Ammonusuc-Jewell Loop August 6th

A couple of months ago a co-worker John Gorman, my wife's friend and I planned on a hike of Mount's Monroe, Washington, Clay and Jefferson from the West. As the time approached it was just John and I. We met at a parking lot in Southern NH and drove up through Franconia Notch which always seems like a gateway into the the White Mountain National Forest.

Our plan was to take the Ammonusuc Ravine up, then various trails along the way. This was my fifth loop and one of the finest weather days the mountains ever produce. Clear azure skies against the deep green trees made for a pretty picture. This is a popular trail as it leads directly to the AMC Lakes of the Clouds hut.

We got started and moved rather quickly...somewhat like a power-walk-uphill, 3 mph. It's 2.1 miles and we were there in under 40 minutes. Beautiful Gem pool is where the easy section ends. There were lots of people hanging around so we moved on. John mistakenly splashed a woman sitting on a rock...."oops." She was a little angry.

Ahead of us was the 1 mile steep section as it climbs alongside the gorge. We passed some groups, breathing hard and just pushing up over the steep rocky path. At a little sign people often miss, I told John to take a right. You could hear the waterfall from here. This day it was pretty pitiful with all the dry weather so the picture here is from another day.

We ate a snack and had a drink and then after 5 minutes we were off again. Huffing and Puffing we fairly quickly were at the first set of ledges. I told John there were a couple of confusing spots ahead, we got to one which has a sign partially hidden by brush. The headwaters of the Ammonusuc river form here. At one spot you can see where the water goes under the rock and disappears. Springs, rainwater and snowmelt are the source.

John was doing great, we only stopped for 30 seconds to gulp down water. We traversed several tougher sections where you had to use your hands to climb up. We were pretty exposed up here, continuing to pass other hikers we just pushed on. At 1 hr and 40 minutes we reached Lakes of the Clouds Hut. Book time is about 3 hours. We were 3.1 miles from where we started. Here, John poses in front of Mt Monroe.

After a long break sitting in the large mountain hostel and eyeing some tantalizing turtle brownies we were back outside. Next plan was Mt Monroe, we were at 5,050 feet, about 2,500 feet above where we started. The summit was a bit more than a half mile and 400 feet up. We were feeling great, passed a few hikers heading down and scrambled up the steep sections.

John at Lakes Hut

I'd been here in the winter of 2003 when 70mph winds drove me to my knees several times. I didn't reach the summit that day in the face of subzero windchills. Today was what we call a "bluebird" day, light winds and about 70 degrees. The flat summit is a little of a let-down but Monroe's true peak is a pulpit of rock. We paused and I took a couple pictures.

Here John descends past some of the steeper sections of Mt Monroe, (5,384') Pretty soon we were back at the flat section of Crawford. We passed the hut with it's spinning windmills, about 90 people would be sleeping here this night. Lakes of the "Crowds" as it's sometimes called is in a beautiful spot with two glacial tarns full of cold water.

Crawford splits and I guess I was daydreaming, we took the Tuckerman cut-off trail instead...oh well, new territory and less people. At another trail junction we went left onto Davis path and then hooked back up with Crawford path. We added about a half mile to our adventure.

Crawford goes up moderately over a nice path, the best of the day. There were literally a hundred people on this side of the mountain. We passed more and more people going up and down. Many take the train or their cars to the summit then hike around the mountain. It was a spectacular day, who could blame them.

It's usually 1.4 miles from the hut to the summit of Mt Washington but make that 1.8 for us. The antenna and summit buildings rose into view as we climbed higher and higher. Soon we were at the flat busy summit. Probably a couple of hundred people up there. We were both soaked in sweat and with some wind it was a little cooler up here.

We waited in line to reach the true summit, a pile of rocks that make up the roof of the Northeast. After five minutes or so we did finally get up there and somebody took our picture.

After a stroll of the observation deck, John wanted to see where he'd finished the MT Washington road race. Crazy guy had run up Mt Washington on the auto road during a race a few years back. Coming up the road he saw the summit and sprinted...it was a false summit called Nelson Crag... his heart sank when he saw the parking lot and true finish-line about 300 yards away. He raced on though and collapsed at the finish line.

I took a few pictures, here is one of us with the Tip-top house behind. The Tip-top house was where they found a bone which they initially thought was human...possibly one of the people who disappeared without a trace. It turned out to be a moose bone. Here's a picture of the view from the observation deck of the“Northern Presidentials”

We went in and had lunch, I had my p'nutbutter-fluff with plenty of salty chips, John had the biggest chili-dog I'd ever seen along with some pizza. He said they were both pretty good. We re-filled our water bottles, I knew we still had a long road ahead. The Observatory thermometer read 59 degrees.

Descending Crawford again we quickly reached the junction with the Gulfside trail. We could go left and retreat back the way we came or go right on continue with the loop. We went right. Gulfside is more rocky and footing is tricky. Our hiking poles had come out of the packs and worked great keeping us balanced on tottering boulders.

We crossed the cog-tracks, I pointed out the mounds of broken coal and coal-dust thrown out of the Cog's steam-fired engine. Thankfully the train wasn't coming at that time and we didn't have to inhale the coal smoke. From here you can see the auto road also, sun sparkled off cars as they descended.

Mount Clay was our next destination but we had some hiking to get to it. The Great Gulf dropped spectacularly on our right. Tiny Spaulding lake was far below on the ravine floor. The Northern Presidentials, Mt's Jefferson, Adams and Madison look so close.

Most of this section of the Gulfside is flat and we enjoyed it. At the Clay-loop we went left and climbed up to the first peak. It's really easy to reach from the Gulfside. From this 5,531 foot vantage you have amazing views into the gulf and all around. Unfortunately Clay doesn't officially count. It's more like a bump in the ridge.

The northern Clay peak looked higher, we set off after having our picture taken. Descending into the little col between the peaks we ran into a group of VFTT'ers lead by the legendary Dave Metsky. He created the first White Mountains website back 11 years ago. In all my time in the mountains this was the first time I'd met him. We talked for a bit then off we went again.

It wasn't a bad climb up the other spur, we sat and rested. John decided wisely his ankle was bothering so he said he'd rather head down from here. After a little rest we hiked down towards Sphinx col. It was around 3pm.

Some rocky and steep spots here, and it was a long way down into the col. I'd never been here so I wanted to photograph the spot for my website. From here you continue on north for Mt Jefferson (a long climb) or south back to Jewell. We headed south, the trail was rugged and all uphill. We tested our endurance here. There were Yellow Flowers scattered around.

We kept going up and up, another 400 feet to climb before we reached the shoulder of Clay. I noted it would've been easier to retreat the way we'd come...but this was a loop, no retreating!

Pretty soon we reached the junction, here John does some trailblazing, he did make it back to the trail. Just a few minutes of rest, a drink and handfull of crackers were our reward for making it this far. We were getting a little tired. Jewell goes down over big rocks for a long way, we were nearly 4 miles from the road.

What beautiful views, but mostly you're looking at your foot placement, a foot drop into a hole could break an ankle here. Hop-hop-hop. I could tell John wasn't really enjoying this part, but he didn't complain.

We did pretty well, passed several groups, one older guy passed us, I was amazed how quickly he walked. We welcomed the shade of the woods as we entered the forest. We'd been above treeline for a glorious 7 hours. More rocks ahead but not as bad, sunlight streamed through thick trees.

We reached the junction of the trails, John started down the right one but I remembered the hiking bridge being out on that one. So we went left and popped out at the Cog RR parking area. Posed for a quick picture then walked .3 back to our car down the road.

It had been a great day, about 13 miles total and an elevation gain of 4,800 feet. I was happy with what we did. Photo below is our start and end point off Base Road.