I wanted the numbers to be big, the obstacles nauseating, the footing horrifying, the exposure real and tangible. More than anything, I wanted to leave New England with a lasting idea, a new challenge fit for the next-level mountain athletes of the decade. I don't count myself among this group, but ambitious ideas and routes can come from anyone of any ability. All it takes is the audacity to sit down with a map, a pen, a sense of dark humor - and then to slip on a pair of shoes and dive down the rabbit hole.
This is exactly the process that gave birth, in the 1950s, to a little-known White Mountain challenge route called Swan's Traverse. Bradford Swan, a long-time AMC volunteer and editor of the AMC's journal Appalachia, writes in the December 1958 edition:
"Swan's Traverse came into being as a joke ... It originated one night at Madison Hut, in 1953 or 1954. I had been remarking on the way some hikers paid absolutely no attention to the contour lines on the guidebook maps, and to show how serious this oversight could be, I set out to devise a route from Ravine House to Pinkham Notch Camp that was reasonably direct yet would go "over all the humps", utilizing notoriously hard trails. Fancy loops, to include especially tough sections of trail, were not indulged in, but two of the hardest headwalls -- King Ravine and Great Gulf -- were made parts of the route."The original route took the tramper up Air Line, Short Line and the King Ravine trail to the summit of Adams, down the Adam's Slide trail (since decommissioned) to the Great Gulf trail, up the Great Gulf headwall to the summit of Washington, down Lion's Head to Hermit Lake, up the Boott Spur Link, and finished down the Boott Spur trail to Pinkham Notch. This combination of trails boasted 8650 feet of elevation gain and nearly as much elevation loss in 13.5 miles. If you have the experience to put that into perspective, you might be grimacing right now. The feat was accomplished in seriously impressive times by various members of the Madison Spring Hut croo in the late 1950s, but little more has been written or mentioned about the route since.
What if you extended the principles of Swan's Traverse into a full loop that brought the hiker back to his/her starting point in Randolph? To return via a different route that was both relatively direct and weaved its way through more infamous Presidential Range glacial cirques? Well, it turns it out that it hurts a lot and takes a long time, but is incomparably beautiful and awe-inspiring. I can't imagine a much more humbling route in the East than this: one that places you at the head or toe of five large glacial cirques, each one tempting the hiker down and up hulking walls of rock, scree and alpine vegetation. I decided to call this route the Swan Song Loop to retain the originator's name and idea, while adding in my own little metaphor: this is my swan song to New England, my last big foray into the Whites before moving away indefinitely. My time for the full loop was a modest 13:30, and I hope more folks go out and take a stab at it. It is a real step up from the Presidential Traverse, Pemi Loop and Mahoosuc Traverse while remaining the same distance. Here is a trail-by-trail breakdown (Adam's Slide has been substituted by Star Lake and Buttress Trails, and I chose the Tuckerman Headwall over Lion's Head for added headwall effect):
- Air Line, Short Line, King Ravine, Air Line to Adams summit
- Star Lake, Buttress, Six Husbands to Great Gulf Trail
- Great Gulf headwall to Washington summit
- Tuckerman Ravine trail to Hermit Lake
- Boott Spur Link to Boott Spur, then down to Pinkham
- Huntington Ravine Trail to Alpine Garden, take it to Auto Road
- Wamsutta Trail to Great Gulf, take it down to Madison Gulf Trail
- Madison Gulf Trail to hut
- Osgood Trail to Madison summit
- Watson Path down to Brookside, Brookside to Valley Way
- Valley Way back to start
The photos tell the story, all in order. Happy audacious ambulation!
