Mount Madison, September 11, 2024, Presidential Range, White Mountain National Forest

View to Carter Notch from a "Howk"

I know that Robert Frost, the famed poet who had a summer place over in Franconia, was not thinking of White Mountain trails when he composed his most famous of poems. But I like to think that he was. When hiking the highest, most popular peaks, my mantra is always "road less traveled by." You know what I am talking about. Skookumchuck Trail to Lafayette and Castle Trail to Jefferson. On these trails, one has a much greater chance for solitude, even on beautiful, blue bird weather days. That's because most people are taking the shorter, easier, most-direct routes. For those of us who want peace and quiet, the road less traveled by definitely makes all the difference.

Blueberry Ridge

On Mount Madison, that road is Howker Ridge Trail. On a recent sunny, cloudless September day with comfortable temps and light and variable winds, I was not surprised to find Randolph East parking area totally empty - even after passing a full house at Appalachia. Howker Ridge Trail, which starts here, is a rough and wild trail that meanders by interesting cascades, rock formations and pleasant forests and then proceeds up and over four mini-peaks called "The Howks" before connecting with Osgood Trail for the final summit ridge to Madison. It's probably one of my favorite trails in all of the Whites.

View to Mt. Madison Summit from a "Howk"

I hit the trail a little on the late side, 7:15 a.m., and zipped through the rocky waterfall sections, took the short detour to the "Bear Pit" rock formation, and then progressed up and over a long, wooded spine called Blueberry Ridge. It is here that you get a first glimpse through the tree canopy of Mount Madison towering in the distance. That's a recurring theme throughout the hike as you get repeated views of Madison when emerging onto the rocky summits of each of the individual Howks, with Madison appearing nearer and nearer each time. Pretty neat.

After the first two Howks, the trail drops down into a col, joins up with Pine Link trail for a short distance over another Howk, and then diverges to the southwest for the final Howk and eventual intersection with Osgood Trail. This fourth and final Howk is by far the best. You get a great view of Carter Notch in one direction and, in the other, a wide view back to the three Howks that you have just climbed over.

Alpine berries

The lower sections of the trail are somewhat overgrown, a testament to their light use, but also dangerous. I caught a broken limb from an overgrown shrub in the eye, requiring an eye wash to see clearly again but fortunately not too serious of an injury in the grand scheme of things. The last section of the trail, as expected, is the classic Madison summit cone boulder hopping. I had five minutes of peace and quiet on the Madison summit before encountering my first hikers of the day. Trail runners, actually, one of whom asked "is this the top?"

Summit Mt. Madison

Other people started arriving a few minutes later, most of them coming from the direction of Madison Springs Hut. I hightailed it out of there and took my lunch break on "Cell Phone Rock," the nickname for that big boulder about 50 yards from the hut where overnighters can catch a signal. As I was finishing my break, more hikers started coming up Valley Way - my planned descent route - so I sadly came to the realization that my time of quiet, lonely trail hiking was done. Indeed, it was a slow slog of a descent which required continually waiting for the upward bound to pass, including one dude who was teetering over rock steps and slippery roots while recording and narrating with a cell phone in one hand. 

Not to judge, but wouldn't a body cam be the better choice? 

Peaks: Mt. Madison
Elevation: 5,367 feet (Gain: 4,750 feet)
Distance: 10 miles
Route: Loop: Howker Ridge Trail to Osgood Trail to Madison Springs Hut to Valley Way to Randolph Path
Conditions: Sunny, 40 degrees F
Notable Flora/Fauna: Alpine vegetation

Mt. Hale and Mt. Tom, May 19-20, 2024, Crawford Notch, White Mountain National Forest

Summit cairn, Mount Hale

One of our four went missing. Don't worry. Not on the trail.

Over the past few years, my brother and I have been doing an annual trip to the White Mountains in order to get the next generation started on the 4,000 footers a lot earlier than we did. This time, however, one of my two nephews unfortunately caught an illness a few days before the trip. Since we were planning a Zealand Hut stay, conventional wisdom dictated that he should stay home. Probably the right call. But it just wasn't the same having only the three of us instead of the usual four.

Ascending the Hale Brook Trail

Our plan called for a hike to Zealand Hut for an overnight and the climbing of two peaks - Mt. Hale on the way in and Mt. Tom on the way out. The hut and peak hike would be bookended by two nights in the Highland Center in Crawford Notch, one of our common bases of operations for WMNF hikes. Having only one car, we needed to make use of the Trail Angels in order to make our plan work. This way, we could leave our car at the Highland Center and hike back to it after doing Hale, the Hut and Tom. The plan worked out great. The angels showed up right on time, the driver was friendly and we made it to the trail head on time. But 90 bucks for a 20 minute shuttle ride? No wonder we'd NEVER used the service before.

Trail break, Mt. Hale summit

We made quick work up the switchbacks of the Hale Brook Trail and had our first break of the day spread out near the giant cairn, keeping a careful eye on the opportunistic Canada Jays that one always finds looking for a hiker snack on this extremely popular summit. We then zipped down to Zealand Hut and were pleasantly surprised to learn that there were only a handful of reservations for the night, despite the fact that the night before was a full house. Phew!

Canada Jays ever present on Hale

Since we got in early, we passed the afternoon climbing around the bunks, napping, hanging out with other hikers and enjoying the lake and waterfalls. Since it was the last weekend of caretaker season, we (per usual) dazzled our fellow overnighters with a top notch dinner menu -- three cheese mac and cheese, blueberry cobbler, and Pennsylvania smoked sausage for the meat eaters. Since we were a man down on the trip, there was plenty to share with the crew and other overnighters... and no leftovers. 

Zealand Special

The next morning, we hit the A-Z Trail for the long stretch back to the Highland Center. For many years, I have been wanting to hike this trail and it proved to be interesting enough. It climbs steadily upwards to the shoulder of Mt. Tom, after which it is all downhill to Crawford Notch. It's not heavily used, so the going was slow through overgrowth and blow downs... not to mention some lingering snow. Wanting to bag a second peak, we did the short up and back to Mt. Tom summit but didn't dally at the summit for long due to the arrival of a noisy party of shirtless Canadians enjoying the pleasant, sunny weather. For some reason, it seems that male hikers from Quebec appear to really enjoy removing their tops on sunny days... even in black fly season.

The wonderful view from Tom summit

After the notoriously unspectacular Tom summit, we endured a particularly long, slow descent to the Highland Center since the youngest member of our party was experiencing some discomfort in his pack and boots. Always the trooper, he still managed to bang it out and the reward was adding a couple more peaks to his resume... A fact that he will surely remind his older brother about day in and day out until our next trip.

Peaks: Mount Hale and Mount Tom
Elevation: 4,054 feet and 4,051 feet
Distance: 11 miles point to point
Route: Hale Brook Trail to Lend-a-Hand Trail to Zealand Hut overnight to A-Z Trail to Avalon Trail
Conditions: Partly sunny, 60 degrees F

Rocky Peak and Giant Mountain, October 10, 2023, Giant Mountain Wilderness, Adirondack Park

View from Rocky Peak summit to Bald Peak, Lake Champlain and Green Mtns.

I lucked out and found a sleeping giant.

In all these years of hiking the High Peaks, I can't remember ever once driving by the Giant Ridge Trail/Chapel Pond parking areas on Route 73 and seeing fewer than a dozen cars and an equal number of hikers anxiously milling about in preparation for their big outings. Imagine my surprise when, on a Tuesday after the Columbus Day long weekend, I found myself pulling up to these parking areas and finding them completely empty. Score. Indeed, I wound up having the super-popular Giant Ridge Trail all to myself for almost an entire day.

First vista point, view to Chapel Pond and Giant Ridge Trail parking

I hit the trail at 7 a.m. sharp and made quick work of the first section of the trail - the switchback climb of some 600 feet of gain up to the Chapel Pond overlook. The usually-dry stream was raging from the weekend's heavy rains, but the crossings were still easy. It's neat to be able to look down on the pond and see your car as a tiny speck far below. 

Noonmark and Great Range from Giant Ridge Trail above Washbowl

It's easy to see why Giant Ridge Trail is so popular. There are lots of switchbacks along the route, which eases the significant gain over such a short mileage. But it is still up up up up up from the get go. Towards to top, the trail leaves the woods and follows a series of open rock ledges which were stripped of their vegetation by a forest fire years ago. When ascending, you really don't get the full visual effect as your eyes are on the trail ahead and your mind on the workout to get to the summits. But when descending, the trail on these ledges rewards you with a wide, sweeping panorama of the full High Peaks from the Dix Range to the Great Range. It's got to be one of the best views in the ADK.

View to Rocky Peak from Giant shoulder

The most difficult part of this hike was the drop into the col between Giant and Rocky Peak. It's a steep, knee-breaking descent and, of course, has to be reclimbed after visiting Rocky. The solace, I suppose, is that once you are in the col, the climb up to Rocky Peak is at moderate grade and quite easy. To ease the burden even more, I stowed my heavy pack and went up with just minimal gear. As expected, the views from Rocky Peak were amazing as well. The high winds prevented a long stay, so I soon descended, took a lunch break in the col (out of the wind), and then made the slog-of-a-climb back up the Giant. I made sure to pay a quick visit to the summit, too, which is just a few hundred yards from the junction.

Moderate grade trail to Rocky Peak summit

I saw my first hikers of the day once I was back on Giant and preparing to descend. First it was a solo hiker. Then a second soloist. Then a group of two with a dog. And then a family of four (without packs or water). Then another group and another and another. It was trail congestion central for a short span of time and I had to keep pausing to let people ascend - good naturedly, of course, and I even chatted with a few. Fortunately, once I passed the intersection with the Roaring Brook Trail, it got very quiet again and I didn't see any other hikers for the remainder of the day.

View of Dix Range and Round Pond from Giant Ridge Trail

I was back to my car at 1:00 p.m. for a total trail time of six hours. As expected, the parking areas were full.

Peaks: Rocky Peak and Giant Mountain
Elevation: 4,420 feet and 4,626 feet (Gain: 4,238 feet)
Distance: 7.3 miles roundtrip
Route: Out and Back: Giant Ridge Trail to East Trail
Conditions: Partly sunny, 30 degrees F