Dry River Wilderness – Away From The Crowds

PHOTO: Bria on the Mount Clinton Trail in the designated Presidential Dry River Wilderness. She stands next to an old log that once blocked the trail but was removed. The square cut was left behind a long time ago and is now a useful clue to follow the trail. There are more than 600 trails, over 1,400 miles, described in the Appalachian Mountain Club’s White Mountain Guide. There are plenty of places to avoid the crowds. Each chapter in the White Mountain Guide has recommendations for Easy, Moderate and Strenuous hikes. And don’t forget to buy a Hike Safe Card and support New Hampshire Fish & Game search and rescue.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

I have been rather amused by the reaction by some to the reports of the crowds at Artist Bluff this past holiday weekend. It is always a busy place on a nice sunny day. So it was busier than usual. Who are these people that want to fight for a parking place and then hike in a line to stand shoulder to shoulder on top of a cliff? Seriously every person on that trail should have known what it would be like before they even got out of their car.
I drove up Franconia Notch early Friday afternoon. The line to take Exit 32 on I-93 in Lincoln was at least half a mile long. It was 15 mph up through the Notch and from the parkway it looked like 500 people standing on top of Artist Bluff. All I could think was why would you even bother stopping when you could see that crowd. I guess some people must enjoy it because it is often crowded. But the foliage was beautiful.

I met my friends Bria and Jeremy in Crawford Notch Saturday morning at 7:30 am. Funny how there is plenty of parking if you show up early.
We headed up the Crawford Path and didn’t see anyone until we entered Mizpah Hut. It felt warm inside compared to the chilly morning air outside. We ate a snack and thought about buying a piece of their blueberry cake that looked good but they put coconut in it.
Our goal today was to tag along with Bria as she gathered some more redlines. Hiking all the trails in the White Mountain Guide is redlining. Today’s new to her trail goals were the Mount Clinton Trail and the Dry River Cutoff and that would mark out the Dry River Wilderness area trails for her.
The White Mountain Guide Book describes these trails as “lightly used” and “not recommended for inexperienced hikers.” These trails are located in the Presidential Range-Dry River Wilderness designated in 1975 and since then tropical storms have wreaked havoc with these trails. The trails do not have painted blazes to follow and trails are maintained to “wilderness standards.” Often a lightly worn footbed and noticing a cut tree are your only clues where the trail lies.
It was all downhill to the Dry River and between the three of us we were able to negotiate the trail with only once we realized we were off the trail. We had to backtrack to find where the trail turned down a steep bank and crossed another brook. The trail crosses many drainages and brooks and has plenty of steep banks to climb and muddy sections.

Our experience was better than a fellow we met just above the intersection of the Cut-Off. He had started off from the Hut and planned to go down the Dry River Cutoff but had lost the trail and got turned around and repeated his footsteps. He would have ended back up at the hut if he had not run into us. He couldn’t believe he had spent more than an hour not getting anywhere.
When we reached the Dry River it was anything but dry but the water was as low as one could hope for and rock hopping across was possible. But getting down the steep eroded bank to the water was even more difficult. We kept our feet dry and followed rock cairns down the river before we reached the bank on the other side and the trail sign indicating we had completed the Mt. Clinton Trail. Next we followed the Dry River Trail upstream for a couple miles to the Mt. Eisenhower Trail intersection.
The Dry River Trail alternates between lovely sections of trail along the wide blown out river
and sketchy sections crossing eroding slides.
When we were about half way done with our time on the Dry River Trail we met a much happier fellow coming down the trail towards us. He still couldn’t believe he had gotten turned around. He had mentioned he had passed by a couple of other hikers ahead of us and said he was surprised to see people. This fellow ended up being the only person we saw while we were hiking until we returned to the Hut.
The three of us found solitude and the foliage was bright and beautiful during the six miles of hiking in the designated wilderness area.

The Dry River Cutoff climbed away from the River and back towards the Hut. We continued to rock hop and keep our feet dry at the water crossings. Beautiful water cascading everywhere all day and the foliage oh so beautiful.
When we made it back to the Mizpah Hut Bria remarked that the Cutoff was her favorite trail of the day. Then Jeremy remarked it was less than a mile to hit the summit of Mt. Pierce. Why not! And this is where we met the crowds of people. Lots of people making their way down to the Hut to spend the night after summiting Mt. Pierce. Some people looked happy and well prepared and others looked tired and worn and asked if they were almost there.
On the summit it was windy and Mount Washington was wearing his white wig. Snow! Yes and we saw snow just below Mt. Pierce’s summit in the trees. We wore our down jackets and hats and it felt like winter above the treeline.
We trotted down the Crawford Path and passed many more people on their way to the Hut and six brave souls that planned to camp in their tents at the Naumann Tentsite adjacent to the Hut. Brrrrr.
We arrived back at our cars around 4:30 in Crawford Notch. We were amazed by the number of cars parked just everywhere as far as the eye could see. Where were all these people? I guessed Mt. Willard. It is almost as popular as Artist Bluff.
Enjoy Fall!
Ski season is near.
Have fun.