Reminiscence of My Trip Up Mount Washington

Warning: This post is long! This is a recollection of my 4-day hiking trip written on my 20-hour flight back to Hong Kong.

Some brief background info on Mt. Washington:

• The highest peak in the American Northeast at 1,917m.
  
• Holds the record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth's surface, at 372 km/h on the afternoon of April 12, 1934.
• Home of the worst weather. This is partly due to the convergence of several storm tracks, mainly from the South Atlantic, Gulf region, and Pacific Northwest.
• http://www.outdoors.org/recreation/hiking/hiking-mtwashington.cfm

Day 1

The first day of our hiking trip commenced when we set off for the outdoors store in Reading. We had to buy a sleeping bag because Jim got the wrong size the other day at REI. We anticipated an empty store just opening at 10am, yet it was full of people for their Labour Day sale. We took a look at the sale items but there was nothing impressive. I still ended up buying a set of long underwear because I didn’t have anything to keep my legs warm and Jim thought I would need them. It proved to be a very wise move!

We got out of the store and continued with our three-hour drive to New Hampshire. We could’ve flown in, but if the weather on the day of our departure was bad then we would be stuck. Besides, the unpacking and packing of the plane plus travel time to and from the airport would add up to become unfavourable to us.

We arrived at the Mount Washington Pinkham Notch Visitor Centre (approximately 620m) at around 1:30pm. We registered with the Centre, asked for information and instructions, and we started packing. Err… yes… we started packing at the Pinkham Notch Visitor Centre. And by “started packing”, I mean we started cutting tags off the sleeping bag, taking away the “sale” sign from the backpack, using the knife for the first time to cut things only to find out that it sucked, disposing of the packaging of the MSR stove and water filter, and more… I couldn’t help but to wonder why I stayed up late the night before trying to pack… ;-)

I think we finally started our journey at around 2:30pm. We were only going to hike a vertical of 549m over 3.9km up to our first stop, the Hermit Lake Shelters, along the Tuckerman Ravine Trail. The hike up was very nice. It was a hike in the forest with a well-maintained and wide trail. The whole time we were hiking in the shade. I have to say I haven’t been under such tall trees for a long time. It’s a good feeling to be back in the woods. It was a rocky trail but it wasn’t steep (yet!). As we went up, we met a lot of people coming down as it was the end of their Labour Day long weekend.

We arrived at our shelter at around 5pm and we started cooking. We had corned beef and Hamburger Helper for dinner, in addition to the two fresh corns we bought enroute. Our corned beef helper turned out pretty good (yes, food always tastes better at the campsite – don’t try this at home!). The steamed fresh corns were delicious! And I learned that those corns were not GM’d…

We started our hike in t-shirts and shorts. As the night neared, wind started to pick up and the temperature was going down. I started to put on all clothing I had available with me: my newly purchased long underwear, fleece, shell, headband, and gloves. I also zipped up my long pants and borrowed a warmer pair of socks. It’s quite amazing how rapidly the weather changed. And we were only at around 1,173m.

The lake by our hut was nice, but small. And we couldn’t get close to it. We ended up slipping into our sleeping bags pretty early, at around 8pm. Jim’s -9C 800 down bag looked alluringly lofty and toasty. I had to take in his fleece to recreate a similar effect, nearly. I swear that night was below 10C. I was wearing all clothing available in my 15C bag and I was still freezing. The sky was clear and our neighbouring chipmunks and squirrels kept us company as we fell asleep, albeit the strong wind remained strong all night…

Day 2

The wind didn’t die down, and the temperature didn’t rise. I was still freezing when I got up. How different was the weather from the previous morning! The clouds were thick, too. I was reluctant to get out of my bag, but I got out eventually. While Jim was preparing breakfast, I sneaked into his bag. Gosh I hate him… We had instant oatmeal for breakfast. I also made some Starbucks Tazo green tea for the morning. The tea tasted weirdly pleasant. It reminded me of the mint tea I had in Yunnan, also during a hiking trip up the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

We continued with our hike along the Tuckerman Ravine Trail at around 9am. It was windy as before, but the sky started to clear up. We also started to leave the forest and were exposed directly to the wind and the sun. The hike gradually became steeper and we were walking on bare rocks, meaning our feet almost never landed on flat ground, but on ridges or tilted rock surfaces. I was wearing my Salomon trail runners with a soft outsole so it was a bit tiring for me. But with the lighter shoes and low ankles, I was able to manoeuvre better. Very soon into our hike, we had passed the tree line. There were only shrubs around us, leading us to a better view of the sky and the view around us. It was a beautiful day. We could see the White Mountains as well as the Green Mountains. It was quite incredible to be up high, overseeing mountains after mountains. It would definitely be more dazzling if there were other water bodies in sight.

I would have to say that the hike up wasn’t particularly hard on our cardio, except for one vertical headwall with giant steps. But even so, it was harder on my quads than on my cardio. The wind was also being antagonistic. The gusts kept blowing me away. There were numerous times when I took one foot up, ready to make a step, the gust would blow at me throwing me off balance. I could understand why Mt. Washington was not to be taken lightly despite it being slightly shy of 2000m. Bad weather could come in rapidly and you would be completely exposed, with nowhere for shelter. No wonder Mt. Washington could have more adverse weather than Mt. Everest and no wonder so many deaths had occurred (though along a different trail, coming down).

After getting on all fours at the vertical wall, the trail once again became flatter and there were cairns marking the path. There were almost no more shrubs in sight by now. We could see the observatory at the summit. It seemed so close, yet it was far. Every time we thought we were almost there, we were taken to another slope. The wind was unforgiving at this point. We had to take out our shell and hood to block the wind. Each step we took was a battle against the wind as well as gravity. Nothing was more rewarding than turning around and looking at the mountainous backdrop with the blue sky.

The final steps to the summit were pleasantly easy. The wind was blowing directly behind us, helping us to the summit effortlessly. I would have to say that once we got to the summit, it had lost its mysterious colours. The summit became a tourist attraction. There were trains and shuttle buses transferring tourists up to the summit. There was even a Visitor Centre and cafeteria. Oh well. We’ve made it up to the top on foot with our thirty pounders. That’s 1,917m with gusts at 117km/h! The temperature was about 0C without wind chill and -6C with.

We gave in to the hot and ready made food at the cafeteria. We both ordered a bowl of chilli and a cup of hot chocolate. We rested for a bit and started our journey down to the Lakes of the Clouds Lodge at 1,528m, where we would be spending the second night in. We started our descent at around 2pm. The descent offered us great opportunities to the incredible view of the mountains and the sky. The white clouds were beautiful.

We arrived at the Lodge at 3pm. The Lodge was partially powered by a windmill, solar pads, and propane. There were two little lakes by the Lodge. Both had clear water that, surprisingly, wasn’t very cold. We decided to spend the rest of our afternoon at the Lodge, instead of going out again for some short day hikes. We marked our bunk beds and spent the rest of the afternoon indoors in the sun. Dinner was served at 6pm and we had cream of corn, salad, vegetarian lasagne, and chocolate cake. After dinner, Jim and I played two games of Jenga and one game of Scrabble – all of which I had won! Jim now owed me three ice creams… =) Lights out at 9:30pm. We headed to our beds. I stood by the window and stared at the sky for a while. The sky was very clear and the stars were very bright. What a beautiful night sky. Too bad I was indoors. I finally crawled into my sleeping bag on my bed and called it a night.

Day 3

We woke up at 6:30am. I couldn’t believe I needed two blankets over my sleeping bag in order to keep myself warm. I promised myself that next time I went camping outside HK, I would definitely treat myself to a warm and fluffy down bag! Breakfast was served at 7am. We had cream of wheat with granola, fried eggs, and donuts. Then we headed back to the room to pack our bags. Gosh, there I was packing all the uneaten food back into my bag. We originally planned on cooking each of our meals. We ended up having someone else prepare food for us for 3 meals now! I shouldn’t have volunteered to carry all that food… Now my pack wasn’t getting any lighter… Grrr…

We started our second phase of the descent at 8:30am. We thought we would get back to the car at 2pm at the latest. Boy, were we wrong. We should have known by now. We were always behind schedule. =)

The hike started off even colder and windier than the previous day. Maybe it was real; maybe we were spoiled having spent a night indoors. We were hiking down the Great Gulf Trail and then to the Glen Boulder Trail this time. It was slightly longer to take this path, but it was the flattest of all trails. We hiked along the ridge and the view was splendid. The vegetation was very different on this side of the mountain. There was long, brown grass all along above the tree line. The rest would be boulders and cairns. Jim commented that Northern Scotland would probably look just like that. The colours were a bit depressing, though. Somewhere along the trail, Jim lost his Oakley’s sunglasses. It’s a pity. But I think Jim just had too much coffee that morning… ;-)

It was a long and gruelling hike down. We just kept going down and down, boulder after boulder. Vegetation started to turn green. Trees started to appear again, and we started taking off our shells and gloves again. My quads, however, were tiring quickly. I started off bouncing around, quickly pacing through the boulders. As the boulders got bigger and bigger, my quads couldn’t hold the weight of my body and my pack much longer. After we passed “the” boulder, my legs were getting quite weak. I had to eventually take the hiking pole from Jim to help me continue with my hike down.

By the time we finally got back to the car, it was 4pm. We signed off at the Visitor Centre and collected some info for our next hike… supposedly a flat and scenic hike along the river to our next campsite. We wanted to have our fourth consecutive prepared meal at the cafeteria, but it was closed. We decided to drive to the nearby Gorham to have a late lunch at Subway. Then we decided we had to celebrate our summit at our campsite that night, so we bought a bottle of red wine. As Jim and I were both exhausted from the hike down, we made a decision: we were going car camping instead for the night! We got excited again and started going shopping. Damn it… More leftover food uneaten… We first drove to the campground and found a campsite by the river and had our tent pitched there. Then we drove back to town and bought four more bottles of beer, cheddar cheese, a steak, a red pepper, portabella mushrooms, and firewood. Now, things were really getting interesting. =)

First was the beer… Then Jim managed to start a nice fire with only two matches. Another beer for him. Cheese... wine… fire… embers… stars… wine… cheese… steak… wine… mushrooms… peppers… fire… wine… fire…

Hmm…

My next recollection of the night was I struggled to sit up from lying on the ground next to the fire. I remember Jim saying something like “you’ve been laying there the past hour”. Hmm dizzy. Back on the ground. Gave back some to mother Earth. Somehow I got in the tent…

Day 4

I felt awful half the day. I got up at around 7am and came out of the tent to sit at the bench. I felt dizzy and sick. I didn’t want to move or do anything. Later on, Jim boiled some water for me so I could make my broccoli and cheddar soup. I only had about ten spoonfuls before I could no longer swallow it anymore. I was quite dysfunctional the whole morning and Jim pretty much cleaned up everything for us – much appreciated.

We drove off. Not long after we started driving, I felt sick and threw up. I slept in the car for a bit, got up, and felt sick again. It must’ve been Jim’s driving. =P Just joking. Jim drove fine and flew fine. We had lunch enroute at a restaurant by the lake. Jim had his usual clam chowder and lobster roll. I really didn’t have an appetite so I only ordered a hot chocolate. After that meal, I felt so much better. We then went to REI to return the other sleeping bag that Jim bought which was the “long” size. I gave it one last hug and let go.

We went to Kelly's Kream to cash in my first ice cream. I ordered a small chocolate soft served ice cream, but it was still enormous! Jim had vanilla with some topping. We had to race against time to finish the cone before it dripped all over. The sea gulls sure had their eyes on us. The ice cream was really creamy and chocolaty. But it was simply too big for me. I just couldn’t finish it. We then went to Jim’s place where I met his parents and had a shower to clean off my dust-covered and majorly wind-chapped face. It felt good to have clean hair again. It took me some time to finally have my hair under control. I hate long hair… I should definitely get rid of it before I go to Bali in two weeks.

We went to a nearby cinema to watch the Simpsons movie at 6:40pm. It was pretty funny and there were only like 6 people in the whole cinema. We then had Mexican food for dinner and afterwards we set off for Marlboro for the meeting at the Egenera headquarters the following morning. I could tell that Jim was really tired by the time we got to the hotel. "Of course! I didn't have three hours to sleep in the car!" Grr... I was just trying to be sensitive... We checked in and got to our own rooms and we probably both passed out pretty quickly. I know I did.

Our four days had thus concluded.