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The Madison Gulf Trail is the hardest route up to Mt Madison in the White Mountain’s Northern Presidential Range. It ascends a narrow but very steep ravine ending at an alpine tarn known as Star Lake. It’s a magnificent trail, but seldom hiked because it requires hiking a few miles into the Great Gulf to get to. I climbed it …

King Ravine and Castle Ravine are two glacial cirques on the north side of the White Mountain’s Presidential Range. Cirques are amphitheater-like valleys with steep side ridges and a headwall. Many of the high peaks in the White’s Presidential Range are surrounded by them and have trails that climb them, usually quite tough, boulder-choked trails that are not exactly hikes, …

The Chandler Brook Trail is a lovely but strenuous trail that runs from the Great Gulf up the side of Mt Washington past many lovely cascades, water shutes, and slides. You can make it into an interesting loop hike by descending by the Wamsutta Trail, which also has many unique views of the Northern Presidentials. I recently hiked this route …

I never expected to revisit Speck Pond after hiking the section of the Appalachian Trail from Grafton Notch down to Gentian Pond in 2009. Speck Pond is on the south side of Old Speck Mountain, a huge 4000 footer with a fire tower at the top. There’s a lean-to shelter and tent platforms there, and I remember camping under a tarp …