270 Pages
8.5" x 8.5"
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Excerpt – Chapter 19
Climbing Mt. Washington:
On Wednesday, August 26th, I began my day-and-a-half assent on Mt. Washington which is the highest mountain in the northeast at 6,288 feet and the weather is perhaps the most undependable and dangerous of any place on the AT with severe changes that can occur without notice within minutes. Normal weather reports are useless since the mountains make up their own weather patterns. Winds are always high with the highest recorded wind speed of 231 mph recorded in 1934. All hikers are warned to turn back at the first signs of bad weather as there are no places to seek shelter and no quick ways of getting off the mountain. Many hikers have died on the mountain!
The climb out of Crawford Gap is steep (2,700 feet in four miles) and often is along a ledge where the views are almost straight down to the magnificent valleys below. Again Judy made the following notes after talking with me: “Terrain was steep and straight up, starting with the Webster Cliffs at 3,250 ft.; then on to Mt. Webster; 3,910 ft.; Mt. Jackson, 4,052 ft.; Mt. Pierce, 4,312 ft.; and Mt. Franklin, 5,004 ft. All of these mountains are leading up to the tallest, Mt. Washington. As he climbs, the temperatures are getting cooler and 60% chance of rain. His feet are doing much better with the new boots, but with all the rocks and boulders it makes your steps uneven and hiking difficult. Finished the day with 11.5 rough miles and sore legs. Camped 1.9 miles from the top of Mt. Washington at Lakes of the Clouds Hut.” …
I was up well before daylight by about 4:00 and was met with a fantastic view of the mountains, sky and stars of the dawning morning. It appeared it would be a beautiful, clear but cool morning for my final ascent on Mr. Washington and for the rest of the day (wrong!!). I had decided to eat breakfast on the top of the mountain so with just 1.9 miles to climb I began my hike. Stepping from rock to rock with a head-lamp to see by isn’t the best but the skyline was beginning to turn various shades of orange and then red as the sun was coming up and I was greeted with a sunrise where the sun came up directly behind Mr. Washington from where I was hiking. A glorious and magnificent sight promising a wonderful day on the top of the world!
I had momentarily forgotten the warnings that the weather can and will change drastically within minutes on the mountain. And it did change because simultaneously with my topping the mountain the fog rolled in like a curtain shutting down all visibility more than forty feet away. The winds were steady at 30 mph with gusts nearing 50 mph and the temperatures at about 40 degrees and dropping rapidly. It definitely was a milestone in my hike and an emotional one too, but it came with the price of bone-chilling winds and poor visibility. I was already wearing double clothes, an all-weather jacket, heavy gloves and a ski mask covering my entire head and face but the chill and wind came through everything I was wearing. …
After a bit of rest I stepped back into the cold wonderland and began my trek down Mt. Washington. Again the fog was very heavy and the wind was hollowing and the terrain treacherous and steep (so what else is new in the Whites I was discovering??), and the Trail difficult at times to see, as it isn’t a well-defined trail but rather "Cairns" or rocks stacked in a pyramid every 20 to 100 yards to mark the trail. Occasionally the fog would roll out long enough to catch a glimpse of God’s majesty of one mountain range cascading one behind the other that seemed to reach forever. Six miles later...