Backpacking within the Dry River Valley

The Dry River Valley runs via the center of the Presidential Vary-Dry River Wilderness from Mt Washington to Crawford Notch. It’s a wild place and one of many hardest areas of the White Mountains to hike and backpack in. It’s additionally my favourite place to backpack within the White Mountains, each for the problem and to witness the titanic land-shaping forces that continuously rework the river valley and the area’s trails.

Temperatures have lastly began to chill within the White Mountains after a really sizzling and humid summer time that made mountaineering and backpacking most disagreeable. With the onset of winter situations only a month or two away, I wished to make the most of the cool autumn climate and to hike a couple of distant trails that will likely be unreachable as soon as the snow begins to fall. I’m on a quest to hike all the paths within the AMC’s White Mountain Information (650 trails requiring about 2500 miles of mountaineering) and I’ve been selecting off a few of the robust ones this yr, though many stay.

• The Mount Clinton Path
• Dry River Cutoff
• Isolation West Tr

My goal on this journey was to hike these three trails, that are off the crushed path and solely reachable with lengthy method hikes. They’re extra handy to hike although in case you backpack into them. All three are additionally considerably infamous as a result of they’re tough to observe or in disrepair, primarily from critical flooding, avalanches, or dense blow-downs.

The Mountain Clinton Path climbs from the Dry River to the AMC’s Mizpah Hut. Up to now, it was very tough to observe on account of poor upkeep, though it’s considerably simpler now. It requires many small stream crossings, lots of that are knee-deep.

The Dry River Cutoff Path forks off the Mount Clinton Path close to its prime and runs again all the way down to the Dry River. It’s very muddy close to the highest and can be tough to observe as a result of it’s fairly overgrown in locations, along with being unblazed.

Lastly, the Isolation Path (West department) runs from the Dry River Path to the Davis Path. The underside half is in critical disrepair from erosion, in all probability the results of the heavy rain we skilled over the summer time.

The Journey

I began this journey on Rt 302 on the Dry River Trailhead, earlier than mountaineering in for 3 miles close to the Mt Clinton Path junction. From there, I scouted the ford throughout the river to get onto the Mt Clinton Path. I’ve forded this part of the river beforehand, however this time, the water was operating larger than I remembered and what was as soon as an ankle-high ford, grew to become a thigh-high one. I nonetheless managed, nevertheless it was somewhat disconcerting.

Moreover, prior to now, you solely needed to ford the Dry River as soon as to get to the bottom of the Mt Clinton Path. This time, there’s a second ford required since a second new channel has opened up on the river. That one was simpler – solely knee-deep.

As soon as throughout, I needed to search for the beginning of the Mt Clinton Path which is north of the stream crossing. There isn’t an indication or something, aside from small cairns that mark the trail at key choice factors. I began climbing the path which is definitely pretty gradual, following the tread, and searching for these small cairns when the way in which ahead wasn’t apparent.

Whereas the Mt Clinton Path was a lot simpler to observe in comparison with my earlier climbs, tt was very moist, with chilly water flowing down the path for a lot of the 3-mile climb to the Mizpah hut at about 3800′. Whereas the weatherman had forecast a vivid sunny day, it by no means arrived, and my ft bought progressively colder as I climbed. After I reached the hut, it was socked in fog, so there was no level in climbing close by Mt Pierce. I drank some water, ate a snack, and turned down towards the Dry River Cutoff path.

The highest of the Dry River Cutoff Path may be very boggy and moist. Just like the Mt Clinton Path, it is usually very moist and requires its personal justifiable share of water crossings. At one level on the descent, I fully misplaced the path and needed to backtrack a number of occasions earlier than I discovered its continuation. The following part was closely overgrown and wanted a very good brushing. However the path moderates when it got here to the Dry River once more, the place one other ford was required.

The following morning, I bought an early begin and headed up the Isolation Path (West) which started fairly near my earlier evening’s tent web site. The underside third of the Isolation Path had been closely eroded by the massive quantity of rain we skilled over the summer time in addition to a number of previous hurricanes. It will get higher after a mile although because it ascends to the Davis Path, close to Mt Isolation,

That path completed, I backtracked again to the Dry River Path and headed again to Crawford Notch for the drive dwelling. This was a brief, however strenuous journey within the Dry River-Presidential Vary, however one which I gained’t neglect quickly.

Complete distance: 19 miles with 5300′ of elevation acquire.

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