Northeast Journeys
Northeast 111 Journey
#10 Mount Washington, White mountains NH
Once again me and my best friend linked up to tackle something new. This time it was not in the Adirondacks but rather NH. We decided to attempt(knowing very well we would turn back if we were unable to summit) Mt Washington. Mt Washington, I’ve heard so many stories, stories or prosperity and stories of death.
This would be my first time in New Hampshire ever and my 10th peak over 4000 FT. I had finished my long shift at work and we had begun our long 4.5 hour drive to Joe Dodge lodge. We got checked in around 10pm and we settled into our hotel room. We sorted out our gear and our route and went to bed shortly after. After about 4 or 5 hours of sleep we woke up and got our gear together, dropped some stuff at the car and headed out to the trail register.
Our plan was to summit via Lion head. We started out very early in the morning in pitch black with only our headlights shining the way. As we heading on the trail we were guided only by the lights of our headlamps as we continued our path via Tuckerman ravine path. As the the sun was slowly peaking out we had hit the junction to lionhead. From here on out the real adventure began. As we gained elevation the rolling clouds were becoming bigger with the light starting to illuminate the area. We made it above tree line. It was quite cloud, but seeing the rolling clouds was a spectacular sight. We continued on toward tree line. It was such a tremendous feeling being above treeline with the clouds so close and the sky so clear. . We were stopped in our tracks in awe by Mount Washington peaking out through the clouds right in front of our face.
As we gained elevation we saw snow which was a pleasant sight. We were the only tracks so we were very excited to be the first ones up that day. We continue to trek on step by step until we were able to see signs of the summit, ie the top and the parking lot. It was extremely foggy. It was silent on the summit besides the howling of the wind. We navigated to the summit marker, we were thrilled and pretty happy to have finally set foot on mount washington(attempting winter presidential traverse this winter 2018).
We grabbed our pictures and continued onwards to explore for a bit on the other side. We were met with full winter conditions. After practicing some self arrest for a bit we had decided to turn around and head back to Washington and head down. When we made it back to the summit all of the clouds had settled and it was blue bird sky. We headed down the same we came passing many groups. When we finally got down to the car and completed our hike we were pretty happy. As we were driving away, I had realized the first time I had seen Mount Washington was from the top as when we had driven up it was in pitch black.
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