Mt. Washington Trails

Which trails would be considered the least and most difficult to the top of Mt. Washington? Thanks.

That's a good question and should spark some debate. I would say any route that includes Huntington Ravine trail is going to be top of the list for difficult. There are certainly a host of different routes to take from every direction and of all different lengths that will get one to the summit. Crawford Path is probably one of the easiest having been laid out for horses, but it is a bit on the long side. Edmands Path gets you up above treeline without too much trouble and I really like that trail. Jewell is not difficult. I would say Ammo a little more so. I did not think Tuckerman Ravine or Lion Head was very hard but I did them many years ago. Nelson Crag Trail kicked my butt, however I am now covered by Medicare. Hope to do Caps Ridge Trail in a few weeks, weather permitting. I think the season of the hike may come into play here as well.

Easiest ascent is Tuckerman's Ravine. Contrary to it's reputation, it's a gradual hike with stairs taking you most of the way up the headwall. Lions Head is steeper , but still pretty easy. Second, would be the Ammou up and Jewell down. The Ammou is steep and has a lot of wet ledges, but it's not to bad, the Jewell is an easy grade, the only caveat to the Jewell, is it's very exposed to storms and navigation for those not so experienced could be an issue in bad weather.

Ok, in good weather, the easiest ascent is the Jewell trail. Although not difficult when descending, I do find it a bit tedious because it is quite bony. The most difficult either way is Huntington.

Did Caps Ridge yesterday, took Jewell back down. I thought Jewell was in pretty good shape. The only hard part is up by Gulfside, but its pretty steep there. I didn't think it was as rocky as some of the other trails. Crawford path is probably the easiest, but its also pretty long, with miles of it above treeline.

Depends how far away from the mountain you're allowed to start, whether distance is included in your definition of difficulty, and whether or not you''re considering weather or seasonal conditions.

Among the most direct routes from the road (i.e., from east or west), the Huntington Ravine trail is the clear winner for steepness and exposure. It's at or very near the top of everyone's list of steep trails in the Whites.

If you're allowing longer routes, the Great Gulf trail has a headwall section that's rather steep, and is much, much longer. If you use the "book time" metric, Great Gulf is more difficult than Huntington. Similarly, you could take an even longer *and* more difficult route than Great Gulf, through one of the harder trails up King Ravine, or Six Husbands, or just a ridiculously long route via, say, Davis Path.

In various weather conditions, some routes become impossible. Great Gulf in early spring, for example - there's at least one stream crossing that would not be safe even with a rope.

For easiest, I'd say Ammo. It's fairly short and direct but never very steep. There's one spot where the trail can get a little icy in winter above the stream, but otherwise no exposure to heights. In winter, though, it's not well protected against wind from the northwest. (ETA: Crawford is gentler and smoother but it's way too long for ascent. Good for a running descent.)

Jewell/Gulfside/Trinity Heights Connector is nice on a good weather day, and relatively easy because its grade seldom varies from the average ~14% for the route. In the first mile or two it dips in a couple places to cross a brook and is momentarily steep, and there a few places where a step or two might be three feet, but those are the exception. It's about 5 miles from the Forest Service parking to the summit. I'd say Tuckerman and Ammo are probably comparable to each other, somewhat harder than Jewell. Tuck's is relatively easy for the first two miles plus, then a steady, grueling climb above the Hermit Lakes/HoJo area. Ammo's first two miles are steady, climbing about 1000', then the upper mile from Gem Pool to Lakes of the Clouds is quite steep in places, scrambly here and there, gaining 1560', and the steeper part of the final mile to the summit on the Crawford Path would be a good workout (I descended this way after climbing the Jewell route).

For sheer beauty, Tuck's is hard to beat, with Ammo really nice, too, with the falls running high after good rains. Boott Spur is a beauty, though longer and relentlessly steep until the summit of Boott Spur is reached. I turned back shortly after Split Rock on my first attempt of W due to cramps. Really pretty route. I found Lion Head a knee and ankle bruiser on descent after climbing TRT.

For a first timer, the advantage of Ammo is the hut is a nice rest stop when open, the lakes are great, and the waterfalls spectacular on the way up (take the short Gorge turnoff at like 3800', for sure). Also, if the weather is threatening, you can get back under tree cover quickly below the hut. The trail does pack a wallop on the climb, though. Calves and thighs will burn.

Easiest route in my opinion is Jewell/Gulfside/Crawford Path. Longer than most approaches but very comfortable footing and grades for almost the entire length and usually a ton of people on it for added support if something should go awry.

Hardest I guess is a question of technical difficulty or length. Huntington Ravine I think would be everyone's choice as the most technically difficult. I agree with Nartreb on the distinction of length though. I have done several routes to Washington starting at Great Gulf and they are substantially harder to me because of the length and added vertical. You're looking at close to 8 miles and roughly 5000' of vertical. I did the Great Gulf all the way up a few years ago on a hot Summer day and I was pretty much gassed when I crested the rim of the headwall. Yesterday I did a Great Gulf "loop" and started Great Gulf > Chandler Brook > Auto Road > Snocat Winter Route > Alpine Garden > Nelson Crag and I think it was 8.1 miles. Very little challenging terrain but a very, very long route. In my opinion these routes are more difficult than the technical demands of the other ravine routes.

I will tend to agree that Great Gulf trail is the hardest day hike due to length and that darn loose headwall, although Crawford Path out and back or Davis Path out and back would be a real long day due to shear length versus difficult terrain. I generally point folks at the Ammo Jewell loop with strong caveat that it only be done on day with a good forecast. I generally dont recommend the Pinham Notch side routes as its too easy to miss seeing oncoming weather.

sierra said:

Easiest ascent is Tuckerman's Ravine. Contrary to it's reputation, it's a gradual hike with stairs taking you most of the way up the headwall. Lions Head is steeper , but still pretty easy. Second, would be the Ammou up and Jewell down. The Ammou is steep and has a lot of wet ledges, but it's not to bad, the Jewell is an easy grade, the only caveat to the Jewell, is it's very exposed to storms and navigation for those not so experienced could be an issue in bad weather.

Click to expand...

I'd concur with this, although I still need to check out the Nelson Crag trail. When I did Tuckerman Ravine's trail I was impressed at how much rock work had been done going up the head wall. People coming down it also had no problem, although poles are definitely helpful. The big advantage one has doing when doing Ammo or Jewel is it saves about 400' of elevation, which may be an important consideration.

One thing to factor in on Tucks trail is the crowds. From Hermit Lake to the top of the headwall its pretty much one lane traffic and on a popular weekend its a nearly a constant line of folks hiking up. Therefore you either put up with the slowest group on the trail or try to hop scotch past. Heading down its even worse. On a recent hike on Falling Waters I was against the traffic flow and it easily added 1/2 hour to my descent time. Some folks will make room but many groups decide they deserve the right of way.

TJsName said:

I'd concur with this, although I still need to check out the Nelson Crag trail. When I did Tuckerman Ravine's trail I was impressed at how much rock work had been done going up the head wall. People coming down it also had no problem, although poles are definitely helpful. The big advantage one has doing when doing Ammo or Jewel is it saves about 400' of elevation, which may be an important consideration.

Click to expand...

I think you will like the nelson Crag trail. It's basically a steady grind straight up. It's most endearing feature, is that it's usually quiet, compared to the conga lines on the other routes. You can also visit the girl.

peakbagger said:

One thing to factor in on Tucks trail is the crowds. From Hermit Lake to the top of the headwall its pretty much one lane traffic and on a popular weekend its a nearly a constant line of folks hiking up. Therefore you either put up with the slowest group on the trail or try to hop scotch past. Heading down its even worse. On a recent hike on Falling Waters I was against the traffic flow and it easily added 1/2 hour to my descent time. Some folks will make room but many groups decide they deserve the right of way.

Click to expand...

Anyone ascending has the right of way, correct? Anyone going down can see where they are going and can pull off at a convenient spot. Anyone ascending sees the trail two feet in front of their face, and not much else. Sometimes on a descent, you run into another hiker who is looking for any excuse to catch their breath

egilbe said:

Anyone ascending has the right of way, correct? Anyone going down can see where they are going and can pull off at a convenient spot. Anyone ascending sees the trail two feet in front of their face, and not much else. Sometimes on a descent, you run into another hiker who is looking for any excuse to catch their breath

Click to expand...

There are differing opinions on who has the right of way and even if there was an agreed upon policy many folks hiking these trails would be clueless.

peakbagger said:

There are differing opinions on who has the right of way and even if there was an agreed upon policy many folks hiking these trails would be clueless.

Click to expand...

Yeah, and most of the argument are quite specious. Like field of vision - as though people only look at the trail when going up hill, and energy to start/stop, as though people going uphill have to apply the breaks to stop, and group size - as though trails are all uniform and rules can be applied as such? I think whoever can get through the fastest should go first (uphill or downhill). Some sections of trail are quicker to ascend than descend (think the Agonies on Old Bridal Path), but most non-scrambles are quicker to descend. The decision that allows the parties to pass the quickest seems optimal to me. Of course, when a solo hiker encounters a group of ten on a narrow trail, the math can change depending on how quickly easily the group can get out of the way. I.E., the rule should be to assess the situation and communicate with the other group. I think the net results of such an algorithm would lead to the descending hikers have the right of way the vast majority of the time.

Of course, this is very theoretical. The only time I've every found this to be a problem was following a giant meet-up group down from Tom in the winter. The group blocked the trail so some women could pee, then refused to step aside to let anyone pass. This added maybe five minutes to our hike. The other thousands upon thousands of interactions have all gone smoothly, with most parties both offering to yield. I would suspect that even the clueless masses are still likely to yield instinctively, and especially with effective, courteous communication.

peakbagger said:

There are differing opinions on who has the right of way and even if there was an agreed upon policy many folks hiking these trails would be clueless.

Click to expand...

Right, that's the problem. Most ppl I run into hiking abide by the ROW going to those ascending, but a good number are not aware of it.

I confess in 40 years of hiking, I just heard about the rule like 2 years ago. I never had an issue, I just do what seems easiest at the time for both parties. I have had issues with large groups (AMC) funny thing is, they are the most reluctant to accommodate anyone, but they think they own the Whites anyway. My dog is the worst though, he'll barrel his way through like he's on a mission, I can't help it, have to follow him. Funniest thing, this summer a group was breaking right in the trail, my dog walked over this guy's feet and he complained to me. I simply replied, if you break right in the trail, you become the trail. Kind of funny.

Oh for pity's sake people! We beaten the right-of-way question to death a number of times. THERE IS NO AUTHORITATIVELY ESTABLISHED RIGHT OF WAY ON HIKING TRAILS! There are just groups of hikers with varying personal opinions on the matter. And, unless you're on the stopwatch looking for a record, does really matter to you whether or not you step aside for a minute to let others pass?

On a related matter, there are those fast hikers who overtake a slower moving moving group and hang back fuming BECAUSE THEY'RE TOO FLIPPING SHY/STUPID TO SAY "EXCUSE ME. COULD I GET BY?"

sierra said:

I think you will like the nelson Crag trail. It's basically a steady grind straight up. It's most endearing feature, is that it's usually quiet, compared to the conga lines on the other routes. You can also visit the girl.

Click to expand...

I second that. I love the Nelson Crag Trail. It is a steady, steep ascent but you don't see many people on it and it has tons of great scenery. I usually descend that way on loops where I went up Huntington Ravine or some other combo.

I very rarely run into any "situation" with right of way. 99% of the time I think people figure it out quickly enough based on whether they need a rest or not, pace of the respective parties, etc., etc. I don't think a rule of any sort is really necessary and no one seems to be in agreement on it anyway. Really busy trails and really large groups would probably be the only scenario where it gets a little contentious.

And to Randy's point on stopping right smack in the middle of the trail all bets are off. I am usually deliberately rude in those circumstances. That irritates the hell out of me. I like the idea of thinking that if they are in the trail they are part of the trail.