Top of the Tip-Top Gift
Coming down Monroe looking over to Washington
I have been scouring the Mount Washington Observatory higher summits forecast for the last month to tackle Mount Washington. It had been freezing cold and heavy winds but on Wednesday it showed 30 degrees with no clouds and winds were below 30 mph. So, with some normal mental toiling I decided to shoot for it… the moon if you ask me.
Washington has been burning in my brain since I started down this journey is something that I just had to do in the context of the 48 4000-footers or in any other capacity. What didn’t cross my mind was doing it in winter. I have been seeing videos and pictures of hikers and I told myself that I had to see it for myself. I have read too many books and heard too many stories of unfortunate events due to the extreme weather on Washington. I did my homework and watched the weather to remove as much risk as possible. I have seen gale force winds on the Presidentials and its really scary… getting off trail is my real fear. Towards the ascent of Washington its treeless and vast openness and I was following two other guys and noticed I was off trail. It’s all windblown and hard snow so there are spots without footprints. All the cairns marking the trail are completely covered in ice and misshapen because of that so I could not tell a cairn from a large rock or some other landscape feature. Luckily, the day was full visibility, and I could see for miles, so I knew the direction to go towards the top, so it wasn’t a big deal. However, I can certainly see how hikers get lost with limited visibility very easily.
Ammo trail before it gets really steep
I hiked up Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail where the Cog Railroad goes to the top. The trail was a nice walk in the woods for the first mile and a half but then just went up at a 45-degree angle for a mile more. I got into a groove with my pace and footwork and was feeling good about it. At 4000 feet elevation you start to get windows looking up to Washington and back west towards Bretton Woods. Then you break treeline at about 4700 feet elevation and hike up to Lakes of the Clouds Hut and, wow, it is like a different planet. All white and its a large vastness beyond imagination. I put my backpack down, ate some snacks, put on sunglasses from the snow blindness, and talked to some cool people. Everyone was smiling and commenting on what a weather treat today turned out to be... to which I felt grateful.
Last bit up to the Hut where it started to really open up
I left my pack at the hut and took the quick .6 miles right hand turn up to Mount Monroe for my 26th 4000-footer. I took some pictures for the 3 people and 1 dog then jaunted back down to the hut. I wanted to stay a while at the hut and hang out, but my adrenaline was high, and I had a job to do. The one job I was afraid of completing needed to be tackled. Incidentally, I figured out the trick to hiking - just keep going. Sounds silly but if the difference between accomplishing the task and not is pushing yourself physically then just tell yourself to keep going.
From the hut the left turn onto Crawford Path towards Washington is a mile of solid elevation and then another mile of extreme elevation. To put in perspective to get to the elevation at the hut is what most 4000 footers I have done so far, and now I need to climb another 2200 more feet. Double the length and height as, say, Tecumseh. By this time, I could see 360 degrees from Mt Mansfield in Vermont to the west and Mt Khatadin in Maine to the east. There were 25-30 people out during the time I was ascending and would stop to talk with them as we passed each other. There are some really cool hikers out there and they all were just trying to soak it all in with heads high twisting about rather than 'head-down feet-moving' scenarios. The last mile was absolutely brutal, and I would end up taking a 10 second break sometimes every 100 feet. Recovery is really hard after a day like today, but I tried to slow my pace hiking and my breathing. I would make games in my head like I just need to stay in front of the guy behind me - to which I did, and he got to the summit sign a minute after me and we congratulated each other knowing we both witnessed the effort firsthand from each other. I thought it would be emotional about reaching the pinnacle of the 48 4000-footer hikes, but I just felt proud more than anything. I did it!
As usual I did not spend too much time at the summit. I walked over to the summit observatory to which I found myself on the webcam on the MWOB website the day after which was kind of cool. I talked to some folks about which decent they were doing and decided against going down Jewell Trail which is longer and instead hiking down alongside the Cog railway straight down. The cog is rather boring way down, but I filled my bucket already from the hike today and could use some steady decent. There were a bunch of people hiking up the Cog trail to ski down which was not something I ever considered.
Coming down Gulfside trail
I followed the older couple who I first saw at the hut then passed on Monroe and were slightly ahead of me at the summit of Washington. There was a tricky icy spot that we needed to do under the cog railway which provided better trail. I stood and watched them trying to get past this spot to which he looked up at me as she was bickering and I just smiled, he smiled back and with no words exchanged knew what we were thinking. I decided to slide down to the next section as they were still struggling and getting past them was the best next option for me. I put my foot up, stopped myself on the wooden structure and yelled "feet up like Ty Cobb" like I did on another hike. And down I went to leave them without a witness.
The cog railroad was parked a quarter the way up and 20 or so tourists were outside taking pictures. An older guy waved me down and asked a bunch of questions but really just wanted to brag that one time he skied Tuckerman's Ravine which was ironic since he took the train to where he was today, and I hiked it. I really thought that I wanted to do the hike in the winter so I would not have to be around all those people who took the Cog or drove their cars up to the top. I was not going to wait in line behind those people for an hour to take a picture of the summit sign. As someone who got there the hard way it would be a little difficult to witness. When the train went down it passed by me only slightly faster than I was walking, and I looked over and several people waved to me to which I waved back. It felt a little bit like I it was a Disney ride, and I was the forest animal they saw out in the wild which was surreal. I walked along the base road back to my car and marveled in the day - it really was a gift.
Date
March 10th 2021
Distance
8.79 miles
Elevation Gain
3,996 feet
All Trails
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