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The Trinity Heights Connector is a relatively new and short trail near the summit of Mount Washington, running roughly a quarter-mile from the summit rocks to near the split between the Crawford Path and Gulfside Trail. It receives its own description page mostly to explain why it exists.
Traditionally, the Crawford Path approached the summit area much as it does now above the junction with the Davis Path. The Gulfside Trail, however, used to circle the head of the Great Gulf to the Auto Road and approach the summit from that direction. Military construction in the 1950's caused the 1955 relocation of the upper Gulfside to join the Crawford Path at its final zag to the summit. All was well for a couple of decades until the approval of an official route of the Appalachian Trail. This trail approaches the summit of Mount Washington along the Crawford Path and leaves it along the Gulfside Trail (or vice versa), and if the two ran together then either the Appalachian Trail did not reach the summit at all or else it entered and left by the same treadway - clearly unacceptable to officialdom.
The chosen solution was to build a new trail segment from the summit to the relocated Gulfside Trail just before it joined the Crawford Path. This was built as a hiking path and is not as smooth as the bridle path or old graded trail. The new segment was named the Trinity Heights Connector, and it now carries the Appalachian Trail North from the summit.
Should the Gulfside Trail instead have reverted to its historic location as the military is long gone? Should the new segment have been designated as the Gulfside Trail instead of being given a new name? Tell the world in the Forum.
Distance: Mount Washington summit to Gulfside Trail, about .2 miles one-way
Elevation gain: You lose about 150 feet Northbound, or gain it Southbound
Maps:
USGS Mount Washington
AMC Presidential Range
Location: White Mountains Region
NH 2003-2004 map G-8
DeLorme NHA&G 44-A6 - Sargents Purchase
Sargents Purchase is an unincorporated place that includes the summit of Mount Washington, and is located W of NH Route 16 between North Conway and Gorham
South End: Summit of Mount Washington, elevation about 6288 feet
North End: Gulfside Trail near junction with Crawford Path, elevation about 6050 feet
Owner: Mount Washington State Park and White Mountain National Forest
Maintainer: state park
Special regulations: No fires or camping in state park, or above treeline unless there is at least 2 feet of snow
From the summit rockpile, the Trinity Heights Connector descends over the rocks off the cone, then crosses a plateau to the Gulfside Trail at .2 miles. The junction with the Crawford Path is just to the L.
There are in all four trails that leave from the summit (starting from the N and going clockwise):
Summit visitor center closed off-season
Map Notes: The USGS map does not show the Trinity Heights Connector, and shows trails in the summit area that are not maintained
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