The VERY best of Washington.

I'm interested in exploring Mt. Washington again (been up there twice; by Huntington's and from Grey Knob) sometime before the end of October and want to do nothing less than the very, very best route there is on this mountain. I have heard and read about King's Ravine as an interesting approach from Adams and read good things about Boot Spur.

What is your opinion about the very best there is?

The very best? Once winter starts cranking and there are no fat tourists at the top!

Any of those routes are long, but they are real nice...I recently descended Boott Spur and the views are magnificent for quite a long time - and as others have said here, you will not have crowds. From that side, the Glen Boulder Trail to the Davis Path is also really nice.

Moving northwards - Caps Ridge to the Cornice, or over Jefferson and to Gulfside would provide a very scenic route that goes by the Monticello Lawn and by or over Mount Clay.

Hoping to do the Castles soon - this would provide a similar route.

King Ravine is awesome - there are three ways out of the floor...Chemin des Dames, King Ravine Trail and Great Gully - I have only done the middle one - I beleive most would concur that Chemin is the easiest and Great Gully is the hardest...i would guess you would still have 4-5 miles to Washington after you gain the ridge from here. If elevation and distance and steepness are not an issue King Ravine is my recommendation...

Last, and not least would be the Great Gulf Trail all the way up the headwall - also have not done this, but have been pretty far along the way on the GG Trail...supposed to be spectacular...

I did not mention the routes you have done, or the common routes like Ammo, Jewell and Tucks/Lion's Head.

Artex said:

The very best? Once winter starts cranking and there are no fat tourists at the top!

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LOL. I forgot to mention that it dosn't matter if I go to the summit.

Hey Neil, tho we never met, I know we have some mutual freinds and know your up for long day and any of these routes would be a cake walk for you, so not going to go into the toughness levels.

I have a bit of a washington fetist b/c it has features that you can't find in many other places in the NE. I have been up it 26 times. Yikes!!!!

IMO - anyday on washington is like beer/pizza and S*X - even when its bad - its good.... and its always different.

you might see some folks on top - but for me, wash is more about the approach than the summit anyway.

IF washington is the goal and only goal - Personally - I like coming from rt 16 (pinkham) becuase you get the nice steep inclines and the cone is nicer from the east coming from hunts and tucks. If you do great gulf (which is awesome), try and cross over to the alpine garden - great place and then head up the cone either by tuckermans - or "rockwhack "up the cone.

The problem with october is you could have a nice summery day - or full blow winter conditions - but full blow winter is probably not likely. But sleet might be! But for most on this board like yourself - this isn't a problem - we just deal with it.

#1) forget the jewell trail - boring, easy - probably not your cup of tea. worst trail up wash in my opinion. the only good thing is you bust treeline rather quick, but its a boring slog to the top via the gulfside. Ammo is nice, but I don't know - it just doesn't have that tuck/hunts appeal to me.

#2) Tuckerman ravine - if your pressed for time - while it can get crowded, it is a great trail - going up the headwall, etc.. - tuckerman ravine should been seen at least once by all. The nice thing about it - is you get to see the the entire ravine from below. Kind of like huntingtone ravine - but I think its actually nicer looking. Also the lion head option is there too - less crowds - but crowds don't bother me too much anyway. You bushwhack right?? - you probably could head up via hillmans highway (could be icy in late oct and a rock scree slog if not) if your looking for something a bit more challenging. - rangers might frown on that - but I don't think they can tell you - you can't do it.

Boot spur is really nice too - nice ridge walk - again cut to the alpine garden.

Glen boulder is nice - but pretty easy. I would do boot spur rather than this for that area.

nelson crag, etc... - all good stuff.

hell - they are all nice.
I would vote for these options rather than coming from the north (via king ravine, etc..) but - those are also great trails too if you want to the ridge walk to wash.

Where is the official trail in relation to Hillman' Highway on This map

By FAR the best route up is GG up to - Six Husbands - immmutably the best.

Neil -

Trails like Kings Ravine are usually associated with Adams and Madison, rather than Washington, since in order to get to Washington from there you'd need to pass Adams, Jefferson and Clay. Sorta like discussing the best route up Marcy via Algonquin.

There's several good routes up Washington, IMO. The overall most scenic one is probably Tuckerman's, but that side of the mountain doesn't have a good loop back to Pinkham, IMHO. (Yeah, I know, there's Boott Spur, Lions Head, etc, but outside of winter I don't care for Lions Head, and Boott Spur's nice up top but the trail from hell near the bottom).

My personal favorite loop is Ammonusuc Ravine up and Jewell down. The brooks/cascades going up are beautiful, so take time to explore each overlook. After a quick stop at the hut, go up Monroe before heading for Washington. After leaving Washington - take some time to savor the Jewell as it works it's way around the top of the Great Gulf. This is the best section of the trail, so don't go too fast. And, if it's early enough in the day - swing over Clay. Not many people go there, so you often have it to yourself. It's got great views into the Gulf, and of Spaulding Lake.

Personally I think the best way up Washington is in the spring. Central gully in Huntington's has a nice easy grade, in the spring it is nice snow for cramponing. We hit a 50 degree day up there last April!

Tease:


Pictures/TR:
http://www.percious.com/hiking/WMNF/Huntington Ravine - Central - April 2006/index.html

In my mind, doesn't get any better than that. I think Giggy takes an expedition up there once or twice a year (he's practically a guide on the thing now!). Ropes are not needed if the ice buldge is not to big and you feel confident with self-arrest. Its about 50*.

I guess I'm saying you would have more fun if you found a nice slide in the Whites and saved Washington for when its at its best, if you must have a climb. Although you would miss out on mooning the Cog... Your choice.

-percious

Neil said:

What is your opinion about the very best there is?

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Up the Great Gulf trail, down the Crawford Path to Davis Path to Boott Spur trail to Pinkham.

You can scroll around this topozone. It has the trails named.

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=19&n=4903393&e=317037&datum=nad83&layer=DRG

I'd like to skip the summit next and spot a car and do it all: Up Ammo, across Crawford and Westside, cross over to the east side and the Alpine Garden trail and down Lion Head, Ravine or Boott. That'd be a beautiful hike on a nice day in the fall. Maybe I'll go with.

percious said:

In my mind, doesn't get any better than that. I think Giggy takes an expedition up there once or twice a year (he's practically a guide on the thing now!). -percious

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not even close - I have done it 3 times and not even in the same ballpark (no universe) as a guide. I know your only kiddin and I appreciated the compliment - but lets not get the wrong idea here..... I have only led the thing once.


Neil - the tucks trail isn't in that photo - thats a shot of boot spur. tucks is off to the right.

Neil said:

Where is the official trail in relation to Hillman' Highway on This map

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Hillman's Highway is a snow climbing/ski gully that leads up to the top of Boot Spur. Leave the trails from HoJos and bushwack to it. Or maybe bushwack from Boot Spur Link. There are pictures (with snow ) at www.tuckerman.org.

Doug

At the risk of sounding like an old fhart - best to save the ski trails for winter. Whacking up thru the tundra in the warm weather really tears it up. If you have any doubts - look at the lip of Right Gully in the spring. The top is done frequently by hikers/climbers in late winter (skiers turn around to head back to the bowl) as it's an easy connect to the Lions Head trail. The krummholz there is all broken down.

Just spent the last several days in the Northern Presies doing Hut traverse, Lakes to Mad Hut, was awesome, as usual, with all kinds of weather...as usual!

Neil, you have Washington as your goal ("Best of Washington"), but have included Kings Ravine as approach, which is doable, but a long trip indeed.
K Rooney stated this as associated with Mt Adams, Jeff, Mad, ect, which is correct. If you went this way, might as well do an entire traverse!

Kings Ravine is no doubt a challenge climb, with all the large boulders at the ravine floor, to the headwall, all fun scrambling. (We went down it yesterday just for a change, and is probably much harder that way! )

By comparison, Great Gulf trail is the next best thing, with a large 1600ft headwall approach more direct to Mt Washinton.
If you divert off trial slightly to the left side of headwall, just above last water runoff, then you got the best scramble in the east with 1000 vert ft of class 3 bouldering!

The bottom half of the GG trail is long and easy, but you can make a complete loop from Great Gulf trail, up headwall, up summit, then down Nelson Criag, to Jackson Road, to Madison Gulf (or ??), back to Great Gulf and out.
That would be one heck of a decent daytrip loop too!
I did this on an overnight BP trip about a month ago, was awesome!

The east routes up from Pinkham, which includes Huntington, or Tucks, or Hillmans' will be more crowded on approaches. (Never heard of Hillman's done with no snow, could be damaging to brush and alpine veg., and NOT cool IMO)

We did "Ammo" up to Lakes on Sunday, was nice with the waterfalls and mixed slab, but all quite easy....and I know you (Neil) are looking for the tougher routes.

So, my "best of Washington" would be from Great Gulf.
And Huntington Ravine as "Standard" best daytrip.

But as Giggy pointed out, they are all the best!

The Presidential range is unique in all aspects, best scrambling in the east.

Jeff

I have never done hillmans w/o snow snow either - as IMO - it wouldn't be fun. not into the thrashing (unless at a slayer concert ) , etc..

I have heard thru the vine - it does get done year round.

from what I gather - neil is a pretty strong hiker and could do wash via kings ravine (or anything from that area) as a day trip. Its a long day, but doable for some and those people generally know who they are

guide

Giggy--you are a F-----g giude--Meb said so

Jeff-B said:

and I know you (Neil) are looking for the tougher routes.

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Nah, it dosn't have to be tough. Just the best!

(I know, it's a bit like asking which was Mozart's or Beethoven's best composition - only with a smaller range of choices.)

drewski said:

Giggy--you are a F-----g giude--Meb said so

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I will guide ya to hell - and MEB too.....................

hell

and back??? I will let you know sat.pm if you can guide or not