Hiking Mount Washington

This is our third trip to White Mountains in New Hampshire. In July 2004 we wanted to climb Mount Washington, however we reached the National Forest in the afternoon, and couldn’t even get close to the parking lot because of heavy traffic. Instead, we hiked Mount Hedgehog. We hiked 2400 feet to the top of Hedgehog in about 8 hours round trip. It was good introduction to White Mountains, and it was highest we reached till that date.

In August 2006, we ventured again, this time we did little bit more research, but not enough. By the time we started hiking from ‘Pinkham Notch Visitor Center’ (PNVC), on Tuckerman Ravine’s Trail (TUX), it was close to afternoon. However, we were able to hike up to Hermit Lake Shelters (HLS), 1,800 feet, 2.4 miles. It probably took us about 4 hours to reach HLS and took Raymond Trail on the way back, which was more scenic, however, it was getting dark, and bit scary at times. One has to be really careful on the trail, you can easily get lost.

This time September 2008, our third trip to White Mountains, we successfully climbed Mount Washington by TUX in less than 6 hours that is 4300 feet and 4.2 miles.

Preparation:

We knew the temperatures on the summit are going to be in Low 50’s; therefore each of us got multiple layers to cover us (winter clothes). We had ponchos to protect us from rain. We put our hiking shoes away, and used our running sneakers instead. We had two hiking poles for each of us. Finally, we packed food, plenty of it. We packed about 3 liters of liquid for each of us which includes water and Gatorade. We packed buns, cheese, varieties of dipping, and potato chips. We also packed food for the morning, bagels and cream cheese.

Arrival:

We started from home at 4:00am and reached PNVC at about 7:15AM. We had our breakfast, cold bagels (that were toasted in the morning at home) with cream cheese, and it was quite a filling. We stopped by visitor center to buy a map and ask few last minute questions. The person who answered our questions, suggested us to go up via Lion’s Head Trail (LHT), which he said would be easier to climb, would have better views and we could use to TUX to get down, that would be less difficult compare to LHT.

Hiking:
We took a group pictures and started our hike at 8:05AM. The TUX gets steep really quick; I had to take more breaks, than my brother and my nephew, both who are physically better shape than me. In less than 2 hours we reached Hermit Lake Shelters (HLS) where the trail split. Without pondering much we took LHT. 

We quickly realized, even though this route is more scenic and much more difficult too. We were bit scared and didn’t know

 what more to expect on LHT, but our fellow hiker’s assured us that it can’t be anymore difficult than what we went through thus far.

Certainly the trail looked more difficult than what it really is. 

However, we have to be really careful, any careless step would not only will cause injuries, it would be REALLY would be difficult to get down or go up, in a sense you would get stuck. 

We packed our hiking poles, and literally started to crawl, tried to be closer to the ground. Couples of things to point here, even though it was scary for us, many of the hikers around us were climbing without much of difficulty or worry. In fact, we came across hiker who was coming down on LHT, with two hand crutches. There were 10 to 13 year old Kids going up and down the mountain along with their parents like a breeze.

At one place on LHT, we came across huge boulder and all hikers have to get over this boulder, and otherwise you won’t be able to continue your hiking. 

There was a young couple, ahead of us trying to get over this boulder. The young lady managed to climb-up the rock and go to the other side of it very easily. However, the young fellow was having trouble climbing over it. Even though he was smiling, he was scared and you could see it in his face. My brother and nephew went behind him to lend him a hand. They advised him to crawl over the rock, instead of trying to walk over the boulder. With that advised, he was able to crawl out of the situation and he was quite happy.

The time cam for us to maneuver around the boulder. My nephew was able to cross the boulder without much effort (his height could have helped him a bit). Now, it's my turn; I noticed couple of small holes to just left of the boulder. My brother gave me little push and I was up the boulder and crawled out easily. My brother managed to do the same after me. There were more than couple of places like these on LHT.

It took us about 2 hours to climb last 1 mile, because of terrain we had to watch each step carefully (also because of lack of fitness on my part).

In the last half hour stretch we could hear Cogway whistles. As you can see in the pictures, rock piles show the path we should follow. In the last stretch I was really tired and we started aiming for rock piles and taking break at each one of them. 

This part of the trail also where we faced most amount of traffic, probably for more than couple of reasons. One, this is the only way to get up to the summit for all the trails that were around. Second, by this time of the crowds built-up on the trails, people were not just going up, they started to turn back quick, as it was really chilly on the top of the summit, 50F. We were also surprised to see dogs 

on this part of the trail, without leash.

On the Summit, at last!
After almost 6 hours of hiking we reached the summit, and we quickly made reservation for our ride to get us down, $30/head (excluding tip, the cashier insisted). Then we were on our way to cafe, as expected the place was fully crowded and it was peak hour of the lunch. 

We managed to find a table after few minutes of scouting. There were long lines at the rest rooms. I wanted to wash my hands and face, but that had to wait until we got down. We eagerly ate-up sandwich bungs with cheese and dip. We also have plenty of liquid left over, therefore we didn't have to wait in the lines to get any thing from the food counter. We shared our table with a family that is recently moved from Mass to NH and the mother of the two young kids said she loves the place. She is also very enthusiastic about politics and wasted no time to sharing her thoughts and support of Presidential Candidate Ron Paul. 

We drove 3 hours, and reached home by 7:00pm exausted, but we were full of exuberance and great sense of achivement.