WMUR had a news item on two rescues yesterday, a slip and fall on Mt Madison (hiker had a Hike Safe Card) and while they were up dealing with that rescue they got a call from Mt Adams about two hikers who were lost and cold. .
https://nhfishgame.com/2021/09/08/injured-hiker-carried-down-mt-madison/
Great Gully trail is a potentially serious spot to get lost, It is shielded from the nearest cell tower on Pine Mountain cell tower due to the topography. (There are no cell towers in Randolph and the nearest line of site tower might be Cates Hill in Berlin) There is a long stretch of boulder travel with far fewer cairns then some hikers may be accustomed to on the upper section. The odd thing is that as long as hiker is heading south and up slope they will hit the Gulfside. If they were lost in the lower section below the head wall they had to work at it as the trail runs through very dense krummholz. The other possibility is some folks who cant read contour lines or do not possess a map with contours, might mistake this trail as shortcut down the mountain (similar to folks who take Huntington Ravine trail as a shortcut). Great Gully trail may be short but its quite a bit more challenging than Kings Ravine trail. Definitely not an easy short cut
Surprisingly it seemed to be a quiet Labor Day Weekend . There was a very strong frontline that came through on Labor Day afternoon fairly suddenly. A unprepared hiker above tree line lacking proper gear could have had a brush with hypothermia as it was 20 minutes of heavy rain, high winds followed by a big temperature drop.
https://nhfishgame.com/2021/09/08/injured-hiker-carried-down-mt-madison/
Great Gully trail is a potentially serious spot to get lost, It is shielded from the nearest cell tower on Pine Mountain cell tower due to the topography. (There are no cell towers in Randolph and the nearest line of site tower might be Cates Hill in Berlin) There is a long stretch of boulder travel with far fewer cairns then some hikers may be accustomed to on the upper section. The odd thing is that as long as hiker is heading south and up slope they will hit the Gulfside. If they were lost in the lower section below the head wall they had to work at it as the trail runs through very dense krummholz. The other possibility is some folks who cant read contour lines or do not possess a map with contours, might mistake this trail as shortcut down the mountain (similar to folks who take Huntington Ravine trail as a shortcut). Great Gully trail may be short but its quite a bit more challenging than Kings Ravine trail. Definitely not an easy short cut
Surprisingly it seemed to be a quiet Labor Day Weekend . There was a very strong frontline that came through on Labor Day afternoon fairly suddenly. A unprepared hiker above tree line lacking proper gear could have had a brush with hypothermia as it was 20 minutes of heavy rain, high winds followed by a big temperature drop.
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