Toughest trails in northern NE

[dvbl]

What would you pick as the toughest trails in northern New England? Nothing deep or philosophical about conquering inner demons and pushing on through adversity blah blah blah. I just mean simply this...you get to the end of the trail or the summit, and you say to yourself, "Man, that was tough." Two that come to mind for me are Huntington Ravine (Mt. Washington) and Cathedral Trail (Katahdin). Just to narrow the scope so the data isn't all over the place, here's the scenario: Late September, 58 degrees F, light winds, partly sunny, someone says, "Let's go climb the toughest trail in VT, ME, or NH." What do you pick?

After a week or so, I'll add up the data. Who knows, maybe another list: "Northern New England's Toughest Twenty".

 

[WhiteMTHike]

Though I've never hiked it but some friends of mine have, I'd have to say the Long Trail in VT might get my vote.

 

[coldmountain]

Toughest trail in Northern NE? Three words; Mahoosuc Notch.

 

[jfb]

I think the Great Gulf trail would be near the top of any "toughest trail" list.

 

[bill bowden]

Tough Trails

Here are a few other candidates:
Great Gully
King Ravine
Madison Gulf
Cathedral
Hunt

 

[Dalraida]

Bike Hike

My toughest was the Davis Path in August to a bike stashed in Jefferson Notch for the ride back to the Davis Path Trailhead. Got some looks bombing down through Naufords Crotch with my Limmers on. Hmmm, I believe I did this at the tender age of 50. As I recall, there was no water at Isolation Shelter and I was mighty thirsty by the time I got to Lakes of the Crowds. Ahh to be young again

 

[chipc]

smooth slab vs rocks

From trails I have climbed, these have been the four toughest for me, with first 2 being a good deal tougher than the second two (I guess I don't like smooth slabs!)

N. Tripyramid
Holt (Cardigan - short and sweet!)

King Ravine Tr
Desolation to Carrigain

 

[king tut]

1.
I'm going to go with going up the Cathedral trail at Katahdin and then going across the knife edge and then down Pamola. The Cathedral is a steep tough climb, and the Knife edge is just a scary bastard trail for those afraid of heights. The chimney, i think they call it, right before the peak of Pamola is just a pain in the arse at the end of a long hike, and then going down Pamola is just a long steep climb down.
2.
The Daniel Webster climb up Madison and then over Adams kicked my butt as well. Not scary, just frickin long.
3.
The Abol slide trail at Katahdin climbs an ungodly 2400 or so vertical feet in a mile. You are basically climbing a 40 degree pitch for at least 2/3 of a mile. And it is all above treeline when you get to the steep boulder field. So you can see what is ahead of you.
4
Mt Washington doesn't have too much scary terrain going thru tuck's, just lots of vert.
5
The Hunt trail, at least I think, is the easiest of the routes of these three Katahdin hikes..

 

[audrey]

To add to the great ones already mentioned:

Hell Brook Trail on Mansfield
The Ice Gulch in Randolph

 

[trailbiscuit]

The one from the parking garage to my desk. Any trail is a piece of cake compared to that journey.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

Two that come to mind for me are Huntington Ravine (Mt. Washington) and Cathedral Trail (Katahdin). ...

INteresting that you mention those two. I did one, then headed south and did the other a couple days later. In both cases, I found them enjoyable, and was dsapointed that they were so short.. Yeah, and afere the Cathedral, it was across the knife edge, and down Pamola.

You see, I LIKE things like that. I like UP and STEEP, (usually) do well there. I don'T mind over 6K feet of UP.

I did find Mahoosuc Notch to be tough. Especially because I went through it wil a 60+ pound pack, loaded with a few gallons of beer and fresh vegetables.

 

[DougPaul]

Ice Gulch (between Spruce and Indian Mtns, just N of Little Jabe Pond, just W of Silver Bay, Lake George, NY) is short but a pretty good challenge.

A narrow rock-filled gulch. No marked trail. Heavily vegetated. We found a deer jawbone on the route.

No hope of cell phone or radio connections.

I wouldn't do it alone.

Doug

 

[Raymond]

Toughest trail in Northern NE? Three words; Mahoosuc Notch.

Three?

My guess on "toughest trail" would be the International Appalachian Trail, but I certainly haven't tried it yet.

Heh. "Yet."

Toughest I've actually done was probably Helon Taylor, at the time. By the time I reached Pamola I was an hour behind schedule, although most of that was probably due to stopping repeatedly to set up my camera on a tripod to take self-portraits. I have a faint memory of a piece of my pack or tripod breaking off or something, and wasting time looking for whatever it was. Anyway, I skipped attempting the Knife Edge and descended to Chimney Pond via the Dudley Trail. That was no piece of cake, either.

But any short trail, no matter how steep, can't hold a candle to the logistics of hiking a trail hundreds of miles long.

 

[jn316]

Toughest Trail?
It may depend as much on temperment/mood as on the trail. Some of the trails listed as tough are steep. But those who like the steep stuff like Huntington find 5 miles on the Wilderness Trail at the end of a day to be "tough."
I'd guess that the trail that surprises the most people by being tougher than they had assumed is Madison Gulf; it's led to many "late suppers" at Madison hut.

 

[timmus]

I'm with Pete.

When I did Katahdin, I was going for the Knife Edge.
When I did Washington, Hundington was the only option.
Mansfield ? I tried most of the trails, but Hell Brook is definitly my fav.

River crossings ? Fun. Scramble ? Fun. Steep ? Again, fun, not tough.

Tough is several fresh blowdowns, 50 sq ft mud holes, 5 miles approaches and eroded trails. Too bad ADK's are not in New England...

 

[blacknblue]

Since noboby's thrown it out there yet, I'll put in a few words for the Six Husbands Trail. It's pretty darn fun under the right circumstances and mindset, but you definitely find yourself saying "Holy crap!" at least once or twice.
I recommend against descending it in a wind-driven rain, dark, and carrying 50 pounds. (so does the guidebook, which I read after the fact)

 

[dvbl]

A few points:

I mean "tough" in the simplest way possible: It's more tiring, you breathe heavier, your heart rate increases, you drink a litle more water, etc. For example, the Ammo Trail is "tougher" after the Gem Pool than before the Gem Pool. Simple as that. That's all I mean.

Please, let's not turn this into a contest. If it was tough for others but not for you even though you had a Brinks truck in your backpack... great, awesome, that sound you hear is me clapping for you. Sheesh!

"Tough" and "fun" are not mutually exclusive terms. Lots and lots and lots of us have fun on tough trails, and we seek them out partly because they are tough. The Cathedral--Knife Edge--Taylor hike was one of the toughest I've done but it's also one of my favorites ever. It's not a stupid macho thing. It's just that the views from the top (shameless product placement) were even better because we took one of the tougher trails up. Simple. Not deep.

 

[giggy]

I would vote for great gulf trail up and back in one day as one of the tougher single trails.- its just freakin long - even tho it looks extremely steep going up the headwall, its not bad and I have come down it with very little problems. loose scree basically. (if your heading to rainier - this was very similar what the crumbling volcanic rock on the DC was like IMO = good training!)

so - technically, not too hard, but for one trail pound for pound, up and back, I would say it a tough day for most - 16 miles r/t anf about 10K in ele change.

 

[timmus]

Please, let's not turn this into a contest. If it was tough for others but not for you even though you had a Brinks truck in your backpack... great, awesome, that sound you hear is me clapping for you. Sheesh!

Do you suggest that if my opinion is different than most of the people I should shut up so no clouds will darken the sky ???? Just take it or leave my friend !

I'm sorry if you got me wrong. I'm not a macho woman (!), it's just that ''tough'' means something else to me, that's it. I rate hikes as ''tough on the mind'' before ''tough on the body''.

In my original post I was finishing with ''Of course, that's only my opinion'' but I thought it was so obvious I erased it. Next time I will leave it.


-Julie

 

[Mike P.]

Helon Taylor seemed to go on & on, we were so excited to do Knife's edge, it's constant up once you get a ways in. (Similar to Ammo after Gem pool but nothing that defining on HT)

Huntington
For something different - Garfield Ridge a lot of up & down, much of it that does not show up on the map.