| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
None, NH |
|
 | Trails: |
Chandler Brook Trail, Great Gulf Trail, Six Husbands Trail, Edmands Col Cutoff, Gulfside, Sphinx Trail, Wamsutta Trail |
|
 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, October 4, 2020 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We left one car at the bottom of the auto rd in case we didn’t make it down in time and then drove the other car up to Chandler Brook Trail which is 4.3mi up the auto rd. No problem leaving your car there. They even allow you to do so overnight. It costs $35 for a car to go up plus $10 extra per passenger though. Plenty of parking at the base of the auto rd at 8am. We had to wait a while until they let us up due to ice on the road though...keep that in mind in the coming days. |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant, Leaves - Significant/Slippery |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
|
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Barely able to do all of them and keep my feet dry. Rock hopping was just barely possible on several of them. One of them had a couple logs down that you had to carefully cross on (they were wet). I was happy to have high cut waterproof boots so that I could step into the water a couple of inches without getting wet. Definitely bring poles for the crossings. Some cross above ledges, such as the upper crossings on Chandler Brook Trail. I found it safest to cross on a flat spot up stream which was very wet and had maybe an inch of water running over it but was flat and not near a drop off. You could also “hop†across rocks near the drop off. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Most of these trails are either in the Great Gulf Wilderness or above treeline and thus not really blazed. Above tree line, the trails are marked with cairns. The cairns on Edmands Col Cutoff are fairly small and a bit far apart so this could be a little hard to follow for a beginner or in thick fog. A few arrows and such on Six Husbands and the like indicating which way to go. The trails were relatively easy to follow though. The most blowdowns we saw were on the lower quarter mile or so of Sphinx Trail which was a pain. Beyond that, considering this is a wilderness area, the blowdowns weren’t too bad. |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Most of these trails would not be suitable for hiking dogs given the very difficult scrambling involved. Yesterday would have been particularly hazardous at times given the wet rock/ledge in places, particularly in the morning. I really wouldn’t advise bringing a dog on Six Husbands Trail. Wamsutta Trail has just a couple scrambles that would be near impossible for a dog too. Chandler Brook a little less so. |
|
 | Bugs: |
I actually saw a few flying around! Not sure what they were but there was even one buzzing around my head as I approached the auto rd along Wamsutta Trail around 5:30pm...it was 38F!! |
|
 | Lost and Found: |
None |
|
|
|
|
 | Comments: |
This trip was supposed to my penultimate redline of the Whites. Unfortunately, due to time, I skipped some pieces of trail and will need to go back again to finish redlining the northern presidential tab. I was very glad to have the company of another redliner for most of this hike. He summited Jefferson and did a bit of redlining around the cone while I did an out-and-back on Edmands Col Cutoff. He was also kind enough to go back up Chandler Brook Trail rather than Wamsutta and drive my car up to me where I finished.
Route: Chandler Brook Trail —> Great Gulf Trail —> Six Husbands Trail —> out-and-back on Edmands Col Cutoff —> Gulfside —> Sphinx Trail —> Great Gulf Trail —> Wamsutta.
I was also supposed to do an out-and-back on the easy half mile section of the Cornice and and out-and-back on the portion of Gulfside between Sphinx and Jewell. We wanted to try and get back to the car before they closed the auto rd though so we bailed. Clouds were lowering and it had begun to snow as well (no accumulation) so we decided to skip these and just head down Sphinx a little early. Easy to get those trails another day by driving to the top of the auto rd.
It snowed a bit the day before (no accumulation) and rained so unfortunately the trails were quite wet in the morning. The rocks and roots were very slippery which made Chandler Brook VERY tedious. Luckily, Six Husbands Trail, which faces East, dried out pretty fast in the morning so wasn’t too treacherous. I will say that I found this trail to be both more challenging AND scarier than Huntington Ravine which I did last weekend. The ladders aren’t that bad but on top of the last one, there is a ledge with a drop off you need to climb up from the ladder and an overhanging rock preventing you from standing (unless on the edge) or even really crawling. It’s quite awkward and if you’re large, it will make it all the harder. The ledge isn’t all that steep so if it were truly dry I may have just stood up and walked very carefully along the edge but wasn’t taking my chances yesterday. I ended sitting on my butt and butt scoot hung in reverse to get up this ledge. If you get here and feel sick/scared, I’d highly recommend doing this. Safe and not too difficult. Many other tricky scrambles on the trail as well and the steep/scramble section lasts a very long time.
Edmands Col Cutoff isn’t very steep but crosses multiple boulder fields. The cairns are pretty small as well so keep a look out and know you’re way around in fog. The section of Gulfside we were on was relatively gentle. We were making good time down Sphinx until we hit the steep/scramble part with the brook. The upper portion of the trail is steep and rocky but isn’t very scramble; not different from everything else up there. It’s not too bad once you descend into tree line either although things were pretty wet but the hardest part of it is actually more than halfway through it. It’s a pretty sheltered route though.
The section of Great Gulf between Sphinx and Wamsutta had some very muddy spots and lots of wet ledge where it nears the cascades. There’s definitely a spot or two where you need to exercise a lot of caution particularly with how wet the ledges were. Wamsutta was tough at the end of the day but I was proud of myself for doing it in a reasonable time. It gets MUCH easier shortly after coming out into the open. Once it descends back into the scrub, the brush was very wet and my pants got soaked. I guess that’s what you get on a north facing trail. If steepens some again as it nears the auto rd. Very happy to be picked up there before the auto rd closed :) |
|
 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
|
 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
|
| Date Submitted: |
2020-10-05 |
|
 | Link: |
 https:// |
|
|
Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
|
