just curius as to what your take is on steep trail. we have done 13 of the 4k's. i would say the steepest being east osceola from the kanc and also cannon from lonesome lake. how do these stack up to the others? thank you!

Those are both right up there amongst the steepest. The KRT up to Cannon is also one of the crappiest, in my opinion, from either end.

Among other common 4k approaches that are steep:

The Hancock Loop. The south part is steeper than the north but they both are steep.
The Ammo Trail above Gem Pool until the Lake of the Clouds Hut
Carter-Moriah Trail from the hut to the summit of Carter Dome
Wildcat Ridge trail on either end
Flume Slide Trail
North and South Slides on North Tripyramid


There are others that people will mention like Huntington Ravine, King Ravine, Glen Boulder, Boott Spur Link, Walden Trail, Tom Wiggin Trail, and so on, but those are less commonly used at least on someone's first go 'round.

Probably a whole bunch of others that I left out too.

Those are fairly steep, upper-middle of the pack I'd say, but they're also fairly short and unexposed so I wouldn't put them too high on the difficulty scale. My first trip up Washington was via Huntington Ravine which takes the cake for me in both steepness and difficulty.

There's a thread here http://forum.hike-nh.com/viewtopic.php?t=2846&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= on a similar subject if you're interested.

I'd definitely 2nd the ammo trail above the Gem Pool. I'd also say the section leading from Mizpah to the summit of Pierce starts off pretty steep...doesn't last long, but it's steep.

Here's another steep one-- the Dilley trail. Very short and not that hard but basically a .5 mile rock scamble. I was waiting for my kids to finish at Lost River and took the dog up-- literally. (I had to hoist her a half dozen times). When I was a kid my Grandma used to call something really hard a Dilley. Wonder if that is where the name came from (although it's not really that hard). Never done Huntington's and from the description probably never will! Someday I hope to do the Knife Edge though. [/list]

The Knife Edge itself is not that steep, other than the Chimney which is pretty short. The trails to get to it are though.

Beaver Brook on Moosilauke is my litmus test for steep. Haven't encountered anything remotely close to that and compare everything to it. Almost 2000 ft in 1.5 miles

Erick

I couldnt agree more. I was on that trail this spring and was amazed at the steepness coupled with the edge of a waterfall right next to you! Amazing! I lvoed it but it definately stood the hair on my arms up. Maybe Spring wasnt a wise season

Been there done that...twice and love it, what a great trail. The 1st time I did it as a traverse and the 2nd time was a loop out and back from the Beaver Brook trail head (so this one was an up and down BB trail).

Of all of the people who have mentioned that trail, you are most certainly the first one I've heard with good things to say about it!!!

I've never been on it but will probably end up there some day!

Head up the Flume Slide trail and you may have a new litmus test...1,400ft in 0.7 miles: My account of this - http://livefreeandhikenh.blogspot.com/2 ... urney.html

Beaver Brook is definitely on my list to-do...so I suppose I can't compare the two...I took up Gorge Brook/Snapper/Carriage road which was awesome...but now I wish I did the Beaver Brook Trail...hind sight I suppose.

Some people also say the Falling Waters Trail is steep too, but I didn't really see it when hiked up it.

Thanks,
Karl

hey karl
our pics of the flume slide trail were great. how did the dog do?

Using TOPO 4.5 from National Geographic and following the (somewhat dated) trails on the maps I get:

Beaver Brook - 8/10ths @ 40%, 1650'
Flume Slide - 5/10ths @ 55%, 1450'
North Tripyramid - 4/10ths @60%, 1160'
Falling Waters - 8/10ths @40%, 1600'

I found the steepest 1/4 mile and stretched it until the grade went down and stretched it no further. I.e., these are the steepest sustained sections.

This comes up regularly and I used to have a set of photos online showing the routes and graphs... don't seem to have them handy at the moment.

Tim

Regarding Beaver Brook Trail, make sure you pick a nice dry sunny day to do the tip and it will be amazing. Here are some pics from our 1st trip up the trail, it was not the best of days, but it was good enough to bring us back there the 2nd time. That trail and Moosilauke are near the top of my fav list.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41360&id=1824194489&l=7340a3d4aa

Love the topic. I don't know how everyone remembers the trails and seperates them from other trails so well. I hope my mind isn't going. I think you are all very inteligent! I can't add anything else because I have been on a number of these trails but don't really remember how they were to me.