Homer
Member
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2005
- Messages
- 65
- Reaction score
- 7
So, I had been planning and anticipating this hike for a couple years now and now was the time.
The plan was simple, I was going North to South as most would do, over 10,000' of elevation gain, all 11 summits, 23+ miles, and I was going it alone. Simple huh? Yeah right!!
This hike was about accomplishing a few goals. It was about visiting my father, who's ashes lie on Mt. Washington. It was about getting to the summits of a few peaks I had hiked exactly 30 years ago as a child. And it was a personal challenge. I didn't 'need' the peaks as I've already completed the NH 48 4k's, and am now doing them all over again with my 10 year old son, who is about halfway there himself. The date was set, so my wife and I headed north to Gorham Friday night after work and were asleep by 10pm. The forecast called for only a 30% chance of scattered showers. 30%, that's not bad, but then again this is the White's. We all know better than that. Unless it was a 100% wash out I was going. Anyway, I was up by 0300, my wife drove me over to the Appalachia Trailhead and kissed me goodbye at 0345. She was going back to bed and then heading over to the AMC's Highland Center later in the day to pick me up. The temp was 51 degrees, perfect for hiking. The plan was to go straight to the summit of Mt. Madison first before stopping by the hut. Initially, I was going to head up the Valley Way trail then cross over to the Watson Path and to the summit. Well, since I had been up that trail a few times before I decided on the spot to take a different approach up the Brookside Trail. Probably not a good idea, especially at 3:45 in the morning with a headlamp on. I don't think the Brookside Trail is used as often and therefore it's a little more overgrown. Not to mention, crossing the brook a couple of times in the dark can be a challenge, especially with all the rain that we've had. So, a half hour into the hike as I slipped off a rock and into the water both feet were wet. Yep, water went right up and over the lip of the boots and down in. Not good. No spare socks. That's o.k. I just wringed them out, and turns out, it would be alright, there was no real problems as a result. Gotta love those Smartwool socks. I hit the summit of Mt. Madison at 0545 under overcast skies, but the views were great. I had great visibility all the way along the ridge. Made my way down to Madison Hut at 6am to refill the water supply. A handful of overnight hikers were up and the croo was busy making breakfast. Off I went up the Star Lake Trail up to the Mt. Adams summit by 6:45am. At this point I've bitten off quite a chunk of the days total elevation gain and feeling fresh. Not to mention, I love hiking at the early hours when there is absolutly no one out on the ridge but me. Awesome for a Saturday! So now it was across the Gulfside Trail to the summit of Jefferson at 0745, and Clay at 0830. Now I started seeing some of the first other people out on the trail for the day as I approached Mt. Washington. There goes the peace. Summited Mt. Washington at 0915, temp was now a cool 46 degrees and felt great. I then managed to get a break between all the people hovering around the summit sign to have a moment with my dad. I went inside, grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and a banana and hit the restroom. At this point, I knew it was all downhill from here. Well, not really, but it sure felt that way when you looked down the Crawford Path at what was in front of me. As I was leaving the summit at 0930 I was hearing the cheers of a crowd of people as the winners of an auto road bike race finished . I didn’t really think the cheers were for me, but sure would have been cool if they were. I made my way down to Lakes Hut by 1000 where most of the overnight hikers had already left for the day. I hung out there for about 10 minutes and then headed up to the summit of Mt. Monroe by 1020. Now the dark clouds started moving in. The rumbling of some thunder was behind me up on Washington, but I was o.k. for now. I was glad to already be away from there as it didn't look too good up there at all. Not sure how the rest of the bike race ended up, but I hope they were able to finish safely. So, as I made my way across the small summit of Mt. Franklin the first wave of pea sized hail started to hit me. I felt lucky it was hail instead of rain. It actually was pretty cool, but I did feel as though I was staying just ahead of the thunderstorm. As I approached the summit of Mt. Eisenhower, the second wave of hail came down along with a few sprinkles of rain. Not quite rain gear weather yet. Keep movin', keep outrunnin the storm. That's the way if felt along the ridge. The pace was quick, there's no doubt. By the time I got down the south side of Mt. Eisenhower the third bout of hail and rain hit. This time I needed to don the rain gear. The thunder and lighting behind me towards Washington seemed fierce. But it was a quick and furious downpour that only lasted 10 minutes. I summited Mt. Pierce by 1145 and quickly raced down to Mizpah Hut by 1200 just ahead of the next heavy downpour. I gobbled down a nice hot bowl of soup and re-grouped while waiting for the rain to subside. At 1220 I made a quick phone call to my wife and let her know I'd be down at the Highland Center in a couple of hours. Across the Webster Cliff trail I went to summit Mt. Jackson at 1300 and then it was over to Mt. Webster by 1330. At this point, the rain was coming down in full force. The thunder and lightning was everywhere. My luck had run out, finally. I couldn't get below treeline soon enough. So down the Wester-Jackson trail I went towards the Highland Center. Most of the way down the trail was nothing more than a stream. The key here was not to fall down on the slippery rocks and roots and finish the 'marathon' safely. Don't get sloppy now! I made my way to Rt. 302 and over to the Highland Center parking lot by 1445 where my smiling wife awaited my arrival. She laughed as I handed her a snowball made of hail that had come down in Crawford Notch just a bit earlier. At this point, the clouds parted, the sun came out, and the rain was gone. Awesome!!!!!!!! I made it!!!!!!!! What a feeling. What a hike. No injuries, a little tired and a little sore, but felt great. 11 hours start to finish. Not bad for a hike with a book time of 18:43. Although it was not a race, I felt like I made pretty good time. What a great day, a magestic hike. And I would do it all over again!!!!!!!
The plan was simple, I was going North to South as most would do, over 10,000' of elevation gain, all 11 summits, 23+ miles, and I was going it alone. Simple huh? Yeah right!!
This hike was about accomplishing a few goals. It was about visiting my father, who's ashes lie on Mt. Washington. It was about getting to the summits of a few peaks I had hiked exactly 30 years ago as a child. And it was a personal challenge. I didn't 'need' the peaks as I've already completed the NH 48 4k's, and am now doing them all over again with my 10 year old son, who is about halfway there himself. The date was set, so my wife and I headed north to Gorham Friday night after work and were asleep by 10pm. The forecast called for only a 30% chance of scattered showers. 30%, that's not bad, but then again this is the White's. We all know better than that. Unless it was a 100% wash out I was going. Anyway, I was up by 0300, my wife drove me over to the Appalachia Trailhead and kissed me goodbye at 0345. She was going back to bed and then heading over to the AMC's Highland Center later in the day to pick me up. The temp was 51 degrees, perfect for hiking. The plan was to go straight to the summit of Mt. Madison first before stopping by the hut. Initially, I was going to head up the Valley Way trail then cross over to the Watson Path and to the summit. Well, since I had been up that trail a few times before I decided on the spot to take a different approach up the Brookside Trail. Probably not a good idea, especially at 3:45 in the morning with a headlamp on. I don't think the Brookside Trail is used as often and therefore it's a little more overgrown. Not to mention, crossing the brook a couple of times in the dark can be a challenge, especially with all the rain that we've had. So, a half hour into the hike as I slipped off a rock and into the water both feet were wet. Yep, water went right up and over the lip of the boots and down in. Not good. No spare socks. That's o.k. I just wringed them out, and turns out, it would be alright, there was no real problems as a result. Gotta love those Smartwool socks. I hit the summit of Mt. Madison at 0545 under overcast skies, but the views were great. I had great visibility all the way along the ridge. Made my way down to Madison Hut at 6am to refill the water supply. A handful of overnight hikers were up and the croo was busy making breakfast. Off I went up the Star Lake Trail up to the Mt. Adams summit by 6:45am. At this point I've bitten off quite a chunk of the days total elevation gain and feeling fresh. Not to mention, I love hiking at the early hours when there is absolutly no one out on the ridge but me. Awesome for a Saturday! So now it was across the Gulfside Trail to the summit of Jefferson at 0745, and Clay at 0830. Now I started seeing some of the first other people out on the trail for the day as I approached Mt. Washington. There goes the peace. Summited Mt. Washington at 0915, temp was now a cool 46 degrees and felt great. I then managed to get a break between all the people hovering around the summit sign to have a moment with my dad. I went inside, grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and a banana and hit the restroom. At this point, I knew it was all downhill from here. Well, not really, but it sure felt that way when you looked down the Crawford Path at what was in front of me. As I was leaving the summit at 0930 I was hearing the cheers of a crowd of people as the winners of an auto road bike race finished . I didn’t really think the cheers were for me, but sure would have been cool if they were. I made my way down to Lakes Hut by 1000 where most of the overnight hikers had already left for the day. I hung out there for about 10 minutes and then headed up to the summit of Mt. Monroe by 1020. Now the dark clouds started moving in. The rumbling of some thunder was behind me up on Washington, but I was o.k. for now. I was glad to already be away from there as it didn't look too good up there at all. Not sure how the rest of the bike race ended up, but I hope they were able to finish safely. So, as I made my way across the small summit of Mt. Franklin the first wave of pea sized hail started to hit me. I felt lucky it was hail instead of rain. It actually was pretty cool, but I did feel as though I was staying just ahead of the thunderstorm. As I approached the summit of Mt. Eisenhower, the second wave of hail came down along with a few sprinkles of rain. Not quite rain gear weather yet. Keep movin', keep outrunnin the storm. That's the way if felt along the ridge. The pace was quick, there's no doubt. By the time I got down the south side of Mt. Eisenhower the third bout of hail and rain hit. This time I needed to don the rain gear. The thunder and lighting behind me towards Washington seemed fierce. But it was a quick and furious downpour that only lasted 10 minutes. I summited Mt. Pierce by 1145 and quickly raced down to Mizpah Hut by 1200 just ahead of the next heavy downpour. I gobbled down a nice hot bowl of soup and re-grouped while waiting for the rain to subside. At 1220 I made a quick phone call to my wife and let her know I'd be down at the Highland Center in a couple of hours. Across the Webster Cliff trail I went to summit Mt. Jackson at 1300 and then it was over to Mt. Webster by 1330. At this point, the rain was coming down in full force. The thunder and lightning was everywhere. My luck had run out, finally. I couldn't get below treeline soon enough. So down the Wester-Jackson trail I went towards the Highland Center. Most of the way down the trail was nothing more than a stream. The key here was not to fall down on the slippery rocks and roots and finish the 'marathon' safely. Don't get sloppy now! I made my way to Rt. 302 and over to the Highland Center parking lot by 1445 where my smiling wife awaited my arrival. She laughed as I handed her a snowball made of hail that had come down in Crawford Notch just a bit earlier. At this point, the clouds parted, the sun came out, and the rain was gone. Awesome!!!!!!!! I made it!!!!!!!! What a feeling. What a hike. No injuries, a little tired and a little sore, but felt great. 11 hours start to finish. Not bad for a hike with a book time of 18:43. Although it was not a race, I felt like I made pretty good time. What a great day, a magestic hike. And I would do it all over again!!!!!!!
