Madison Gulf

The alpine gardens in bloom.

Ben's last hurrah as a Concord resident was a trip up the Madison Gulf trail. The higher summits forecast called for "continuous lightning" and we drove up anyway, passing through rain in Franconia Notch and into sunshine on the northern side. The trail eased into things, but picked up in the wilderness. The streams were not too high, but the rocks on all of them were slick and treacherous. Snow still remains just below the headwall, but the slabs and chimney are clean.


Mount Washington Auto Road.


Rain and dark clouds hastened our descent into the trees, but the lightning never materialized. Back in the trees the rain stopped, the mugginess returned and black flies came in force. We saw four other hikers the entire day.


Parapet Brook