Hiking Mt. Washington

tuck·er - to weary; tire; exhaust (often followed by out)

During a Spring visit to Joanna and Seth's home in Vermont, I was determined to hike the high points of New Hampshire and Vermont, Mt. Washington and Mt. Mansfield, respectively. I had nearly accomplished the daunting Mt. Washington on a prior backpacking trip, but ran out of time.

Two years previous, I stood on nearby Mt. Jefferson, another peak in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, and gazed at Washington's summit in the warm sunshine. I could just make out the weather station with its various antennas pointing to the sky. From this point, hiking there and back would take four hours, plus the 2-hour hike back to the tent site.

The sun was shining and the temperature high with a mild breeze--two unusual weather conditions for the Washington Summit, which is notorious for tumultuous winds and rain, sleet, or snow and freezing temperatures (the summit buildings are chained to the mountain). As I stood contemplating, Presi Traverse peakbaggers (courageous individuals who summit all the Presidential Range in one day, some 8 summits) were passing me by, enthusiastic to summit Washington, the highest and crowning glory of the White Mountains! But realistically I figured 6 more hours of hiking would be too fatiguing on top of what I had already done that day. I reluctantly gave up the idea and turned back.

So in the Spring of this year I set my sights on Washington again. I planned to do it alone, thinking no one else would really want to torture themselves with the 2 1/2 to 3 hour climb in weather like a violent mood swing. But my friend Ann from Maine was immediately interested and Mike wanted to come along too. We chose a day and I traveled to Vermont to be with Joanna and Seth. As the day drew near, the weather looked ominous, so we changed the summit day to Saturday. Joanna announced that she would go too, now that it was a non-work day. Then when Seth got home from work, he and Thunder wanted to come!

So my solo Mt. Washington hike turned into a summitting team of five people and a dog! I guess a mountain peak known as "Home of the World's Worst Weather" and holding the record for the highest wind gust ever recorded (231 mph) has its own allure! Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft and famous for its dangerously erratic weather.

Friday afternoon, Joanna and I checked the weather on the summit. Thunderstorms and 46 degrees with 26 mph winds. Yeah, Mike made a good call on the weather! Saturday said breezy and warmer with actual sun. After Joanna closed her laptop, we packed up the last of our gear and started out.

Driving through the Green Mountains and then into the White Mountains is heaven on earth pretty. Then when the mighty Washington looms on the horizon, you know you are there. You can see the tops of the other mountains. But Washington sits grandly on its base with its summit disappearing into swirling mist and clouds.

We met Ann and Mike for dinner and then all hit the sack early for our 530 am morning alarm. The next day we got some coffee and a little breakfast in us, and then drove to the Tuckerman's Ravine trail head to gear up. Last minute check of the weather and we were off!

We chose Tuckerman's Ravine for our ascent, but we found it was partly closed due to snow melt which caused hazardous conditions: melting ice bridges and slippery paths. But we could start out on Tuckerman's and then the Lion Head trail would take us on a detour around the danger zone and later reconnect with Tuckerman's. Mileage would remain the same: 4 miles to the summit. Easy.

The first two miles were not hard. A broad though very rocky trail climbed relentlessly uphill. Once you got used to sweating, having an accelerated heart beat, breathing fast but steady, and you had stopped once to get your bug dope out to defend yourself against the proliferous and aggressive black flies, we all made steady progress. Thunder joyously ran about and did 4 miles to our two.

Then came The Lion's Head. The trail was narrower, steeper, and began to have great views. If you could tear your attention away from the even steeper parts ahead, and the fact that the trail started going straight up and over boulders and rocks, you could stop and turn around to look at your amazing progress and the beautiful valley stretched out below because we were almost above treeline!

After getting through the rocky climbs where you would get not much further laterally, but 10 feet higher, the trail evened out a bit. Persistently up, but more gradually the trail continued through scrubby trees and low plants covering the rocky trail. Then ahead I spied this huge outcropping. It looked exactly like the profile of a lion! Now I knew where the name of the trail came from. And as I hiked ever up and closer, I saw Thunder standing in majesty on top of the huge rock, looking exactly like a lion looking out over his kingdom and sniffing the breeze.

 This is Seth on Lion Head rock.










We took a break under the lion's head. Water, power bars, trail mix, and dog food for Thunder.

Morale is still high. Thunder's sniffing the air and looking out over his new kingdom.

Ann and I are enjoying the hike. Last time we hiked a big mountain together was Katahdin in Maine. It had been too long!

Time to move on! We are ready to move up over the head wall and ascend the cone of the mountaintop. The clouds are moving in and we can no longer see the valley.

I was in the lead when I climbed over the head wall with Thunder. The wind struck at me with a cold force that took my breath away. My immediate thought was that I couldn't hike in this weather! But I quickly acclimated and it became very invigorating. The trail now was flat rocks winding along gorse and other alpine low shrubbery with little rivulets of water running through. Thunder knew the way and I let him go.

This is Tuckerman's Ravine, the part we detoured around. It is a glacial cirque, sloping eastward on the southeast face of the mountain and draws hikers throughout the year, and skiers throughout the winter. It is best known for the many "spring skiers" who ascend it on foot and ski down the steep slope from early April into July. Yeah, I'm up for that.

Shortly we regained the the Tuckerman trail and the sign post read .8 miles to the summit. Piece of cake.

Too quickly things got very vertical. We were on the cone and somewhat protected from the wind. The layers we had pulled on began to be hot and I had to take frequent small breathing breaks. I was not so invigorated.

After periods of very steep hiking when we thought we really had covered some ground, the sign post read .6 to the summit! The really disappointing one was when I was sure we were nearly there! We had to be, we had been hiking a good long while STRAIGHT up when the next post came into view: .4 miles to the summit. Good Lord! This summit doesn't give itself up easily.

.2 miles to the summit. Bloody hell! I made myself feel better by reasoning that at least the last .1 mile was through the more level parking lot and up to the sign post that marked the summit. I knew because I had driven to the top some years ago.




Finally, we started hearing voices and car engines. Hooray! I was never so overjoyed to see cars and people on a summit I had just climbed. At first I saw car tires rolling by a little above eye level, which felt odd. But then we were up and over and walking through the parking lot and to the summit.

We're so proud of Thunder! He's proud of us too.

On Mt. Washington the weather flies by as though you are traveling in an airplane. You look down on cloud layers and those that are level with the summit literally whip past you. One moment you can see a little valley view and the next second it's all obliterated with a big gust of air.

They have an auto toll road and a cog railway so that everyone can come up.

The Tip Top House - The historic and former hotel atop Mt. Washington. It is the oldest surviving building on the summit and believed to be the oldest extant mountain-top hostelry in the world. It was the only summit building to survive the great fire of 1908. It currently features exhibits concerning the mountain's history.

This is the second Summit House (1915) replacing the original which perished in the fire. Here is an ad describing the hotel:

"The Summit House is a long, plain, three-story structure of wood, solidly bound down to the ledges, and adequate to the accommodation of 150 guests. Two steam-heated stories are for sleeping-rooms, and no guest can control the steam in his room, which is continually circulating through the entire heating system. Guests on retiring are furnished candles, of the good old honest non-explosive variety. The lowest story contains parlors, a large
dining-room, the hotel office, containing also a telegraph and post-office, a bric-a-brac counter, and in the center a great generously-filled coal stove, which usually draws within its influence most of the visitors to the summit."

This description begs the question that as a guest in a hotel in those days, what would you be furnished as opposed to the good old honest non-explosive variety of candle?

Perhaps it was the type of candle that was furnished to guests of the previous hotel. You know. The one that started the great fire of 1908.

This is the Yankee Summit Building with some transmitting towers behind it.

Nearby is the large Sherman Adams Summit Building where we got in out of the wind to eat our packed lunches. It is the site of the Mount Washington Weather Observatory which has "occupied" the summit year-round since 1932. It is also the headquarters of the Mt. Washington State Park. It has a cafeteria, gift shop, public restrooms, Post Office, and a first aid room. It is a crowded place in summer with people flooding in from the auto toll road and the cog railway.

Joanna and Seth had to picnic outside, though, in a sheltered sunny area because Thunder was not allowed in. Seth came in to say that Joanna did not want to hike down the way we came.  She was tuckered out.

"Well what does she want to do?" I asked. "If she takes the cog railway, she will end up on a different side of the mountain than where we are parked. We'd have to go get her."

Seth said she was thinking of walking down the Auto Toll Road if someone would go with her. I told Seth to go find out how long it was. If it was 10 miles or so, I wasn't interested. When he came back, he replied that it was 8 miles long. I grinned at him. That's still too long! Both Mike and Ann shook their heads. Mike was only interested in hiking back down a trail and Ann thought 4 miles of rugged trail was better than 8 miles of road.

So what did I do? You guessed it. I walked down the 8 miles with my darling daughter. The way was certainly easier and more sure-footed and we could move quickly. Joanna was a happy camper. See her grinning?

AND, we had these sweeping views all the way down!

I gazed over at Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Adams where I had stood two years before yearning to finish my hike to Washington. Now I had finally completed it.

We got down lickety split, though it was a long way and my legs were beginning to go numb. Also, at about 2,000 feet the black flies came back out with a vengeance!

We rewarded ourselves with ice cream sandwiches in this handy little Auto Toll Road gift shop complete with front porch seating under a shady porch. It was hot in the valley!

Was Thunder tuckered out! He hopped in the car and stayed asleep all the way home. (When we arrived home he wouldn't even jump out because his legs were so sore.)

Back to the trail head, our car, and a cold one to celebrate. My first high point of the year. Thanks to Mike & Ann, Joanna & Seth, and Thunder for being worthy and fun companions.

Joanna and Thunder were both tuckered out, as were all the rest of us. Perhaps that is where they got the name for the infamous ravine beneath the noble Washington summit: Tuckerman's Ravine!