View Full Version : Mt. Washington/Mt. Monroe Via Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, etc.
So it's snowed a bit up high in the past day or so, and it's supposed to be extra warm tomorrow. What to do? I'd like to ascend Mt. Monroe - Mt. Washington, leg stamina permitting - tomorrow via the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, etc. tomorrow. I'd be leaving out sometime late in the AM. Are the ledges up high likely to be safe by mid-afternoon tomorrow, assuming the forecast holds? An alternative for me would be to do the Lincoln/Lafayette loop, going up via Falling Waters and down the Old Bridle Path. I've got a yen for White Mountain waterfalls and 5K+ summit views. Any recommendations? I'll be bringing the spikes for sure.
Gray Blazer
05-11-2012, 13:01
The trail up Mt. Willey from Crawford Notch isn't to rocky and not likely to be as icy. Good view of the Webster Cliffs and the Presidentials from up there. It ain't easy and there is at least one place where you will be on your hands and knees.
Slo-go'en
05-11-2012, 13:16
Huh, I guess it did snow up there yesterday/last night. The clouds finally lifted enough this afternoon for me to see the summits and there is a light coating of snow showing now. It should melt off fast and is likely only near and above tree line.
I took a hike yesterday afternoon after it stopped raining and it was very, very muddy on the trails on the lower slope of Mt Adams. Was sure gald I thought to put my gaiters on and wear gortex boots! I was walking in running water or through mud holes nearly the whole 5 mile loop. But then, I was on trails which never get much traffic any time of year and are typically a little wet. I did see some pretty freash moose tracks though.
The black flies were starting to get a bit annoying on Monday. If it warms up good Saturday, be prepared to get the blood sucked out of you!
The black flies were starting to get a bit annoying on Monday. If it warms up good Saturday, be prepared to get the blood sucked out of you!
How high do the black flies go? I started at 2500' on Moosilauke's east side last Saturday and saw basically no insects. I think I might've gotten one fly bite on my left calf. Starting and ending tomorrow at the Ammo/Jewell Trailhead (also at about 2500'), Slo-go'en, do you think I will avoid the flies for the most part?
Also, it sounds like I might could get away with leaving the microspikes in the car, given the warm forecast. I'm thinking Ammo it is, hoping my legs will be strong enough to get me all the way up W - I'm confident of Monroe as a bailout option if needed, though I'd rather not go back down the Ammo trail - might skip down to Eisenhower instead if need be.
peakbagger
05-11-2012, 15:38
I wouldnt stress but I carry microspikes until June 1st. I can look out the window of my office and see tha Madison and Adams has a light coating of snow but I expect it will off in the AM fairly quickly. The biggest thing to plan for is the possiblility of wet trails and wet socks and pants. Add a little wind and it makes for potential hypothermia conditions.
I wouldnt stress but I carry microspikes until June 1st. I can look out the window of my office and see tha Madison and Adams has a light coating of snow but I expect it will off in the AM fairly quickly. The biggest thing to plan for is the possiblility of wet trails and wet socks and pants. Add a little wind and it makes for potential hypothermia conditions.
Bringing the rain pants along, will start in shorts and pull the rain pants out of the bag. Also in the bag will be wool sweater, fall jacket with heavy gloves, and winter toque. Call me the little engine that could - I think I can, I think I can. ... I reckon up Ammo and down Jewell is the way to go, and if I get up to the hut and am in doubt, Madison will be my peak and back down Ammo or via Eisenhower are reasonable bailout options - I'll be abler to judge whether I want to go down Ammo having ascended it.
Bringing the rain pants along, will start in shorts and pull the rain pants out of the bag. Also in the bag will be wool sweater, fall jacket with heavy gloves, and winter toque. Call me the little engine that could - I think I can, I think I can. ... I reckon up Ammo and down Jewell is the way to go, and if I get up to the hut and am in doubt, Madison will be my peak and back down Ammo or via Eisenhower are reasonable bailout options - I'll be abler to judge whether I want to go down Ammo having ascended it.
I suspect you mean Monroe, not Madison....
Slo-go'en
05-11-2012, 16:45
Umm, I went up Mt Waumbeck Monday - a 4000 footer by about 5 feet - and I only saw one small patch of ice in a shady spot near the top of Star King. (just under 4000 feet, but on the way to Waumbeck).
The Black Flies were pretty thick lower down near where the trail followed a near-by stream, but higher up and away from the running water they weren't bad - after I killed off all the ones which followed me up the trail. But I've been driven off the top of Adams and Madison at times due to black flies - the wind can blow them up there.
be sure and report back to us on the quality of cell coverage in crawford notch.
Thanks for your helpful words, Slo-Go'en and Peakbagger. I greatly enjoyed the Ammo trail - so beautiful. It was very windy all day - the 40-ish mph gusts low in the ravine, below the Gem Pool, were head-turners: "If it's doing that there, what's it doing up top?" It was blowing a steady 60 mph at the hut, was the answer, with 70+ mph gusts, was the answer, when I got there about 4 pm.
I passed about 40 hikers descending the upper mile of the trail as I ascended. Three parties had traversed Mt. Washington from the north, two of them reporting steady 70 mph winds up there and one of them 80 mph gusts. One pair of young guys had bailed on a N-S Presi traverse - too much wind. Everyone I met who had gone up via Ammo and were attempting Mt. W had either turned around at the hut or opted for Monroe or to explore the Crawford Path sobo for a while, then descending they way they'd come up. So much for my plan to go up over W and down the Jewell Trail! I didn't want to get blown over by the wind any more - that happened a couple of times in the last stretch of ascent - and so bailed on my bail-out option, Monroe. Even so, it was my first time hiking above 5K - I took the Crawford Path a short ways past the Monroe loop northern junction to take in some views and snap some pics, then turned about into the teeth of the wind. I was the last hiker down the Ammo for the day.
Really enjoyed the Ammonoosuc River and its many falls. In a day after rains and snows, the water was plentiful - the trail was a brook for about half its upward mile. It's clear that the river raged last fall during Irene - there was a lot of damage on or near the trail in the mile along the River in the lower reaches, and there were countless felled trees and some landslides in the half mile or so below the Gem Pool.
All in all a beautiful day on the hardest trail I've done yet. I'm sore but happy today - look forward to taking on W this summer on a calm, pretty day. I'll make it next time weather permitting.
PS: I saw no black flies all day - must've been too windy. Did see a swarm or two of gnats in the evening along the river.
PPS: I wouldn't have thought about cell coverage, mostly likely, but for the reminder. It's very good most of the way up - I kept getting pinged for incoming messages. Would've shut the phone off had it not also been my camera.
PS: I saw no black flies all day - must've been too windy. Did see a swarm or two of gnats in the evening along the river.
PPS: I wouldn't have thought about cell coverage, mostly likely, but for the reminder. It's very good most of the way up - I kept getting pinged for incoming messages. Would've shut the phone off had it not also been my camera.
well thats a relief. one less online fund raising drive to install cell repeaters in the whites.
peakbagger
05-14-2012, 09:10
I was out Saturday attempting Adams and Madison, we skipped the summits due to wind. The wind speed up off the surface fot he summit may have been 50 to 70 but down on the ground on expeosed ridges I would ssupect closer to 30 MPH as most folks can not walk very well in true 30 MPH gusts at ground level. The black flies were out down low in areas sheltered by the wind and late sunday afternoon they were out.
Ammo trail up to Lakes is a nice walk even if you skip the summit. It in close contention with Old Bridal Path as a way to get to a hut as the other hut routes tend to be more in the woods for shelter.
I was out Saturday attempting Adams and Madison, we skipped the summits due to wind. The wind speed up off the surface fot he summit may have been 50 to 70 but down on the ground on expeosed ridges I would ssupect closer to 30 MPH as most folks can not walk very well in true 30 MPH gusts at ground level. The black flies were out down low in areas sheltered by the wind and late sunday afternoon they were out.
Ammo trail up to Lakes is a nice walk even if you skip the summit. It in close contention with Old Bridal Path as a way to get to a hut as the other hut routes tend to be more in the woods for shelter.
Ammo is beautiful. I felt fulfilled by the experience of it even though I didn't summit either of my objectives. Enjoyed some of the views from low down, as I descended, of waterfalls on branches of the Ammo River not followed by the trail - would make for a fun bush-whacking adventure on the right day.
As to the 60 mph and 70 mph numbers at the hut, I was knocked over a couple of times in the wind in the last 150 yards or so ascending, and felt like a flag in the wind when testing the wind, peeking out from behind the hut's west side - my jacket and rain pants fluttered madly. I'm built like a pro football linebacker with some extra chub in the middle and stumps for legs - anything but wobbly.
I got to the hut right about 4, which is when, per the MW Obs website, they recorded 76 mph gusts and sustained 70. I mostly hid from the wind behind the hut so I don't have as good a sense for sustained winds there, but I stand by the 70 mph gusts estimate. Several hikers descending as I ascended told me they had bailed from the ridge due to the winds. Maybe it was windier along the rim of the Ammo Ravine, vs. the northern Presidentials, due to the ravine acting like a bowl collecting wind coming in from the northwest, a sort of bellows - don't know for sure. Fortunately, the winds died down pretty quickly as I descended - almost calm by 4000'.
I did leave my pack for a short stroll up Crawford Path just past the northern Monroe Loop junction to have a look and take some pictures. Was knocked over once in this stretch - though having no pack helped - and enjoyed the way the wind died down as I got behind Monroe's shoulder. It was still there when I returned.