebook says there's lots of loose rock but that's quite an understatement right now with the way some rocks have been placed with the runoff. Every now and then you'll spot an orange blaze but you can't expect to follow blazes, you just have to follow the central rockfall. I like trails that challenge me and I was pretty stoked in the few places where you grab for handholds on rock in the midst of falling water--neat stuff.
One of my favorite parts of the trail where you climb up through the running water
After topping off my water at the summit I made my way down Nelson Crag Trail to the Wamsutta Trail. The sun came out and made an attempt to dry the trails though Wamsutta is largely in the woods so it was still quite soaked. There was no horrible erosion (some minor areas at the base of the steeps), though there were a number of blowdowns, some smaller ones in the upper section and a bunch in the lower flat section towards the Great Gulf Jct. Also, this trail is in real need of brushing, wilderness area or not you shouldn't have to use two hands to push overgrown branches on both sides of the trail out of the way to pass through. After hitting the Great Gulf trail again I boogied back to camp and stumbled across the jewel of a view from off Osgood Cutoff above Parapet Brook that must be known to many judging by the herd path.
I bailed on my Six Husbands/Sphinx loop plans but hopefully I'll be back there shortly to check it out. Other trail notes: Heard no mention of anyone climbing the Chandler Brook Trail, Sphinx (obviously), Six Husbands, or Buttress Trails. I did run into a bunch of people that came up Washington via standard routes (Jewell, Tuckerman) and didn't report any major hazards.
View across the Great Gulf towards Jefferson (center) from above Parapet Brook
Zoomed view of the upper Great Gulf with part of the Clay/Sphinx ridge above
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
I was frankly sick of the same old same old hike so this past weekend I opted to venture into the Great Gulf to spend a few days backpacking and exploring a section of the Whites I hadn't visited before. I figured if trails were impassible I'd still have a bottle of wine and plenty of solitude to re-read Thoreau's Walden...
Friday, 9/2/11: Adams and Madison via Great Gulf, Osgood, Osgood Cutoff, Madison Gulf, Star Lake Trail, Airline, Parapet, Osgood
Conveniently I had a work commitment in Whitefield on Friday but got out early and hit the Great Gulf trailhead at noon. I set up camp along the way and made my way up Madison Gulf. As 1happyhiker mentioned in a previous report (http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=41777 ), the Great Gulf Trail and Osgood Cutoff are in good shape, with little to no damage.
Madison Gulf was in surprisingly good shape though in the middle section there were a few minor blowdowns and spots with minor trail erosion. Water crossings were a non-issue. Up at Star Lake I got a nice look at the cow moose that's been the talk of the hut. I took Star Lake Trail up Adams in part because I dislike the upper Airline and also so I could check out the less commonly used trail up the summit. I liked it! Arguably better views, certainly easier navigating, and similar time to ascend, Star Lake is alright in my opinion.
Star Lake Moose
Star Lake from Adams. The moose is at about 5 o'clock on the edge of the lake.
Continuing in my wave of trying new trails I opted to take the Parapet over to Osgood (no storm-related issues but could use some brushing in the middle section). Still making good time I opted to head up Madison. As I did some clouds rolled in from the south filling up the Great Gulf:
Someone left the fog machine running down in the Gulf... Washington and Adams from Parapet Trail
Madison and Adams casting their shadows on the Carters
By the time I made it back down to Osgood junction the clouds were gone and I zipped down into the Gulf for the night.
Saturday, 9/3/11: Washington via Great Gulf/Wamsutta et al
I got a rude wakeup at 6 am when a thunderstorm rolled on through and delayed my hike until 11 am when conditions improved. Naturally the trails were soaked and moving along the Great Gulf Trail I was moving deeper and deeper into fog/clouds whereas early-on I could spin around and see blue skies above Osgood at the other end of the Gulf. Along the way I ran into Chris Dailey (Dailey7779) who informed me that he ventured up the Sphinx Trail and found it impassible due to a slide. That threw a wrench in my plans for the next day as I had hoped to do a Six Husbands/Sphinx loop. As he mentioned in his report (http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=41838), Great Gulf up to Six Husbands was OK.
I'm guessing one of these is Wetamoe Cascade
Continuing along Great Gulf Trail there were some patches with erosion and a few decent blowdowns blocking the trail. Beyond the Sphinx Jct. there was more water on the trail (one or two spots reminded me of Rocky Branch by the height of land), some blowdowns, but all-in-all the trail was ok--just wet. Having busted my Merrell trail runners on a hike a few weeks prior I had to resort to an older pair of kicks I wasn't too fond of. They made me pay numerous times for neglecting them this Summer, the worst of which was my first fall just below Spaulding Lake on an elevated sidesloping wet rock where I smacked my wrist quite well and thought I broke it. It hurt like hell and was nearly useless for the rest of the hike and though it's a nice shade of purple I doubt it's any more than a bad bone bruise.
Anyways, the Great Gulf headwall is almost entirely rock so there wasn't any soil erosion but there were tons of rocks that were placed quite perilously due to the assumed ridiculous flow that came down there last weekend. About halfway up I came across a pair of hikers that were bailing due to zero visibility and difficulty following the trail. One of the two was a little banged up from a fall as well. I continued ascending the easiest way I could spot in the central part of the headwall, sometimes ascending through the raging brook/cascade and other times going for larger, more stable rocks. I took a pair of tumbles when even larger (~100 pounders?) rocks rolled over backwards when I stepped on them. The guidebook says there's lots of loose rock but that's quite an understatement right now with the way some rocks have been placed with the runoff. Every now and then you'll spot an orange blaze but you can't expect to follow blazes, you just have to follow the central rockfall. I like trails that challenge me and I was pretty stoked in the few places where you grab for handholds on rock in the midst of falling water--neat stuff.
One of my favorite parts of the trail where you climb up through the running water
After topping off my water at the summit I made my way down Nelson Crag Trail to the Wamsutta Trail. The sun came out and made an attempt to dry the trails though Wamsutta is largely in the woods so it was still quite soaked. There was no horrible erosion (some minor areas at the base of the steeps), though there were a number of blowdowns, some smaller ones in the upper section and a bunch in the lower flat section towards the Great Gulf Jct. Also, this trail is in real need of brushing, wilderness area or not you shouldn't have to use two hands to push overgrown branches on both sides of the trail out of the way to pass through. After hitting the Great Gulf trail again I boogied back to camp and stumbled across the jewel of a view from off Osgood Cutoff above Parapet Brook that must be known to many judging by the herd path.
I bailed on my Six Husbands/Sphinx loop plans but hopefully I'll be back there shortly to check it out. Other trail notes: Heard no mention of anyone climbing the Chandler Brook Trail, Sphinx (obviously), Six Husbands, or Buttress Trails. I did run into a bunch of people that came up Washington via standard routes (Jewell, Tuckerman) and didn't report any major hazards.
View across the Great Gulf towards Jefferson (center) from above Parapet Brook
Zoomed view of the upper Great Gulf with part of the Clay/Sphinx ridge above
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
