Mountain Wandering: Crawford Notch Rambling: 1/2/24

Being under the weather from a stubborn holiday cold, I knew my hiking range would be limited on this fine, sunny, early winter day. As luck would have it, my top priority for the first outing of 2024 was to head to Crawford Notch and take short hikes to two locations that were impacted by the big December rainstorm: Landslide Gully on Mount Webster and the Dry River Trail, a mile in from the trailhead. If time and energy permitted, I could also bushwhack to a clifftop on a southern spur of Webster for some views.

Arriving late morning in the Notch, I parked at the Willey House Site and made a short walk on the Sam Willey Trail to the point where the new slide activity in Landslide Gully had overrun the footpath.

Heading up to the wide, open lower part of the slide, passing some freshly stripped trees.

Looking up the length of Landslide Gully, which begins at a little notch in the ridgeline. Last month's activity was not a new slide, per se, but a "refresh" of a long-existing slide, which may date back to the November 1927 rainstorm. A previous "refreshing" occurred in an October 1959 rainstorm and was witnessed by the manager of Crawford Notch State Park.

I circled around some mangled trees and emerged at a spine of jumbled rocks known as a "debris flow levee" on the south edge of the slide. From here the gouging triggered by the recent storm was obvious.

Looking across at the slope of Mount Willey and the location of the infamous 1826 Willey Slide, which I believe is marked by the stripe of dark conifers on the left.

When I visited the lower end of this slide a couple of summers ago, the rocks were loose and were wet and slippery due to humidity and rain showers. On this visit the rocks were well-frozen in place and dry. It should be noted that this is a potentially dangerous slide. This lower section is relatively lower angle, but higher up the slide is much steeper with both smooth slabs and broken ledges. Some years ago one of two inexperienced climbers attempting a summer climb was killed by a rockfall. In deep winter the upper half is a well-known alpine-style ice climb, and in heavy snow years it is descended by skiers.

I picked my way up carefully to get a closer look at the recent slide activity.

Almost like a halfpipe here.

Looking down at the Willey House Site.

Unstable rocks along the edge.

My turnaround point; above here the rocks in the center of the slide looked less stable.

Looked like a red squirrel was scampering around on the slide.

Nice view of Willey's ridge.

Looking up to the lofty crest of the Webster Cliffs.

Nice new bridge across the Saco River by Willey Pond.

View north to Mount Willard across the bed of Willey Pond (which is intentionally drained for winter).

View of Landslide Gully from picnic area above the Willey House site.

After lunch I drove down Route 302 to the Dry River Trail, where this sign tells a familiar story.

Bare ground walking through the hardwoods in January.

After the intersection with Dry River Connection from the state park campground, for a short distance the Dry River Trail follows the bed of the Saco Valley Railroad, a logging operation of the 1890s. The old logging railroad crossed the river 13 times because of the steep, canyon-like terrain in the lower five miles of the valley. Likewise, the Dry River Trail had numerous crossings. But after two hikers drowned in 1971 in this misnamed river, which rises fast and furious during storms, a bridge was built here and numerous relocations were made to eliminate most of the other crossings. As a result the trail has many rough ups and downs off the railroad grade and is much more difficult than a typical valley trail. Major washouts from Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and the "Halloween storm" in 2017 necessitated more rough relocations. This recent storm was the third part of a triple whammy on the Dry River Trail.

The Dry River valley is Wilderness with an extra large capital W. It's not for everybody, but it has its devotees.

This open area was expanded by the 2017 storm.

That storm fashioned a nice cascade here, with a swimming hole just below. Photo taken in 2021.

The recent storm changed things again, diverting the river's flow out of this channel and over to the other side of a small island. Cascade and swimming hole, gone.

Storm chaos rules at about the one-mile mark along the trail.

To continue to the big washout I had seen pictures of, I had to squeeze through a mess of boulders and blowdowns.

Nice view here of a spur of Montalban Ridge, but there's big trouble ahead.

The trail is gone, and there's a steep drop to the riverbed.

Getting around this washout would require a bushwhack up and over a steep slope. I considered it, but not knowing how feasible it would be, and what might be encountered beyond, I opted to save my limited time and energy for a known-quantity bushwhack to the cliff on the south spur of Webster. If a relocation is made here, it will be another gnarly one.

Heading back down the trail, I made a short detour to a sunny open spot on a high bank with a view downstream to Mount Bemis. Caution is needed if venturing out to any bank along this river, as some are severely undercut and dangerous.

I started the bushwhack to the cliff by climbing up an old logging road that departs from the trail.

The route to the cliff was almost entirely through open hardwoods.

Higher up, massive ledges loomed in the forest.

Approaching the cliff on a steep sidehill with slippery oak leaves.

Side view of the cliff from a small perch at the top.

A view south down lower Crawford Notch with late afternoon shadows. The rocky nubble of Mount Crawford is on the left. In the distance are Bartlett Haystack, Mount Paugus, Mount Tremont and Mount Passaconaway. Parts of Mount Bemis and Frankenstein Cliff are on the right.