| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Madison, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Randolph Path, Valley Way, Scar Trail, Watson Path, Osgood Trail, Howker Ridge Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, June 16, 2024 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Randolph East was only about half full despite the gorgeous day. No issues. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Crossings of Snyder Brook and Bumpus Brook were fairly straightforward. They required stepping on one submerged rock per crossing. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Some blowdowns, including a couple on Howker Ridge that were at a very annoying height. Not an overabundance though. Drainage is pretty good - the most significant mud of the entire day was right at the bottom, at the junction of Howker Ridge Trail and Randolph Path. Signs are all in place, however the signage at and near the summit of Mt. Madison should be improved to prevent thru-hikers from taking the wrong trail down. More on that below. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Watson Path and Howker Ridge Trail are not dog-friendly trails - the steep ledges and rough talus can hurt them. There's also absolutely no water on Watson Path above its crossing of Snyder Brook, or on Howker Ridge Trail above its crossing of Bumpus Brook. |
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 | Bugs: |
They were out, but they generally didn't bother me. I did put on bug spray with DEET at the beginning of the hike. They were most annoying when I was eating lunch at the summit of Madison. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Nothing. |
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 | Comments: |
This is an absolute beast of a hike, with a lot of very steep and rough trails and difficult rocky, ledgy pitches. From Randolph East, I hopped on Randolph Path - it is mostly gradual up to Sylvan Way and then gradual to moderate up to the crossing of Snyder Brook. This is a lesser-used section of Randolph Path, but it's blazed and has mostly good footing, and I didn't have any trouble following it. Valley Way is a mostly moderate, rocky climb, but it has a few steeper sections and a few flatter sections - it's not a constant grade the entire way up. Valley Way has plenty of rock steps, but someone needs to tell the trail maintainers for Valley Way that not everyone is 6'5" with very long legs - they need to make rock steps to accommodate hikers with shorter legs. The lower section of Scar Trail is steep. The WMG is correct about the first section of Watson Path (from Scar Trail to Valley Way) being difficult to follow - I had to look around a few times in this section to figure out where the trail went. The large boulder mentioned in the WMG that Watson Path scrambles over now has a convenient bypass. Once across Snyder Brook, Watson Path immediately begins its steep ascent, with steep scrambling interspersed with short easier sections. To my surprise, however, those very steep and rocky scrambles eventually disappeared, and Watson Path became only moderately steep with rocks that could be stepped over. This continued pretty much until treeline. The section above treeline alternated between moderate sections and steep climbs up talus fields that were rough but not horrible. The rocks on the talus fields generally gave good grip, and there was evidence in places of rocks having been added to the trail to improve the footing. According to the WMG, the mile of Watson Path between the crossing of Snyder Brook and the junction with Pine Link climbs 1,700 vertical feet, which are the same numbers as Great Gully Trail in King Ravine, but Watson Path honestly didn't feel quite as steep as Great Gully. It's still very steep, mind you, just not horrible. I feel like the RMC took a difficult task - building a trail from Duck Fall on Snyder Brook up Gordon Ridge to the summit of Madison - and executed it pretty much as well as could reasonably be expected. The talus-hopping on Watson Path just wasn't quite as bad as that of Daniel Webster-Scout Trail (which I hiked two weeks ago) - Watson Path's hopping was never quite as steep as that of DWST, and the footing on Watson was a little bit better as well. The only demerit I'll give for Watson Path is that, as the WMG notes, its cairns above treeline are not always obvious and could be improved.
From the summit of Madison, views were spectacular in all directions, and it wasn't especially windy either. I met a section hiker there, who said he was continuing along the AT toward Osgood Tentsite, but then I noticed that he had started to descend Watson Path instead. I called him back and pointed him in the right direction. I heard of a similar situation recently as well - thru-hikers were intending to descend Osgood Trail down to the tentsite, but accidentally turned onto Howker Ridge instead and ultimately descended all the way to the bottom of Pine Link. Both those thru-hikers and the section hiker I met complained about the lack of signage and (more importantly) blazes around the summit of Madison - they mentioned that the cairns on Osgood Trail don't have white-painted stones at the top (like the cairns on Gulfside do), so it's not easy for them to figure out which way to go in order to continue following the AT. Perhaps some trail work could be done on Osgood Trail to help thru-hikers navigate through the area.
Howker Ridge Trail is long, steep, and rough. The upper part, down from Osgood Trail to and over the highest Howk, is the roughest - it has a lot of very steep rock slabs and chimneys, and I had to buttslide down a few of them. The section above the highest Howk is the steepest - looking from the top of the highest Howk, it looks like just this massive wall in front of you. The section below treeline, going over the Howks and below, is mostly steep but has a few gradual areas. The climbs over the Howks coming down were tiring after the long climb - going over the second Howk was the largest climb. The trail generally got overall smoother the further I descended. I took the short side trip to the Bear Pit - it was impressive. When I finally reached Bumpus Brook, I was greatly relieved because I knew the difficult sections were over, and the remainder of Howker Ridge Trail is more gradual and easier. I'm glad I did the hike in the direction I did - Howker Ridge Trail seems like it would be a disheartening trail to ascend, since it has so many steep sections and after each one you'd feel like you were barely making any progress.
What a stunning day weatherwise it was - clear skies, not too much wind, and comfortable temperatures. I saw one group of people descending Watson Path as I was ascending it, and then one other person ascending Watson Path just before the summit. I saw maybe a half-dozen people at the summit of Madison, and then another half-dozen ascending Howker Ridge Trail as I descended it. I had been nervous about this hike, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - 4,360 vertical feet of elevation gain is nothing to sneeze at, and Watson Path wasn't quite as insane as expected. I'll take that win! |
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 | Name: |
GN |
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 | E-Mail: |
ghnaigles@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2024-06-16 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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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. |
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