I have done them both and love that kind of scramble. I also to this day wonder which is a crazier trail this or Mahoosuc Notch. But we all made it fine but we took forever getting thru. So they were extra cautious and meticulous about their travel through the Gulch. The loose talus and cliffs really scared them and resembled the area where that accident took place. About a month prior to this hike they were the first on the scene from a group they were with of a fatality locally to my area where a rock slide killed a hiker on Schunnemunk Mountain. It took us alot longer because this hike came right after two from our party were spooked. So here are my photos from my Ice Gulch pilgrimage. I did the loop in reverse and I just placed the album from my annual trip on Webshots. The trail and the gulch are quite lovely, and the scramble through the gulch is a lot of fun.
This is a great short (4 and a half hour) hike for hot day. After a short road walk you're back to your car. The walk out takes you past some pearly everlasting (another nice name) and lupine gone to pod. I think every moose in Coos county must come here to relieve himself there were piles every two hundred yards or so. I waited for the couple to overtake me again so I could assure them they hadn't come upon the remains of large hiker.Īt the top of the gulch you get to Cook Path which is rife with boot-swallowing muck holes, ripe red raspberries and piles of moose doots (sorry, no pictures). In one hollow one can still find vertebrae, ribs and leg bones. Unfortunately the moose did not make his way safely out. Dave Metsky put out a great report complete with pictures of the moose. Someone has since cleverly positioned an upright log to give you a critical foot hold and lessen the anxiety factor.īack in September of 2001, a group passed through the gulch and encountered a moose trapped in the upper section. There is one place which was a scary leap across the void the first time I made this trip. All in all this rocky trail is probably as much of a workout as Mahoosuc Notch, though it lacks the crawl-unders that Mahoosuc is famous for. One large boulder even had a cap of alpine cranberry.
The upper section is shadier and more closed in. The guy said he was local and hadn't been through there since he was a kid. I stopped for a snack and was overtaken by a younger couple (funny how most of the people I meet these days seem to be younger) and we played leapfrog the rest of the way up the gulch. In several places you can feel the cold welling up from the ice still buried below the rocks. Most of the mile long length of the gulch requires continuous rock hopping over rocks large and small. This shortly gets you to the start of the gulch proper which is fairly open and sunny with some shady sections. The trail gets a little wet and harder to follow for a while, but there're more nice flora: smaller enchanter's nightshade (don't you love that name?), moss and more (spanghum?) moss. Can anyone help me label them? Hercule's club (thanks, Audrey), white baneberry, big fungus, little fungus, and helleborine (thx, audrey) #2.Īrriving at the trail junction, I took a right and descended steeply for a view of Peboamauk Fall. Lots of interesting plants along the way. The first two miles are a pleasant woods walk along a narrow trail somewhat overgrown with ferns and red raspberries (yum!). It was warm and buggy, so I doped up with the new Cutter's Advanced with picaridin and hit the trail. Park in the grass across the road where there's a nice view of Madison and Adams. I arrived at the trailhead at Sky Meadow on Randolph Hill Road about 10:15.
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