Copy/Repost Hike

Huntington Ravine, the place where some of my favorites and most memorable hikes have taken place over the years. It is the steepest trail in the White Mountains as you travel through a boulder field called the Fan and then ascend up rock slab where proper use of handholds is required. 

So of course it made perfect sense to take three GO members’ first ascent up Mt. Washington into Huntington Ravine! Huntington Ravine, much like Tuckerman Ravine is a huge glacial cirque. However, unlike Tuckerman Ravine, it's lightly traveled and pretty fuckin’ bad ass!  We started out around 8:30am. 

Today there would be hundreds of people all over the Tuckerman Ravine Trail, Lion Head Trail, Mount Washington summit cone, but there is hardly a sole on the Huntington Ravine Trail. Jon, Jonny, Alex, Tim, Ibrahim, Andrew, Stephen, Bob, Mark, Tom, Kevin and myself [Mike] had a quick hike to the floor of the ravine but as soon as we entered the boulder section below the Fan and the Fan itself our pace slowed considerably.  We reached this section around 10:00 am. Once we crossed the Fan we headed up steeply toward Central Gully.  

The trail along side of “The Fan” was very overgrown and tedious. We made it to the bottom of Central Gully where we took a long break below the first rock scramble. As we relaxed we could rock climbers setting up for the Pinnacle. 

The very long smooth ledge starting the scrambles [which the AMC Guide describes as the hardest] is actually not all that bad [although on a wet day I could see where this is VERY dangerous]. All of us sped up like Spiderman. The harder ledges are definitely after this area, with several near vertical ledges with good drops below and two steep narrow chimneys, all of which require linking several sets of hands and foot holds together to climb. 

A lot of the hand and foot holds in these areas are pretty small and narrow. We had a blast hiking up Huntington Ravine and took a bunch of breaks to admire the views and take pictures before reaching the Alpine Garden Trail junction.  Everyone did a great job of keeping each other safe and sound through the sketchy parts and I don’t think any came out with any scratches. 

Huntington Ravine tops out at the junction of the Alpine Garden Trail and The Auto Road becomes visible shortly after.  It’s kind of a weird transition going from a lonely ravine to seeing cars within a couple of minutes. Luckily for us, there was a bike race that closed the road to 1:00pm that kept the typical crowds in check. 

We followed the Nelson Crag Trail to the summit and arrived at 12:45PM.  It was pretty chilly and windy above the ravine so most of us put on a windbreaker or fleece. We had lunch, took the standard summit shot and began our descent down the Tuckerman Ravine/Lion Head Trails.  

Once we began our descent it was back to ‘hiking’ civilization, as we would pass close to a hundred hikers on the way down to either Lion Head or Tuckerman Ravine Trails. Views from above treeline looking into Tuckerman Ravine were great. We even saw the Lake of the Clouds Princess assisting with carrying a load to the nearby hut. We booked it down the mountain even after a rough and tough hike through Huntington Ravine and rock hopping down Lion Head.

We made it back to Pinkham Notch Visitor Center and changed into clean clothes.  We then headed to Jackson for dinner at the Red Fox Grill and Pub making it a perfect ending to another great day in White Mountains! 

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