p2piper
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Date: September 30, 2006
Time: 10 hours
Weather: Mostly sunny, temps ranging in 30’s and 40’s
Miles: 13.21
Steps: 42,721
Trails: Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail – Crawford Path – Great Gulf Trail – Gulfside Trail – Clay Loop – Jewell Trail
Holy Shit Factor: High, very high – that one place could hold so much
OK, so waking up at 4:20 on the last day of September 2006 really sucked. It was dark and cold and too early to eat, but not too early for a big mug of French Roast. I like it strong, slightly sweet and slightly light. It was Nancy’s turn to drive so we were on the road by 5am. Dejah, our honorary trail dog, came too. She didn’t care that it was early – she was more than ready. We stopped at Mickey D’s in Hillsborough for a drive-through breakfast – I got my hash browns this time but Nancy didn’t get any egg on her Egg McMuffin. Blah. As has become routine this hiking season, the drive up to Route 302 went quickly – we talked and enjoyed the views.
As we approached the trailhead we could see that most of the Presidentials were still under cloud cover. In fact, in all our drives up to Rte. 302 we hadn’t seen the peaks of any Presidential summits – they were always obscured by clouds. I had checked and checked and checked the weather, and yes, I know any forecast is a crap shoot, but we decided that unlike the forecast last Tuesday, we had a good shot at seeing the top of Washington in clear skies. So we decided to go for it.
We started up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail at 8:30 am. The skies at the trailhead were clear and the temps were in the upper 30’s to start. It was brisk but we soon warmed up and began the ritual of managing temperature as we climbed and the day warmed. Lots of folks in the parking lot heading up and we joined the stead tramp of hikers. Maybe I’m a snoot, but I really don’t enjoy being within sight or sound of other hikers and we spent the climb passing or being passed. Folks were friendly; that wasn’t the point – it was something else – just the presence of others on this special day. It was hard to think of being in the wilderness when there were so many people there and the sound of the trains slugging up the cog railway didn’t add much to the sense of wilderness either.
When we started to leave the tree line behind the views of the Washington Valley behind us and the rime ice on the ridge above us were awe inspiring. Everything was coated in a layer of frost, forced into position by the wind that had tried to blow it off the branches the night before. The ravine offered a few challenging scrambles but mostly it was the views up, down and around that made my heart sing. A hiker came down the trail and told us that the ice was very treacherous from the Lakes of the Clouds Hut to the summit of Washington. I looked around me and the sun was warm and with each passing minute more of the clouds above us scudded away. I felt certain that it would melt by the time we got there. A young Park Ranger said that the forecast was for the summit to be stuck in clouds all day, but I also felt that the sun was going to win the day.
As we climbed up to the junction of the Lakes of the Clouds Hut at 11:16 am it was decision time – should we detour and bag Monroe and then head to the Washington summit or just head to Washington now. It was an easy decision – of course we decided to go for it. We put on wind jackets and started up the Crawford Path before veering off on the Monroe Loop. Just as we reached the summit of Monroe – no summit sign – I turned around and the Washington summit stood there in all her frosted glory. It was spectacular and we took pictures and stared, wondering if this would be our only view for the day and vowing to take advantage of it. We hit the summit of Monroe (elevation 5,372) at 11:40 am. It was cold and blowing a bit, so we took pictures, slapped a high five at #32 and started back down to the Hut.
Lots of people at the Hut eating lunch – the Hut itself was closed, but behind it people sat in the sun and ate. We passed on by having just snacked on a couple of power bars and started up the Crawford Path toward the summit of Washington. The ice wasn’t bad except in the shade and neither of us slipped. The line of hikers twisting up the side of the ridge was incongruous and not particularly welcome – I’ve gotten spoiled hiking with my partner is relative silence – just natural sounds around us. The processing toward the summit that we were witnessing was, well, different. We joined in and tried to maintain space between ourselves and those behind and ahead. As we climbed the ice became thicker and it was more difficult to see where the trail was since the trail consisted of granite rocks with no sense of demarcation. All the buildings were covered with rime ice. I had seen pictures of this phenomenon, but never in person. We arrived at the summit of Washington (elevation 6,288) at 1:15 pm.
The summit was crowded with people who had arrived on shuttles, cars and the railway. The views were incredible. I had not seen the northern Presidentials before and looked on them with a kind of drooling awe. I, too, will someday stand on top of those mountains. We tied Dejah and went into the snack bar to warm up and use the facilities. Ten minutes later the speaker system crackled to life and we were told that anyone who had left a yellow dog tied up outside had better get back out there – no unattended dogs. Dang – so much for getting warm. Dejah was being a good sport – not barking or anxious – so while Nancy went back in to change from wet to dry clothes I stayed outside with Dejah and started eating lunch. She joined me shortly thereafter, but despite no wind and plenty of sun, it was cold and just sitting was sapping our core warmth. We packed up and headed for the Great Gulf Trail, but something about Nancy caused me to turn around and really look at her. She looked really cold so I suggested she head back inside and get warmer before we started out. That proved to be a good decision – she was deeply cold. Dejah and I walked to the observation deck and watched the trains and took a movie of the view before heading back to meet Nancy.
We ended up in a large group of hikers heading down the Great Gulf Trail, then picking up the Gulfside Trail. We did what we could to put distance between us but that’s hard on rocks covered with rime ice. As we approached the railway, I was surprised by the amount of cinder pollution created by the trains – the delicate alpine vegetation was clearly suffering from the continued use of coal burning train engines. Lots of hikers were heading up and lots were heading down – a looping caravan of people winding up and down the side of the mountain. When we got to the Clay Loop Trail we decided to go for it and bag Clay as well. At the time we were motivated by the fact that Clay would be our 34th summit – we didn’t realize that Clay didn’t “count” as a 4,000 footer despite its 5,553 elevation. And as we walked it was deceptive – with no summit sign which of the three bumps in the ridge was the summit? They all looked like the height of land to us. After studying the map…again…we decided it was the furthest bump and made our way to the top at 3:25 pm. We both still felt really strong and were flying high on the beauty surrounding us.
We cut over to the Gulf Side Trail (for shame) which cut a half a mile off our descent. I knew the 3.7 mile Jewell Trail was going to be a long one for me, and I could already feel some foot discomfort. I don’t know how or when it happened, but I had a bruise on my right ankle bone and every step was painful as the bone touched the inside of my boot. I spent a lot of energy ignoring the pain. The Jewell Trail was a nice trail, fairly gentle, but as we descended into the trees, my feet became more and more tired and sore. It was an effort to maintain a decent pace. I thought we were walking right along, but at least three other groups of hikers passed us on the way down. I guess we are just slow, and my knees didn’t add any speed to the journey. Nevertheless, we made it and the last mile was a fast one. The parking lot looked wonderful to me as we came out of the woods at 6:30 pm with just enough light left not to need our headlamps.
Dry clothes raised our spirits, although they were already pretty high. And we settled in for the long drive home. Sliding between the sheets at 11 pm was bliss. Pure unadulterated bliss.
What an incredible day! The weather, the lack of wind, no injuries, three peaks (two that counted), and we climbed Washington…at last.
33 out of 67
Date: September 30, 2006
Time: 10 hours
Weather: Mostly sunny, temps ranging in 30’s and 40’s
Miles: 13.21
Steps: 42,721
Trails: Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail – Crawford Path – Great Gulf Trail – Gulfside Trail – Clay Loop – Jewell Trail
Holy Shit Factor: High, very high – that one place could hold so much
OK, so waking up at 4:20 on the last day of September 2006 really sucked. It was dark and cold and too early to eat, but not too early for a big mug of French Roast. I like it strong, slightly sweet and slightly light. It was Nancy’s turn to drive so we were on the road by 5am. Dejah, our honorary trail dog, came too. She didn’t care that it was early – she was more than ready. We stopped at Mickey D’s in Hillsborough for a drive-through breakfast – I got my hash browns this time but Nancy didn’t get any egg on her Egg McMuffin. Blah. As has become routine this hiking season, the drive up to Route 302 went quickly – we talked and enjoyed the views.
As we approached the trailhead we could see that most of the Presidentials were still under cloud cover. In fact, in all our drives up to Rte. 302 we hadn’t seen the peaks of any Presidential summits – they were always obscured by clouds. I had checked and checked and checked the weather, and yes, I know any forecast is a crap shoot, but we decided that unlike the forecast last Tuesday, we had a good shot at seeing the top of Washington in clear skies. So we decided to go for it.
We started up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail at 8:30 am. The skies at the trailhead were clear and the temps were in the upper 30’s to start. It was brisk but we soon warmed up and began the ritual of managing temperature as we climbed and the day warmed. Lots of folks in the parking lot heading up and we joined the stead tramp of hikers. Maybe I’m a snoot, but I really don’t enjoy being within sight or sound of other hikers and we spent the climb passing or being passed. Folks were friendly; that wasn’t the point – it was something else – just the presence of others on this special day. It was hard to think of being in the wilderness when there were so many people there and the sound of the trains slugging up the cog railway didn’t add much to the sense of wilderness either.
When we started to leave the tree line behind the views of the Washington Valley behind us and the rime ice on the ridge above us were awe inspiring. Everything was coated in a layer of frost, forced into position by the wind that had tried to blow it off the branches the night before. The ravine offered a few challenging scrambles but mostly it was the views up, down and around that made my heart sing. A hiker came down the trail and told us that the ice was very treacherous from the Lakes of the Clouds Hut to the summit of Washington. I looked around me and the sun was warm and with each passing minute more of the clouds above us scudded away. I felt certain that it would melt by the time we got there. A young Park Ranger said that the forecast was for the summit to be stuck in clouds all day, but I also felt that the sun was going to win the day.
As we climbed up to the junction of the Lakes of the Clouds Hut at 11:16 am it was decision time – should we detour and bag Monroe and then head to the Washington summit or just head to Washington now. It was an easy decision – of course we decided to go for it. We put on wind jackets and started up the Crawford Path before veering off on the Monroe Loop. Just as we reached the summit of Monroe – no summit sign – I turned around and the Washington summit stood there in all her frosted glory. It was spectacular and we took pictures and stared, wondering if this would be our only view for the day and vowing to take advantage of it. We hit the summit of Monroe (elevation 5,372) at 11:40 am. It was cold and blowing a bit, so we took pictures, slapped a high five at #32 and started back down to the Hut.
Lots of people at the Hut eating lunch – the Hut itself was closed, but behind it people sat in the sun and ate. We passed on by having just snacked on a couple of power bars and started up the Crawford Path toward the summit of Washington. The ice wasn’t bad except in the shade and neither of us slipped. The line of hikers twisting up the side of the ridge was incongruous and not particularly welcome – I’ve gotten spoiled hiking with my partner is relative silence – just natural sounds around us. The processing toward the summit that we were witnessing was, well, different. We joined in and tried to maintain space between ourselves and those behind and ahead. As we climbed the ice became thicker and it was more difficult to see where the trail was since the trail consisted of granite rocks with no sense of demarcation. All the buildings were covered with rime ice. I had seen pictures of this phenomenon, but never in person. We arrived at the summit of Washington (elevation 6,288) at 1:15 pm.
The summit was crowded with people who had arrived on shuttles, cars and the railway. The views were incredible. I had not seen the northern Presidentials before and looked on them with a kind of drooling awe. I, too, will someday stand on top of those mountains. We tied Dejah and went into the snack bar to warm up and use the facilities. Ten minutes later the speaker system crackled to life and we were told that anyone who had left a yellow dog tied up outside had better get back out there – no unattended dogs. Dang – so much for getting warm. Dejah was being a good sport – not barking or anxious – so while Nancy went back in to change from wet to dry clothes I stayed outside with Dejah and started eating lunch. She joined me shortly thereafter, but despite no wind and plenty of sun, it was cold and just sitting was sapping our core warmth. We packed up and headed for the Great Gulf Trail, but something about Nancy caused me to turn around and really look at her. She looked really cold so I suggested she head back inside and get warmer before we started out. That proved to be a good decision – she was deeply cold. Dejah and I walked to the observation deck and watched the trains and took a movie of the view before heading back to meet Nancy.
We ended up in a large group of hikers heading down the Great Gulf Trail, then picking up the Gulfside Trail. We did what we could to put distance between us but that’s hard on rocks covered with rime ice. As we approached the railway, I was surprised by the amount of cinder pollution created by the trains – the delicate alpine vegetation was clearly suffering from the continued use of coal burning train engines. Lots of hikers were heading up and lots were heading down – a looping caravan of people winding up and down the side of the mountain. When we got to the Clay Loop Trail we decided to go for it and bag Clay as well. At the time we were motivated by the fact that Clay would be our 34th summit – we didn’t realize that Clay didn’t “count” as a 4,000 footer despite its 5,553 elevation. And as we walked it was deceptive – with no summit sign which of the three bumps in the ridge was the summit? They all looked like the height of land to us. After studying the map…again…we decided it was the furthest bump and made our way to the top at 3:25 pm. We both still felt really strong and were flying high on the beauty surrounding us.
We cut over to the Gulf Side Trail (for shame) which cut a half a mile off our descent. I knew the 3.7 mile Jewell Trail was going to be a long one for me, and I could already feel some foot discomfort. I don’t know how or when it happened, but I had a bruise on my right ankle bone and every step was painful as the bone touched the inside of my boot. I spent a lot of energy ignoring the pain. The Jewell Trail was a nice trail, fairly gentle, but as we descended into the trees, my feet became more and more tired and sore. It was an effort to maintain a decent pace. I thought we were walking right along, but at least three other groups of hikers passed us on the way down. I guess we are just slow, and my knees didn’t add any speed to the journey. Nevertheless, we made it and the last mile was a fast one. The parking lot looked wonderful to me as we came out of the woods at 6:30 pm with just enough light left not to need our headlamps.
Dry clothes raised our spirits, although they were already pretty high. And we settled in for the long drive home. Sliding between the sheets at 11 pm was bliss. Pure unadulterated bliss.
What an incredible day! The weather, the lack of wind, no injuries, three peaks (two that counted), and we climbed Washington…at last.
33 out of 67
