The Great Gulf is a glacial cirque on the northern face of Mt Washington surrounded on three sides by Mt Clay, Mt Jefferson, Mt Adams, and Mt Madison. Drained by the West Peabody River, it is a wild place, but surprisingly accessible …
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Paugus Chocorua Loop Backpack
The Sandwich Wilderness is on the southern boundary of the White Mountains and while it lacks the higher elevation mountains of the north, it is just as rugged and remote. I discovered this on a recent 2 day backpacking trip I did on the …
Read More »Eagle Cliff Bushwhack
Eagle Cliff in a 3,420′ peak in Franconia Notch, one of the most beautiful mountain passes in the White Mountains. Although it’s not a 4,000 footer, it commands tremendous views of the surrounding high peaks including Mt Lafayette and Mount Cannon. But …
Read More »Mt Tremont – Return to the White Mountains
I’ve hiked in the White Mountains so much that it hurts to be away from them for too long, and while I enjoyed my recent hiking vacation in Scotland and The Lake District, June is my favorite month to hike in the …
Read More »Osceola Ridge Traverse Attempt
I co-led an Osceola Ridge Traverse attempt on an Appalachian Mountain Club hike on Saturday with my friends Michael and Alex. Our goal was to traverse the West (4114′), Middle (4200′), Main (4315′) , and East Osceola (4156′) peaks from west to …
Read More »Six Feet Deep on the Appalachian Trail – Hiking Middle and South Carter in April
JoeC and I led a Carter Loop hike for the Appalachian Mountain Club hike on Sunday, climbing up to the Appalachian Trail/Carter-Moriah Trail via the Imp and North Carter Trails. From there, we headed south bagging Middle Carter (4610′) and South Carter …
Read More »Mud and Blood on Mount Jefferson
Many New England hikers consider Mount Jefferson (5712′) to be the toughest peak to climb in the White Mountains. Most of the routes to the summit require miles and miles of above-treeline exposure on a rocky ridge that is constantly blasted by …
Read More »Gear that Worked and Gear that Didn’t in the Presidential Range
Most of the gear I took on my Presidential Range winter backpacking trip last week performed splendidly with a few exceptions. Here’s a quick blow-by-blow account of the highs and lows, and a link to the the gear list I brought on …
Read More »Winter’s End: Isolation, Cabot, and Moriah
One of the sure signs of spring in the White Mountains is when the snow bridges over the streams collapse and stream crossings become ‘much’ more exciting. But winter will linger on for another month or two in New Hampshire’s mountains despite …
Read More »Blue Bird Weekend in the Presidential Range
We made it to the Applachia trail head at the base of Mount Madison about 6 hours behind schedule on Friday night due to bad winter driving conditions on the road from Boston. Still, we decided we wanted to camp on the …
Read More »A Winter Presidential Traverse Attempt
This weekend I’m going to attempt a Winter Presidential Traverse, one of the big winter routes we have up here in the White Mountains. This route – 19 miles with over 10,000 feet of elevation gain – is typically hiked end-to-end in …
Read More »Breaking Triail to Mount Carrigan
Climbing Mount Carrigan (4700′) in winter is an ambitious quest requiring 14 miles of hiking or snowshoeing and 3900 feet of elevation gain. Route finding and bushwhacking skills are also useful, as the trail reroutes resulting from Hurricane Irene washouts are poorly …
Read More »Mount Osceola and East Osceola in February
Mount Osceola (4340′) and its subordinate peak East Osceola (4156′) are always a challenging climb in winter. Scarred by avalanche slides and ice encrusted cliffs, it is hard to comprehend how rugged these mountains are until you need to carry full winter …
Read More »Mount Monroe and Mount Washington in February
I have always admired the long sweeping ridge between Mount Washington (6288′) and Mount Monroe (5372′) and wondered what it would be like to hike it in winter. While I have hiked the route a half dozen times during the warmer months …
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