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| Hiking | 5.50 Miles |
4,300 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.50 Miles | 4 Hrs | | 1.38 mph |
| 4,300 ft AEG | | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | | Hiked up to the summit of Mount Washington today, it was predicted to be windy but clear , definitely a mountain you want to know the weather forecast before you go. Leaving from Pinkham Notch , planned to take the Tuckerman ravine trail to junction with Lion Head and then take it to the summit as the signage indicated Tuckerman was closed. Started up the rocky road and had it mostly to myself, passed two couples who planned to walk to the “waterfall” and back. Met a group of 5 at the junction with lion head who were debating which way to proceed, when I asked if they had seen the signage about Tuckerman being closed they said a ranger told them it was reopened as of today but sign not updated. They were told the trail “may “be wetter than usual and more iced , they should have been told it “will” be wetter and more slippery than usual. Not knowing either Trail I decided to proceed on up Tuckerman ravine. When I reached the Hermit Lake shelter about a dozen people were laying around the deck there enjoying the sun. I instead proceeded on and after additional short distance of upward hiking the awesome cirque like ravine finally came fully into view, admired beautiful views in all directions while trying to discern any route from here, could see no one along the head wall or behind me or over on Lions Head. Some areas that appeared to be worn from use I later decided may be from the crazy people that ski down it ,there was still rapidly melting snow and waterfalls all around , I think the skiing ended a month ago. Anyway using my keen observation ability I spotted some unnatural appearing yellow paint splotches ,some arrow shaped, so armed with that hint I proceeded slipping and sliding up the head wall it’s mostly boulder like steps covered with water ,melting snow and mud .Just when I was not able to see where the route went luckily there was a group of 4 and dog coming down the ravine. Now I could see that there was a sharp left turn obscured by a snow bank with a running stream behind it ,one of the down goers commented this spot was a lot scarier in the morning, not helpful to me. So I did have the benefit of watching them negotiate this spot. I thought it was 60/40 in favor of making a quick dive down the headwall instead of staying on the trail. Determined to make the summit however I went up on the potential collapsing snow bank which held up and then hopped onto a wet icy rock in the running stream sticking the landing like Mary Lou Retton, in my mind anyway. Continued the unrelenting upward trek finally seeing some of the large cairns meant to herd hikers onto a route and to avoid trampling the fragile alpine environment in this rocky moon scape and about at that point I could also see the summit structures. So enamored with the scenery I missed the direct route up the summit cone instead continued up ,unknown to me,the Southside trail to it’s junction with the Westerley trail and the Crawford path, at that point there were nice views of Mount Monroe and lakes of the clouds and hut. All of a sudden I noticed there were hikers galore, not sure where they sprung up from but many going in the direction of the summit. Glad I ended up taking this historic Crawford path , oldest continually maintained trail in the US and part of the AT ,to attain the summit. An occasional cloud passed by providing some light fog but it was generally clear as predicted. Was not particularly comfortable at 48° with a 40 mph wind until putting on my thermoball jacket. Did not feel like waiting in line with the mob for a summit picture. Briefly visited the visitor center rest room ,skipped the historic tip top house. The cog rail train did arrive while I was there, did not consider getting a ticket down as its station is on the other side of the mountain from Pinkham Notch where my wife was going to meet me. Never had any reliable cell phone signal even at the top to change plans and I had already thought about walking the auto road down to avoid the slippery ravine I came up, plus just as I had reached the summit one of my trekking poles broke ,caught it in a crevice, I considered it an omen from the hiking gods to avoid taking the ravine down. So I did end up going down the auto road but by snagging a senior priced one way down ticket on one of the auto road shuttle vans for $26 which was worth it , dropping me off in the 70° weather at Pinkham Notch. Glad to take this off my to do list and do it in pretty good weather at least for picture taking, the trail conditions will likely be better in another month. |
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