zook
New member
Date(s) Hiked: 9/2/2006 - 9/3/2006
Trails(s) Hiked: Caps Ridge Trail, Jefferson Loop, Gulfside, Israel Ridge Path, Emerald, The Link
Total Distance: ~5-6 miles each day
Difficulty: somewhat difficult and streneous, slippery
Conditions: Saturday: sunny and windy, dry; Sunday: clouds with passing showers, some sun, trails wet and muddy.
Trip Report: We have made reservations at the Madison Hut for the Labor Day weekend a couple of months ago and planned to hike some new summits in the Whites. The weather forecast was quite good for the Saturday (except for the winds), Sunday however it was supposed to rain. Since we already had reservations and there was no way to get our money back we decided to try to make the trip anyway and adjust our plans depending on the weather.
Me, my husband and a friend of ours left New York Friday evening around 7pm and managed to escape heavy Ernesto rains. We camped overnight in Vermont and left early morning again escaping dark clouds. When we got to New Hampshire it was partly sunny.
We left the car at the parking on Jefferson Notch Road. We started out on Caps Ridge Trail at 11am planning to get to the Madison Hut for the dinner at 6pm. It was quite warm and the trail was dry. We didn't feel much of the wind until we got to the first viewpoint (at ~1 mile, crossing with The Link). The gusts were quite strong. We put additional layers on and continued on the Caps Ridge Trail. The visibility was great, none of the peaks were clouded. We could use more sun but the weather was good to us nonetheless.
We've reached the peak of Mt. Jefferson around 2pm and headed down to the Gulfside trail. We've met a number of hikers on the Caps Ridge Trail, but beyond Mt. Jefferson we've only met a few. When we got to the Thunderstorm Junction the clouds started to cover the peak of Mt. Adams. Both my partners were already getting tired so we decided to skip the summit and continue on the Gulfside trail to the Hut. We got there around 5pm, we ate great home style dinner and talked to other hikers staying overnight. There were also some thru hikers staying there, too. One group from Tennessee started out on the AT back in March (they were 70-something year old) and they were hoping to finish in early October.
I wanted to get a good rest so I went to bed at 8:30pm. It was a bit cool in the bedrooms, I'd love to have my sleeping bag, but we were afraid of overpacking since this was our first non-day-hike trip and we weren't sure how we would handle the load. Next morning - after a "wake up call" from the cook (he played guitar and sung a song) - we had a very nice breakfast and got the rainy forecast for the rest of the day.
When we left the hut visibility was much worse than the day before (maybe 200ft or so), no rain yet, though. My plan was to take the Gulfside trail back to the Cornice and then back to Caps Ridge trail. My husband suggested to get below the treeline as quickly as we can before it starts raining, so instead we took the longer route - Israel Ridge Path down to the Emerald and then The Link to Caps Ridge. When going down Isreal Ridge Path we quickly descended under clouds. It started to rain but just a little bit (throughout a day we only had about three 5 min. intervals of rain, nothing heavy).
We went further down and got to the Emerald trail - boy was it steep! The trail is steep and very narrow, not to mention it was a bit muddy from the rain. We proceeded down slowly. We were glad we didn't have to go up that trail, although going down in wet conditions did not seem that much better. It was slippery (especially tree roots) and we had to hold on to the trees most of the time. After all that descent it turned out we had to hike up again to cross another ridge. We then started on The Link trail - what a twisted trail. On a map is seems rather flat. In reality it's very narrow and you're constantly going up and down, the trail is "packed" with rocks and trees. You don't get any views but the trail is really nice and you almost feel like you're in an "enchanted forest".
Sometime around 1pm the sun started to break out. The summits were still mostly covered with clouds though. We were very happy when we got back to the Caps Ridge Trail. Another 40 minutes from there and we were back in our car. When we were leaving the White Mountains, we were awarded with a beautifull rainbow over Mt. Washington.
Summary: Very nice trip! We've hiked some beautiful trails and the weather was not as bad as we feared. I'm a bit disappointed that the only summit we hiked was Mt. Jefferson but that means we'll have to go there again and nothing wrong with that.
Some pictures:
View from the Caps Ridge Trail:
Again, Caps Ridge Trail:
Mt. Washington from the Caps Ridge:
Me on the Caps Ridge Trail:
View of Mt. Adams from Mt. Jefferson
Israel Ridge Path:
The "twisted" Link:
The Link, again:
Trails(s) Hiked: Caps Ridge Trail, Jefferson Loop, Gulfside, Israel Ridge Path, Emerald, The Link
Total Distance: ~5-6 miles each day
Difficulty: somewhat difficult and streneous, slippery
Conditions: Saturday: sunny and windy, dry; Sunday: clouds with passing showers, some sun, trails wet and muddy.
Trip Report: We have made reservations at the Madison Hut for the Labor Day weekend a couple of months ago and planned to hike some new summits in the Whites. The weather forecast was quite good for the Saturday (except for the winds), Sunday however it was supposed to rain. Since we already had reservations and there was no way to get our money back we decided to try to make the trip anyway and adjust our plans depending on the weather.
Me, my husband and a friend of ours left New York Friday evening around 7pm and managed to escape heavy Ernesto rains. We camped overnight in Vermont and left early morning again escaping dark clouds. When we got to New Hampshire it was partly sunny.
We left the car at the parking on Jefferson Notch Road. We started out on Caps Ridge Trail at 11am planning to get to the Madison Hut for the dinner at 6pm. It was quite warm and the trail was dry. We didn't feel much of the wind until we got to the first viewpoint (at ~1 mile, crossing with The Link). The gusts were quite strong. We put additional layers on and continued on the Caps Ridge Trail. The visibility was great, none of the peaks were clouded. We could use more sun but the weather was good to us nonetheless.
We've reached the peak of Mt. Jefferson around 2pm and headed down to the Gulfside trail. We've met a number of hikers on the Caps Ridge Trail, but beyond Mt. Jefferson we've only met a few. When we got to the Thunderstorm Junction the clouds started to cover the peak of Mt. Adams. Both my partners were already getting tired so we decided to skip the summit and continue on the Gulfside trail to the Hut. We got there around 5pm, we ate great home style dinner and talked to other hikers staying overnight. There were also some thru hikers staying there, too. One group from Tennessee started out on the AT back in March (they were 70-something year old) and they were hoping to finish in early October.
I wanted to get a good rest so I went to bed at 8:30pm. It was a bit cool in the bedrooms, I'd love to have my sleeping bag, but we were afraid of overpacking since this was our first non-day-hike trip and we weren't sure how we would handle the load. Next morning - after a "wake up call" from the cook (he played guitar and sung a song) - we had a very nice breakfast and got the rainy forecast for the rest of the day.
When we left the hut visibility was much worse than the day before (maybe 200ft or so), no rain yet, though. My plan was to take the Gulfside trail back to the Cornice and then back to Caps Ridge trail. My husband suggested to get below the treeline as quickly as we can before it starts raining, so instead we took the longer route - Israel Ridge Path down to the Emerald and then The Link to Caps Ridge. When going down Isreal Ridge Path we quickly descended under clouds. It started to rain but just a little bit (throughout a day we only had about three 5 min. intervals of rain, nothing heavy).
We went further down and got to the Emerald trail - boy was it steep! The trail is steep and very narrow, not to mention it was a bit muddy from the rain. We proceeded down slowly. We were glad we didn't have to go up that trail, although going down in wet conditions did not seem that much better. It was slippery (especially tree roots) and we had to hold on to the trees most of the time. After all that descent it turned out we had to hike up again to cross another ridge. We then started on The Link trail - what a twisted trail. On a map is seems rather flat. In reality it's very narrow and you're constantly going up and down, the trail is "packed" with rocks and trees. You don't get any views but the trail is really nice and you almost feel like you're in an "enchanted forest".
Sometime around 1pm the sun started to break out. The summits were still mostly covered with clouds though. We were very happy when we got back to the Caps Ridge Trail. Another 40 minutes from there and we were back in our car. When we were leaving the White Mountains, we were awarded with a beautifull rainbow over Mt. Washington.
Summary: Very nice trip! We've hiked some beautiful trails and the weather was not as bad as we feared. I'm a bit disappointed that the only summit we hiked was Mt. Jefferson but that means we'll have to go there again and nothing wrong with that.
Some pictures:
View from the Caps Ridge Trail:
Again, Caps Ridge Trail:
Mt. Washington from the Caps Ridge:
Me on the Caps Ridge Trail:
View of Mt. Adams from Mt. Jefferson
Israel Ridge Path:
The "twisted" Link:
The Link, again:
