Mount Washington summit

“I climbed Mount Washington on Sunday, June 6th. He wanted to do something to commemorate the 60th anniversary of D-day. He also knew I didn’t get to go last weekend with EarthNsky, so he asked last Monday if I wanted to do the hike with him.

Chris, my friend, and I started from Pinkham Notch. We did the Tuckerman Ravine trail until just before the Hermit Lake shelters and then switched to the Lion Head trail. The Tuckerman Ravine trail was closed from Lunch Rocks until it meets up with Lion Head trail again about 600 feet below the summit. We continued on the Tuckerman Ravine trail from the end of Lion Head trail up to the summit.

We left home about 4:15 AM and got to the trailhead about 6:45 AM. We saw a big black bear crossing the road and walking into the woods on appropriately named Bear Notch Road which runs from the Kangamangus Highway to Route 302. The temperature at Pinkham Notch was a comfortable 47 degrees with just a trace of wind. We had fully expected rain all day long from the several weather reports we were looking at the day before. We figured if it was pouring down, we would probably just go to the Lunch Rocks, call it a day, and head back down. The rain never came and it was a glorious day!

We started up right around 7 AM. We were to travel 4.1 miles and almost 4300 vertical feet to the summit. The trail was expectedly rocky, but very dry. The first people we saw had stayed at the Hermit Lakes shelter and they were headed to the summit of Mount Washington up the Lion Head trail. We were to travel 4.1 miles and almost 4300 vertical feet to the summit.

From the Hermit Lake shelters to Lion Head on the Lion Head trail was by far the most difficult trail I had ever done. Tuckerman Ravine trail to the top of the mountain was also difficult. You follow rock cairns all the way up from well below Lion Head. In places, it seemed to go straight up. I found all the trails to be well marked or well worn. I wonder where EarthNsky got off trail with his brother last weekend? There were beautiful views of Wildcat ski area across the valley. From the top of Lion Head, we could just see one of the towers on the top and had a gorgeous view of the Hermit Lakes shelter area and into Tuckerman’s. My friend, Chris, said that he might not be up for climbing the summit. I gave him a little pep talk and then said to hike his own hike. We were about 900 feet from the summit. I told him that I was going to go ahead and climb to the summit of Mount Washington, but told him I wouldn’t linger at the top too long so that if he decided not to summit, that I wouldn’t be far behind him going down the mountain. If he didn’t come up, I would meet him on the way down or at the Hermit Lakes shelter. I was just about to wolf down some food at the top when Chris showed up. I was really glad he made it. I ended up spending and a little over an hour on the top of Mount Washington and Chris spent about 40 minutes. It was a four hour hike for me from Pinkham Notch to the top. It was also 4 hours coming back down the same trail. I was surprised that it took so long to get down, but it’s a pretty rough trail and you really have to place your feet carefully on almost every step. We arrived at the vehicle just after 4 PM. We were both pretty beat from our day hike. My feet hurt until I took my boots off and put on my Waldies. I’m convinced there is no more comfortable shoe after a long hike.

You could clearly see both Wildcat and Bretton Woods ski areas from the summit.

We figured that we got an unexpected bonus that the weather was so nice that day. Pictures will follow tonight.”

“Cool. I've been to the summit, albeit via the carriage road. Very interesting place, with the weather station, cog railway, et al.”

“Sounds like you had a great hike skiracer! Looking forward to the pictures.”

“Very nice!! I can't wait for the pics, too.”

“Cool!! Never been, but it's high on my list because it's on the east side of the US. (less $$) LOL”

“Sounds like a fun trip... glad your friend made it to the top!”

“Pictures are posted. I'm still adding some captions.”

“Captions done. The only one without a caption is one of the Cog Railway engine. Webshots won't let me edit that picture for some reason.”

“Very good report. Sounds like a killer of a hike. I'm sure completing it gives a person a good feeling of accomplishment. So many awesome places to hike, so little time.”

“Great report and cool pictures!
Glad your buddy made it too...”

“Nice shots. I'm trying to work in a trip to the Whites yet this summer. Your pictures inspire me to get a trip coordinated.”

“ACK!

yer face is NEKKID, dood!”

“Great pics! :)”

“Needed a little change, radagast. I'll let it grow again when it starts getting cool in September.”

“I enjoyed the pics, thank you!”

“dude if you think lion head is sumpthin you need to check out some other trails up there like the seven husbands and the AT down into Galehead...etc etc etc the whites are riddled with trails that just don't stop climbing or falling. Lion head is a typical trail in the whites.....1 mile and 1000 ft.”

“man looks like you had pretty good weather on the summit. I couldn't see 5 feet in front of me when I was there.”

“I was hanging out with a friend this weekend, and we decided to do an impromptu dayhike up Mt. Washington yesterday. WOW! What a GREAT hike! Great weather the entire day, even at the top. We started at Pinkham Notch and dayhiked up Tuckerman's Ravine and then the Lion's Head to the summit. Hung out on the summit for a few hours and then hiked the Tuckerman's Ravine the whole way down, enjoying gorgeous views of the waterfall there.

The White Mountains are even closer to me than I thought. It only took about an hour and half to get to the Pinkham Notch trailhead from my place. To actually reach the offical White Mountains, only about 45 minutes.

An aside: Over a one week time period, I summited the tallest mountain in Maine (Katahdin) twice, and the tallest mountain in New Hampshire (and the northeast) once. I rule.”

“Mt Washing is my fantasy hike Artex.. maybe one day i can come dayhike it with yas.”

“Not bad Mrs. Howell.”

“You do rule, Artex. Congrats! You sound very very happy. Well deserved.”

“Towndawg - yes, please keep me in mind when you get around to planning a trip. I'm still stoked at how relatively and unexpectedly close it is to me. Very easy and scenic drive to boot. Kind of scary at night though. I came close to hitting a red fox on the drive back. And, just about 5-10 minutes away from where I live, a moose crossed the road in front of us (luckily it was far away).

Thanks all.”

“Lion Head and Tuckerman's were easier than Dudley, weren't they?”

“Very much so, skiracer. I thought about calling you, but it was late on Saturday night when we settled on plans. I very much want to do the Whites again this weekend. Are you or anyone else interested?”

“Artex: Yeah.. I flew into Burlington once.. on my way into Quebec.. and since I was THERE.. just had to made a side trip on the way back.. check out the Whites.. (didn't realize I drove past the Greens on the way.. but it was dark, you know?).. but ya.. drove and found a park that allowed me to gaze up at the Whites.. I was on the opposite side though... I'm not sure what notch it was.. but oh my gosh.. it was way cool.. (literally).. Washington was back behind the mountain I was looking at.. but the clouds obscured the view of course.. I could not BELIEVE how cold it was.. the wind just whipping over the top of where I was looking.. I didn't have a coat warm emough hardly.

(and I was standing at the overlook!!!!)”

“Ha ha ha! I'm sure you've heard, but meteorologists say the top of Mt. Washington has THE worst weather in the entire world. Weather around there and also across New England is extremely unpredictable. Glad you were able to get a taste. It's gorgeous, just wait until you hike it.”

“Artex: yeah.. I've watched the video.. with the guy.. tied to the weather thing.. with 300 mph winds.”

“I got to the summit, albeit via the Carriage Road as a sidelight to a Maine Coast trip.

It is remarkable.

The weather is due to several factors: first the height of the mountain, second the fact that several weather patterns converge right there. What is rain in the lower elevations will be snow on the mountain, in any month of the year.

Highest wind speed was 230 MPH in the 1930s. Wuff! Makes a hurricane seem like a balmy day.”

“Way to go, Mrs. Howell!

Wow, Katahdin and Mt. Washington in the same week, Congrats! If you're feeling as high as I'm feeling right now, I bet you're still up there on the summits!

It's good to have ya back in the Northeast, Hike on!”

“very cool, i'm jealous! i'd really like to go there in the summer one time...we always go in the winter, and i feel like i can hike for about one mile before the snow and cold kicks my ass.”

“Artex, the only trip I'll be doing between now and mid October will be theFlags on the 48(Willey) trip with Pedxing on 9/11. You should consider doing that trip, since you're so close.”

“You gotta love those winds. Even though some other hikers I talked with yesterday were amazed at how "non-windy" it was, there was still a pretty stiff breeze. I'm sure I'll be in for a suprise my next trip up.

LOL @ Bobo! Dammit, quit calling me Mrs. Howell! But thanks man, it's definitely good to be back.

Skiracer, that sounds cool. I haven't seen Pedxing since I first met him several years ago (the first TT'er I've ever met). That might be cool to do that hike with you guys, especially given his remarkable recovery. Is Pepsi committed to doing his own route and he can't do this trip? I think he's taking up a flag to another summit? I should probably just e-mail him, eh?”

“Very kewl Artex!

I like where I live, but I wish I was as close to the Whites, Baxter and the Maine AT as you are.”

“Artex,

You gotta get over to the Bigelooooow Preserve, Avery and West peaks were outstanding!”

“"LOL @ Bobo! Dammit, quit calling me Mrs. Howell!"

Really. Mrs Howell is just too formal. You should be on a first name basis by now.

Anywho, congrats on your summits, Lovey. That's awwwwesome.”

“Pedxing - I just signed up for your 9/11 trip. I look forward to it.

Bobo - It's very high up on my list! Very soon.

Pennsy - Awwwwwwww, awwwwwwwesome! Ha ha, ha ha ha ha! Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!”

“Mt Washington is awesome. I did the exact same hike as you back on Memorial Day. It was snowing up top. It was pretty funny to see the tourons getting out of the train and then huddling up in the cold and wind and rushing into the visitor center. That is an awesome mountain.”

“Yeah, the train and cars is somewhat of a buzzkill. I'm sure both help generate a lot of money that is put to good use for the park, but still, I wouldn't mind seeing both shut down. EMTs were even giving one lady at the top oxygen. It was pretty obvious she didn't hike up.”

“Great Artex, it will be great to see you again & on the trail this time!

In interests of full disclosure, I should tell you that Pepsi's peak is spectacular, although its a longer hike and worth a backpacking trip. People will be meeting up at the Mooseland Grill after the hike, and I'm hoping i'll meet Pepsi there. If you know you're coming, I'll let the Flags people know since they want to give Mooseleland a heads up.

Here's the Mooseland Menu:

http://www.restaurant.com/microsite-menu-image.asp?rid=309932&eb=False&rn=New+Hampshire&cs=0&ne=0&al=&nv=1&pg=1&bsp=1&qty=4&nav=menuimage”

“Thanks Pedxing. I'm definitely a definite. I'll just be getting done with the first week of teaching, and the fact that you're hike is a dayhike is appealing to me for that reason. I want to reserve Sunday for lesson planning.”

“Maybe a few of the Carriage Road and Cog RR tourons get their first taste of a mountain peak that way and become a little more environmentally conscious. It is awesome up there, and something of the place probably rubs off on every fourth or sixth touron.”

“BTW: I've never been to Mooseland, but I have heard the bar and beer praised, as well as the food.”

“I'm in for Mooseland.”

“Artex rules!!! The high peaks in a week!!!

We went kayaking on a very nice pond, nyah, nyah, nyah!!!”

“Summit Conditions as of 7:54 AM EST
Temp
-23.7°F Wind
W100 MPH Gust
110 MPH WC
-65



Dat's right.



-23 degrees
with 100 mph wind!!!


Washington rocks!”

“I've been monitoring that all morning, lee! They've been getting hammered up there! It's really fascinating stuff.

Below is a link where anyone can get the latest:

http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/index.php”