Huntington Ravine Trail to Alpine Garden, down Lion's Head and Tuckerman Ravine Trail

9.7 miles 3450' Elevation gain

Kevin, Bob and Emma

I had been meaning to return to Huntington Ravine for quite some time now, the last trip being in August of 2000. I could never talk Jude into it, mostly because of the reports from my first trip. Emma made this first trip, and accompanied me again this time, along with my other hiking buddy, Bob, who was also with us on the first trip. Time fades your memories and I did not recall the difficulty of this climb, especially for Emma who I had to lift over many obstacles once we were above the talus fields and climbing hand over hand up above The Fan. The trail is steep and many of the rocks are smooth the further up you go, eventually leading to spots where hand-holds and carefully placed footing are not an option, they are a necessity.

Emma was barely a year old when we made the first ascent. She has now surpassed me in dog years, though she is none the less a hiker, just more conservative then when she was young and ran helter-skelter along the trail. I will not bring her here again, it is too much to ask of her. In my opinion, a larger dog would not fare as well here. There are obstacles in the trail that they could just not get around. The advantage to having a little dog (beside the obvious "Fits much better in my tent") is that at these obstacles in the climb I can simply pick her up and push her over whatever is in the way.

She is amazingly surefooted and her low center of gravity gives her incredible balance. We practice running up and down fallen logs, sometimes several feet above the ground. In many ways she is more like a cat, including her finicky eating habits. I've never seen a dog that had to have a steak tip cut into tiny, bite-size pieces. All dogs I've had or knew before would swallow steak tips whole, regardless of size. Anyway, bottom line is: This is no place for dogs.

I've read over and over "This is the most difficult trail in the White Mountains. No, in New England." Sure, there are more difficult climbs if you rock scramble or technical climb. But as for a maintained trail up through a ravine, I agree, this could be it. That said, I have to admit I have not ascended Mount Adams from the floor of King Ravine, nor climbed Mount Washington up the Great Gulf Headwall from Spaulding Lake, and these appear to be as difficult, or more so, than Huntington. Whereas Huntington Ravine Trail rises over 1400' in 8/ 10ths of a mile to the top of the ravine where it meets the Alpine Garden Trail, you have only hiked 2.8 miles and 2050' elevation gain to the base of the talus where the real climbing begins. On the Great Gulf Trail you have already hiked 6.5 miles and 2950' elevation gain to Spaulding Lake, then climb another mile and 1700' to the top of the ravine where it meets the Gulfside Trail. I will have to do this and report on which I find more difficult.

Anyway, it was a hot muggy day for our climb.We stopped for lunch in the boulders at the bottom of the talus pile and the blackflies were miserable. The air was heavy and the visibility poor. The forecast was for scattered thunderstorms in mid afternoon. Although we did not encounter any, the sky threatened most of the day and we had a brief shower as we approached the top of the ravine. Rather than cooling things off, they became hot and steamy and the rest of the afternoon was down right sultry.
There was some strong wind on Lion's Head and I thought a storm may be blowing in from the west, but it didn't happen and we walked out in hotter, muggier, buggier weather than we had started with. The Alpine Garden had many flowers. Mostly Alpine Bluets and Mountain Avens. The Mountain Sandwort and Diapensia, along with the Alpine Azalea were just coming into bloom, and had not yet taken over the garden. All in all, another great hike on Mount Washington.