INTRODUCTION:
In early
May 2018, I did a hike to Mt. Willard which is a popular hike in New
Hampshire’s Crawford Notch area. A little ‘twist’ was added to this trek by
doing a short bushwhack to a spot labeled as ‘Rotten Gulley’ on an old map
contained within an article entitled "Mount Willard Ramblings"
written by Henry E. Childs and published in the December 1945 edition of
Appalachia.
PHOTOS:
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| My short bushwhack off the Mt. Willard Trail was to a spot labeled as ‘Rotten Gulley’ (see red arrow pointing to it). |
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| This photo shows some of the terrain where I visited. It sort of looks like a ‘Rotten Gulley’! :-) |
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| From ‘Rotten Gulley’ you must move around from spot to spot in order to get unobstructed INDIVIDUAL views of Flume Cascade and Silver Cascade. This composite photo was taken from two different spots at ‘Rotten Gulley’. It shows the far upper portions of Flume Cascade (at left) and Silver Cascade(at right). |
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| Seeing both cascades side-by-side from ‘Rotten Gulley’ is challenging. This photo was the best “side-by-side” photo that I could get. It shows Flume Cascade at LEFT, and to the RIGHT of it, Silver Cascade is barely visible through the trees. |
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| Even in early May, long segments of the Mt. Willard Trail still had a significant monorail of ice/snow. |
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| And last, but not least, this photo shows the classic view of the Crawford Notch as viewed from the ledge on Mt. Willard. |
ADDENDUM:
In early June 2018, I
did another bushwhack to “Rotten Gully”.
However, this time I explored the lower end of this landform. From the lower end, I was able to get an
unobstructed side-by-side view of Flume and Silver Cascade (see photo below). This was a view
that had eluded me when visiting the upper end of the gully in early May 2018.
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An unobstructed side-by-side
view of Flume and Silver Cascade.
(At the
time this photo was taken, very little water was flowing at either cascade.)
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ADDITIONAL READING:
Click/tap this LINK for an article containing photos and additional information about a
traditional on-trail hike to Mt. Willard.
2 comments:
I like your description of the snowfield as a "monorail"! Nice to see there was still snow in early May.
That terrain is steep. And yes, it looks like a "rotten gulley". Do you know how or why Rotten Gulley got its name? (Other than your observation, of course!)
Hi Rita . . . thanks as always for reading and commenting on my blog. My apologies for the delayed reply, but for whatever reason, I’m no longer receiving e-mail notification when a comment is posted to my blog! I’m trying to determine what is causing the problem.
Anyway, I’m uncertain about this, but think that the term “rotten gully” is perhaps a rock-climbing term that refers to a gully containing loose/unstable rock, and therefore is unsuitable for the sport of rock-climbing. On the south face of Mt. Willard, there is a lot of stable rock, and that location is frequented by rock-climbers.
John
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