dom15931
New member
Ah, finally, after six weeks a two-day hiking weekend. 
On Satarday I along with a friend climbed the wildcats. I got up early, real early, around 3:50am. Made breakfast and headed over to Bethlehem, NH to meet up with Jason. Luckily there is now a 24 hour gas station in Littleton off exit 42. Got grub, gas, and coffee here at about 4:30. The original plan was to be in the Mt. Washington Valley by 530. It ended up being six thirty because of delays leaving Bethlehem and Missing NH 115. Our plan was to go up the Wildcat Ridge trail and down The Nineteen Mile BK Trail. We spotted a car at each end.
This hike got off to a real fun start with the Ellis River. I had heard the crossing was a bit rough because of ice and high water. It was. We could not cross here without a reasonable chance of ending up in the stream. We walked downstream a bit to look for a crossing and ended up laughing about the waterfall and falling in and going over. Discouraged we walked back to the usual crossing. Again it was a no go. Two thirds across the stream it was too icy to make a big leap onto an adjacent boulder. Falling in would not have been dangerous because of the close proximity of our vehicles, but it would have ruined the day. We ended up walking upstream about .2 miles to an area where we could cross. It had big boulders in the center of the stream. A few spots we icy but we both managed to cross with some careful footing. The bushwack back to the trail was hell and we went the wrong way for about a hundred yards until a group of hikers notified us so. We should have parked at the AMC and walked down as they did. At this point I can remember thinking 'I can't believe it is already 9 oclock'.
Now we were finally making some real progress. Right off the bat the views were great on this trail. Numerous outcropping and the ice wasn't too bad. The Huntington Ravine looked incredible from here! After this point the ice became a bit more tricky. I did not put on my crampons because it was patchy in nature. The trail continued steadily up until reaching E peak and then the ski area.There were no fresh footprints on the trail from the snow the day before. Above 3900 feet there was some icepack, which surprised me. In sheltered areas it was still over about a foot deep from storms weeks ago. Downed trees were not too big of a problem.
The going from D peak over to C,B, and A was slow. There were contined icy patches and the trail was very narrow and many trees had been bent inward by the recent snows. There were few views offered by C and B. Wildcat A, on the other hand, had some great views. The mountain dropped off impressivily to the ponds and the hut below us. Carter Dome looked impressive from here and I wish we had had the time to do it also.
Going down 'A' peak wasn't as bad as I had expected. I used my crampons for about a .2 mile streach because of the ice. Jason did not have crampons and did ok without them, just had to be careful. We made good time from here on out and only and got of the woods at 5 sharp.
Sunday I did Cannon solo. This was one of those hikes that I had expected little from and got a lot. Very rewarding for a commercialized summit. I left the Cannon Tramway parking lot at about 1130am.This is a popular winter hike I could tell from all the footprints on the trail. I took my time on this hike since it was only 4 miles and to give my legs a break. There were no ice issues for the first .5 or so miles of this trail. Ater that there were some sections of ice flows on the trail, worse than the Wildcats IMO. I used my crampons on some of these since I had brought them. The views of Franconia Ridge were 10/10. I was impressed. Honestly this is now one of my favorite mountain vistas and my favoite in the Whites. The mountains look rugged and their prominance is made obvious by their steep rise.
One thing that was strange about this hike was that you could here cars the whole time! I even noticed this on the observation deck at the summit. Check out the pic of Franconia Ridge.
On Satarday I along with a friend climbed the wildcats. I got up early, real early, around 3:50am. Made breakfast and headed over to Bethlehem, NH to meet up with Jason. Luckily there is now a 24 hour gas station in Littleton off exit 42. Got grub, gas, and coffee here at about 4:30. The original plan was to be in the Mt. Washington Valley by 530. It ended up being six thirty because of delays leaving Bethlehem and Missing NH 115
. Our plan was to go up the Wildcat Ridge trail and down The Nineteen Mile BK Trail. We spotted a car at each end. This hike got off to a real fun start with the Ellis River. I had heard the crossing was a bit rough because of ice and high water. It was. We could not cross here without a reasonable chance of ending up in the stream. We walked downstream a bit to look for a crossing and ended up laughing about the waterfall and falling in and going over. Discouraged we walked back to the usual crossing. Again it was a no go. Two thirds across the stream it was too icy to make a big leap onto an adjacent boulder. Falling in would not have been dangerous because of the close proximity of our vehicles, but it would have ruined the day. We ended up walking upstream about .2 miles to an area where we could cross. It had big boulders in the center of the stream. A few spots we icy but we both managed to cross with some careful footing. The bushwack back to the trail was hell and we went the wrong way for about a hundred yards until a group of hikers notified us so. We should have parked at the AMC and walked down as they did. At this point I can remember thinking 'I can't believe it is already 9 oclock'.
Now we were finally making some real progress. Right off the bat the views were great on this trail. Numerous outcropping and the ice wasn't too bad. The Huntington Ravine looked incredible from here! After this point the ice became a bit more tricky. I did not put on my crampons because it was patchy in nature. The trail continued steadily up until reaching E peak and then the ski area.There were no fresh footprints on the trail from the snow the day before. Above 3900 feet there was some icepack, which surprised me. In sheltered areas it was still over about a foot deep from storms weeks ago. Downed trees were not too big of a problem.
The going from D peak over to C,B, and A was slow. There were contined icy patches and the trail was very narrow and many trees had been bent inward by the recent snows. There were few views offered by C and B. Wildcat A, on the other hand, had some great views. The mountain dropped off impressivily to the ponds and the hut below us. Carter Dome looked impressive from here and I wish we had had the time to do it also.
Going down 'A' peak wasn't as bad as I had expected. I used my crampons for about a .2 mile streach because of the ice. Jason did not have crampons and did ok without them, just had to be careful. We made good time from here on out and only and got of the woods at 5 sharp.
Sunday I did Cannon solo. This was one of those hikes that I had expected little from and got a lot. Very rewarding for a commercialized summit. I left the Cannon Tramway parking lot at about 1130am.This is a popular winter hike I could tell from all the footprints on the trail. I took my time on this hike since it was only 4 miles and to give my legs a break. There were no ice issues for the first .5 or so miles of this trail. Ater that there were some sections of ice flows on the trail, worse than the Wildcats IMO. I used my crampons on some of these since I had brought them. The views of Franconia Ridge were 10/10. I was impressed. Honestly this is now one of my favorite mountain vistas and my favoite in the Whites. The mountains look rugged and their prominance is made obvious by their steep rise.
One thing that was strange about this hike was that you could here cars the whole time! I even noticed this on the observation deck at the summit. Check out the pic of Franconia Ridge.
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