Paddling The Lakes Of The Clouds

PHOTO: Lakes of the Clouds lives up to their name! Becca in her packraft surrounded by swirling clouds while she is paddling on Upper Lake of the Clouds. Lakes of the Clouds is not just the name of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s famous Hut. Lakes of the Clouds are a pair of mountain lakes located between Mount Washington and Mount Monroe, near the Hut. These mountain lakes are the highest in New Hampshire, sitting at just over 5,000 feet. The hike from Base Road to the Lakes and the Hut is about 3 miles one-way.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

Mount Washington reached record rainfall numbers in June and I wouldn’t be surprised if July breaks the record too. Nearing the end of July it seemed like it would rain every day so when a day that had a promise of some sunshine we decided to take advantage of all the water and make a trip to paddle the Lakes of the Clouds.
Lakes of the Clouds are a pair of mountain lakes located between Mount Washington and Mount Monroe and are the highest in New Hampshire at just over 5,000 feet. These small tarns are made famous by the popular Lakes of the Clouds Appalachian Mountain Hut. The full service Hut is operated in the summer and into the fall. It has bunkrooms and accommodates 90 guests. Day hikers are welcome to fill their water bottles and use their bathrooms. I don’t think the Hut encourages swimming or boating. But I do believe the tales of the Dartmouth Outing Club lugging a canoe to paddle around the Lakes. I thought I recalled a canoe hanging from the ceiling of the Hut a million years ago? There isn’t one now.

Becca and I hiked up the rugged Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail starting from the hikers lot at the Cog Railway. The cost to park and hike from the Cog is ten dollars per person. We thought it was worth the price to use their facilities, check out the Cog Museum and hike the spur to the trail, saving half a mile and a little climbing.
We carried our packrafts, paddles, food and some clothing in our backpacks. It was cloudy above and it was warm and muggy.
The Ammo Trail is rugged and follows near the cascading waters that drain the Ammonoosuc Ravine and are the headwaters of the Ammonoosuc River. It is a lovely place.
The river had washed the trail in a few places but it wasn’t hard to hike around. The only people we met on the hike up were a professional trail crew who were completing work on a reroute of the trail that totally removes the trail along the river below Gem Pool. We didn’t take this as good news. This seemed like overkill to resolve the issues along the river.
I love walking along brooks and rivers and it appears the Forest Service wants to remove every trail far away from cascading water.

The trail above Gem Pool is straight up and rocky, ledgy and crosses the river several times.
This isn’t the kind of trail to hike if it is your first time hiking, it is strenuous. As we hiked higher we felt like we were climbing into a cloud because we were. We could only see 100 or 200 feet around us.
At the hut we dropped our packs and it felt good to climb without them on our backs as we made the steep but short, just under half a mile, to the summit of Mount Monroe. We couldn’t see Mount Washington, we couldn’t see anything but we tagged the highpoint and turned around.
At the hut there were a few people around, it wasn’t even noon yet. From the Hut the hike to Upper Lake of the Clouds is just a minute. We liked what we saw, lots of water and only the largest of rocks weren’t below the surface. We inflated our rafts and went to work floating and paddling around.
The wind picked up with occasional stronger gusts that began to move the clouds and mist around. It was fun to paddle against the wind and then allow the wind to push us back. I would estimate the size of Upper Lake of the Clouds is something like 500 feet long and 200 feet wide.
I don’t know what the deepest point is but it was well over my head this day.

The rock cairn marking the Dry River Trail at the end of the Lake looked spooky in the swirling clouds.
Once we mastered Upper Lake of the Clouds we decided to move on up the Crawford Path another minute or two to reach the Lower Lake of the Clouds. “Becca!” I yelled as my raft went flying by her just missing knocking her down. The wind gust had ripped it out of my hands like a kite and I went after it grabbing it on its third bounce. Becca had a good laugh but I didn’t enjoy that kind of excitement.
Lower Lake of the Clouds is smaller, maybe half the size of the Upper Lake. But it rests right on the lip of the Ravine creating an infinity pool effect. The far edge of the Lake looked like it just dropped off the edge. As we floated around we watched a few hikers headed up the trail to Mt. Washington. Then we noticed it was brighter out and now we could see Mt. Monroe bursting through the clouds. It never cleared for a peek at Mt. Washington’s summit but seeing Monroe come and in and out of the clouds was pleasantly beautiful.
After packing up our rafts we went inside the hut. There were now dozens of people outside and inside the hut. We chatted with one of the “Hut Croo” and he didn’t know anything about the trail relocation. But he was spot on about the weather, it is always changing.
The trail seemed more wet and slippery on the way down and the mile from the Hut down to Gem Pool felt long. Since we had our boats we decided to inflate them and float around Gem Pool! Yes it was silly small but it was too much fun to float right up to the base of the waterfall.
Then it started raining hard so we packed up quickly. Thankfully the shower only lasted five minutes and the weather cleared and the sun came out. Better late than never.
Back at the Cog Railway we went inside to the cafeteria and got something good to drink.
From the Cog Station’s deck we watch the 4 o’clock Steam Train chug it’s way up the highest mountain in the Northeast.
To cool off we stopped on Base Road at Upper Falls and joined the teenage boys jumping off the ledge into the pothole in the Upper Ammonoosuc’s gorge. One jump was enough for us.
Have fun.