Taking Flight

With school getting out two days ago, I was ready for a big hike, and I quickly decided it was going to be Mt Washington. I don't know exactly why I love Mt Washington so much, but it's definitely one of my favorite hikes. I think there's a couple factors there. First, Mt Washington is high payoff for not that much distance. It's not an easy hike, but it doesn't involve endless miles of trudging through the green tunnel, and I appreciate that. Second, on the Ammonoosuc Ravine side where I almost always hike from, Mt Washington has the Lakes of the Clouds hut as an intermediate stop, giving me a chance to assess conditions before I push for the summit. I had been monitoring the weather conditions all week, and it didn't look like there was going to be an ideal day for the hike. Still, Wednesday looked like the best option, and it was the day I had the most free time, so it was a good fit. The weather report on Mountain Weather Forecast lined up fairly well with t...

Right next to the Brien Shelter was a huge pile of rocks, or more accurately a huge pile of boulders. I had looked at it a few times, thinking that I was glad that I didn't have to climb it. That was dumb of me. I should have known that the AT always goes over the tallest thing it can find, and this was no exception. I was the first one up in the morning, some time before Badger and Beta. Thankfully, they were a good distance away from the shelter, so I wasn't worried about disturbing them. As usual, it took me forever to get going in the morning, and so Badger and Beta were out of camp a good amount of time before I was. Once I finally got packed up and moving, I was grateful that I only had to go ten miles instead of fifteen. I paused on top of the huge rock pile to take one last picture of the area around the shelter before I moved on. There were some pretty morning views, and I stopped for occasional pictures. After a while, I caught up with Badger and Beta and we began to ...

I was the first person awake on the morning of Day 4. I tried to start getting ready without waking Parched and Bass Clef, but they eventually woke up. I wanted to get a fairly early start on this day, because I knew it was going to be a tough day. The FarOut app said that it was going to be 14.4 miles and more than 3,700 feet of gain to the next shelter. Amazingly, there was no option for a stop in-between. The only choice was to push forward to Fingerboard, the next shelter. Unfortunately, Parched still wasn't feeling well. His stomach was still bothering him enough that he couldn't keep down much food. This left him unable to eat breakfast, and it was clear that he wasn't going to be able to hike very far without calories. Both because he didn't eat breakfast, and because he's just a faster packer than me, he got out quite a few minutes before I did despite the fact that I woke up first. When I left, I said goodbye to Bass Clef and told him that I would see him a...

I can't say that I was well rested upon waking up in the Appalachian Motel. The beds weren't comfortable and I didn't sleep especially well. That said, at least I was able to get a morning shower, which is always a plus. After Parched and I checked out, we went to the Crystal Cafe for breakfast. This place was an absolute winner. The service was quick and friendly, the food was delicious, the atmosphere was nice, and the prices were more than fair. I especially enjoyed the strawberry/banana smoothie that I had with my breakfast. Once that was finished, we drove towards the trailhead. The original plan was to start from the Wawayanda State Park headquarters, but Parched didn't like the fact that the place was gated and had hours. There was a concern that we might not be able to get out when we finished, or that we might not be able to leave a car overnight, so we ended up parking at a nearby roadside trailhead instead. The trailhead was a bit buggy, so I was more than ha...

I love east-facing shelters. There's nothing like sitting up in bed and looking right at the sunrise. Thankfully, Telephone Pioneers was an east-facing shelter. It brought back memories of Puffer Shelter on the Long Trail, which was similarly east-facing. It was a spectacular way to wake up. I took it easy getting going this morning. Parched told me that he wasn't going to be able to meet me until around 2 PM, and I figured that the morning hike would take me roughly 5 or 6 hours. Thus, I figured there was no need to rush out of camp before 7 AM, or I would just end up waiting. Thus, I took my time getting out of camp, and hiked relatively slowly (for me). It was a relatively chilly morning, and I appreciated that. The perfect hiking temperature is probably right around 55. A temperature of 45 can feel a little chilly, and 65 and above is definitely getting too warm for comfort, especially on uphills. I was feeling good, which was comforting considering that the day before I we...