sapblatt
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This hike was to be my final hike before number 48 in a couple of weeks and I wanted to do something memorable. I sure was not disappointed here! I met Kris (LittleBear) at one of the Portsmouth Park & Rides at about 5AM and we headed up to Appalachia. A brief stop for coffee and calories, gas and a pit stop at Pinkham (where it was very cold and windy) had us ready to hike at 7:30AM at the Air Line. I stuck with the shorts and tee shirt(s) and Kris had a few layers on and gloves which she wore for most of the day…probably would have been a good idea for me to wear them during all of the scrambling!
Our route on this crisp fall morning (about 40 degrees, wind was not noticeable in the forest) is going to take the Air Line to the Short Line, King Ravine Trail into the ravine and up the headwall, followed by Air Line to Gulfside and then we would head down the Spur Trail, Amphibranch and the Link back to Appalachia. This was a not to subtle introduction for me into the RMC trail network. I have decided that after finishing my 48 the next “thing” on my agenda is going to be redlining…I think I am going to start with the RMC trails.
By the time we had made it to the Short Line we had warmed up and realized we felt pretty good and were moving at a respectable pace. We continued up to the junction with King Ravine Trail and the moderate climbing began. We began following a stream with nice cascades and incredible views to the west were peeking through every once in awhile. We got some nice looks at Crag Camp and Knight’s Castle where we were planning to visit on the way down in the afternoon. We continued onward and upward…the rocks that created the floor of this ravine and the area where the trail lay are incredibly large. A lot of regular hiking, and a lot of scrambling.
Soon enough we broke out of the forest and found ourselves at the junction with Chemin des Dames (so much easier to type than pronounce.) Kris went up this way years ago and was looking forward to going up the King Ravine Trail this time. I guess next time it will have to be the Great Gully Trail. We walked a little further and got to the spot where the Subway and Elevated split ways and rejoin a couple of hundred yards later. Of course, we chose the Subway, not the Elevated that was subtitled “Easier.” In both of our opinions the most difficult “move” of the whole thing is in the first twenty feet when you have to leap from one boulder to another – it was probably all of eighteen inches, but falling short or going long would not be good at all! LittleBear leapt first and after about thirty seconds of contemplation I followed. We made it. On to big boulders, always a challenge to the sub six foot crowd and the tunnels. The tunnels are a lot of fun. There were three spots where we had to take our packs off and Kris would crawl through, then I would pass our packs through and then I would crawl through. These spots are not that small and I was never in any doubt that my 200 pounds would make it through. It takes over thirty minutes to negotiate the 200 yards of the subway! My biggest fear in this section, and on the lower part of the headwall was hitting my head on an overhanging rock.
After breaking out of the Subway it rejoins the Elevated and we took a quick break on the rocks looking back down into the valley. We kept looking up at the headwall and laughing – some sort of disbelief that we were going to be heading up that way soon! We began our assault on the head wall. The numbers in the guidebook for this are a little sick – 1.6 miles and 2300 feet of elevation gain (about 2.3’ up for every foot forward) – as crazy as that sounds, the last half-mile of the climb gains 1100 feet. As we headed up the biggest concern was the sun. It was now peeking over the headwall straight down on us. This made it very difficult to look up to see where you were going or to notice if you were about to whack yourself on the head on some house sized boulder. Luckily, we made it through,
The upper third of the trail switches over from large boulder to more of a loose rock format. Alarmingly many of these are quite large and move with incredible ease. We had one very scary incident; I would guess about 300 yards from the top, just before where the gigantic ledge on the right appears. I was leading and I came across a rock about 20” x 20”. The trail is so steep that even though this rock was where I wanted to step next it was at about the level of my waist!! I pressed on it with my hands and it did not budge – I put one foot and some weight on it and it did not budge – I stepped on it and it did not budge. (You can see where this is heading…
) When I pushed off, it budged big time. I was fine, but the rock, well over 100 pounds started careening down the headwall. Fortunately, LittleBear was behind me by about twenty feet and she was over to the right about fifteen feet, so the rock did not come that near to her. Kris quickly yelled rock, as we knew there were hikers behind us, luckily they were way behind us. As the rock fell it hit a couple of other large ones that also began to move and split into pieces. They all came to a halt in some scrub about 150-200 feet below us. We were both enjoying the headwall, but Kris later mentioned that after this incident she had enough of it and wanted to get to the top – I could not have agreed more! In the future I am going to be sure to be spaced apart by at least fifty feet in sections like this. We continued upwards towards the top, which seemed to get steeper as we went, but soon enough we were on the Air Line at 5100 feet – this was our summit today!
We had a very quick snack and decided we would have lunch at Thunderstorm Junction (on the sided of the mega cairn that was out of the wind!) We made it there in about thirty minutes and rested for about thirty minutes. By about 1:45PM we were on our way down the Spur Trail. This trail is very scenic in its upper reaches with mesmerizing views over the ravine, Durand Ridge and Madison. I lost track how many times we looked over at where the King Ravine Trail is and could not believe that is what we went up today! About half a mile into the descent the trail gets into the scrub and gets a lot steeper. Nothing to tricky, just takes time. A little before Crag Camp we visited a great outlook known as Knight’s Castle. Beautiful views into King Ravine. Crag Camp is as nice as I had imagined it would be…a perfect location! The steep descent continued with the help of three log staircases; the first one even had a banister! Eventually we crossed Spur Brook and the junction with the Hinck’s Trail and eventually down to the Randolph Path where we shortly met the Amphibranch for the mellower portion of our descent.
The Amphibranch and the Link were much needed, easily graded paths that got us the last 2.6 miles back to Appalachia rather quickly and quite painlessly. Crossed Memorial Bridge, which neither of us had seen before and we also crossed through a large set up for maple syrup making…hundreds of yards of tubing and a large tank, which of course I thought I had discovered my first back country still!
We made it back to the car at about 5:15, had a very quick beer (and noticed a lot of other drinkers in the lot that shared our hiking problem) and we were heading south. LittleBear did a great job of tolerating my voice, which I had been losing throughout the day, and was pretty much gone by the time we left Appalachia. Kris read the trail descriptions of the trails we were on today and I do not think either of us could really believe we went up that head wall. I am very pleased with this hike as it had nothing to do with lists – just get out there and hike and have a great time! A great day – and a highly recommended route!
Number 48 on Mount Jackson is next on 10/8!
Pictures
Our route on this crisp fall morning (about 40 degrees, wind was not noticeable in the forest) is going to take the Air Line to the Short Line, King Ravine Trail into the ravine and up the headwall, followed by Air Line to Gulfside and then we would head down the Spur Trail, Amphibranch and the Link back to Appalachia. This was a not to subtle introduction for me into the RMC trail network. I have decided that after finishing my 48 the next “thing” on my agenda is going to be redlining…I think I am going to start with the RMC trails.
By the time we had made it to the Short Line we had warmed up and realized we felt pretty good and were moving at a respectable pace. We continued up to the junction with King Ravine Trail and the moderate climbing began. We began following a stream with nice cascades and incredible views to the west were peeking through every once in awhile. We got some nice looks at Crag Camp and Knight’s Castle where we were planning to visit on the way down in the afternoon. We continued onward and upward…the rocks that created the floor of this ravine and the area where the trail lay are incredibly large. A lot of regular hiking, and a lot of scrambling.
Soon enough we broke out of the forest and found ourselves at the junction with Chemin des Dames (so much easier to type than pronounce.) Kris went up this way years ago and was looking forward to going up the King Ravine Trail this time. I guess next time it will have to be the Great Gully Trail. We walked a little further and got to the spot where the Subway and Elevated split ways and rejoin a couple of hundred yards later. Of course, we chose the Subway, not the Elevated that was subtitled “Easier.” In both of our opinions the most difficult “move” of the whole thing is in the first twenty feet when you have to leap from one boulder to another – it was probably all of eighteen inches, but falling short or going long would not be good at all! LittleBear leapt first and after about thirty seconds of contemplation I followed. We made it. On to big boulders, always a challenge to the sub six foot crowd and the tunnels. The tunnels are a lot of fun. There were three spots where we had to take our packs off and Kris would crawl through, then I would pass our packs through and then I would crawl through. These spots are not that small and I was never in any doubt that my 200 pounds would make it through. It takes over thirty minutes to negotiate the 200 yards of the subway! My biggest fear in this section, and on the lower part of the headwall was hitting my head on an overhanging rock.
After breaking out of the Subway it rejoins the Elevated and we took a quick break on the rocks looking back down into the valley. We kept looking up at the headwall and laughing – some sort of disbelief that we were going to be heading up that way soon! We began our assault on the head wall. The numbers in the guidebook for this are a little sick – 1.6 miles and 2300 feet of elevation gain (about 2.3’ up for every foot forward) – as crazy as that sounds, the last half-mile of the climb gains 1100 feet. As we headed up the biggest concern was the sun. It was now peeking over the headwall straight down on us. This made it very difficult to look up to see where you were going or to notice if you were about to whack yourself on the head on some house sized boulder. Luckily, we made it through,
The upper third of the trail switches over from large boulder to more of a loose rock format. Alarmingly many of these are quite large and move with incredible ease. We had one very scary incident; I would guess about 300 yards from the top, just before where the gigantic ledge on the right appears. I was leading and I came across a rock about 20” x 20”. The trail is so steep that even though this rock was where I wanted to step next it was at about the level of my waist!! I pressed on it with my hands and it did not budge – I put one foot and some weight on it and it did not budge – I stepped on it and it did not budge. (You can see where this is heading…
) When I pushed off, it budged big time. I was fine, but the rock, well over 100 pounds started careening down the headwall. Fortunately, LittleBear was behind me by about twenty feet and she was over to the right about fifteen feet, so the rock did not come that near to her. Kris quickly yelled rock, as we knew there were hikers behind us, luckily they were way behind us. As the rock fell it hit a couple of other large ones that also began to move and split into pieces. They all came to a halt in some scrub about 150-200 feet below us. We were both enjoying the headwall, but Kris later mentioned that after this incident she had enough of it and wanted to get to the top – I could not have agreed more! In the future I am going to be sure to be spaced apart by at least fifty feet in sections like this. We continued upwards towards the top, which seemed to get steeper as we went, but soon enough we were on the Air Line at 5100 feet – this was our summit today!We had a very quick snack and decided we would have lunch at Thunderstorm Junction (on the sided of the mega cairn that was out of the wind!) We made it there in about thirty minutes and rested for about thirty minutes. By about 1:45PM we were on our way down the Spur Trail. This trail is very scenic in its upper reaches with mesmerizing views over the ravine, Durand Ridge and Madison. I lost track how many times we looked over at where the King Ravine Trail is and could not believe that is what we went up today! About half a mile into the descent the trail gets into the scrub and gets a lot steeper. Nothing to tricky, just takes time. A little before Crag Camp we visited a great outlook known as Knight’s Castle. Beautiful views into King Ravine. Crag Camp is as nice as I had imagined it would be…a perfect location! The steep descent continued with the help of three log staircases; the first one even had a banister! Eventually we crossed Spur Brook and the junction with the Hinck’s Trail and eventually down to the Randolph Path where we shortly met the Amphibranch for the mellower portion of our descent.
The Amphibranch and the Link were much needed, easily graded paths that got us the last 2.6 miles back to Appalachia rather quickly and quite painlessly. Crossed Memorial Bridge, which neither of us had seen before and we also crossed through a large set up for maple syrup making…hundreds of yards of tubing and a large tank, which of course I thought I had discovered my first back country still!
We made it back to the car at about 5:15, had a very quick beer (and noticed a lot of other drinkers in the lot that shared our hiking problem) and we were heading south. LittleBear did a great job of tolerating my voice, which I had been losing throughout the day, and was pretty much gone by the time we left Appalachia. Kris read the trail descriptions of the trails we were on today and I do not think either of us could really believe we went up that head wall. I am very pleased with this hike as it had nothing to do with lists – just get out there and hike and have a great time! A great day – and a highly recommended route!
Number 48 on Mount Jackson is next on 10/8!
Pictures
