Mt. Washington

I had done Mt. Washington Summit on 6th Sep 2015 . It is located in New Hampshire.
Hike Location
Name: Mt. Washington
Total hiking distance: 9.5 miles(approx).
Altitude: 6288 ft.
States Crossed : Virginia, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts.
Hiking Experience: I started around 7:30 pm on 4th Sep from Richmond. Reached New York penn station around 2:30 am. Picked up one friend and went to Edison, NJ around 4:00 am. Woke up around 7:30 am, got ready, had breakfast and started around 10:25 am from NJ. Reached another friend's place in Connecticut around 12:30 pm. Had lunch at Connecticut and three of us left for our campsite(KOA) in New Hampshire around 1:50 pm. Reached campsite around 7:33 pm. We saw a small bear crossing the road while we are 20 mins from our destination. It was a clean campsite with no electric hookup, but had a fire pit for campfire and a wooden table to have food. Pitched our tent by 7:53 pm. The campground authorities ran out of firewood so we couldn't had campfire on that night. Went to Subway around 8:25 pm, had dinner . Collected water and other essentials for hike and started for campsite around 9:05 pm. Reached our tent around 9:25 pm. It was pitch dark near the campsite and surrounded by huge trees. We played cards and then slept around 12:30 am. On Sunday morning woke up around 5:30 am, got ready and started to Pinkham Notch Visitor(base of Mt Washington) around 6:25 am. Reached the base around 7:14 am. It as a very bright day with little cool breeze at the breeze. Took the map from the visitor center and then started the Summit around 7:28 pm.

The trail was wide, full of small pebbles and surrounded by huge Mountain terrain trees. It was steep all along the hike and the  slope increased as we hiked further. It was very sunny that day and due to shade of the trees had not felt the full heat. At one point the slope was around 55 degrees. We reached shelter after hiking for 2 miles, where we had light breakfast around 9:20 am. Started from shelter around 9:36 am. As we started we could see the top of the mountain through the tree gaps. It was splendid view and motivated us to hike with much enthusiasm. The trail was much steeper from here and has big rocks all along the path. Slowly trees started disappearing and exposed to the hot sun. At first we felt it was normal day when co hikers kept saying today weather is so good(whats good in this, it is pretty normal and sunny day). As we hiked further the rocks are very big and steep. It was almost 70 degrees and with hot sunshine the hike turned out tougher than expected.As we hiked further we came to a point which appeared to be the Summit from the shelter.Here comes the twist, once we reached the point we saw the sign board which says that Summit is another 0.6 miles to the right and that is when we could see the Summit point. It was very steep with huge rocks. At first it looked like a single huge rock with the highest point staring at us. Slowly we hiked towards the Summit and reached the top of the Mountain by 11:22 am. We have done it. Summit of Mt. Washington. Felt relief after the summit and all the hike. Being sunny day there were so many tourists on the top of the mountain. One can reach the mountain top by hike, road and rail route. Explored the mountain top. It has the top house, oldest building built on top of the mountain and it is bounded by chains so that it does not flew off during the gusty winds. It has Observatory Center. Had lunch at the top around 2:15 pm. Then decided to go by shuttle service to explore the road route as well. Started around 5:15 pm he shuttle. The road route was amazing. the view of the mountain valley was spectacular. Reached the Pinkham Notch(base) around 5:54 pm. Had snacks at Dunkin Donuts around 6:45 pm. We bought firewood on the way and reached our tent by 8:15 pm. We took the fire starter from the campsite officials and had campfire and cooked food for dinner. Had dinner around 10:10 pm and then went to tent, played cards until 12:30 am and slept.

Woke up around 5:30 am on Monday morning, decided to go to the mountain by road route in our car. We winded up tent and cleared everything at campsite and set off for Pinkham Notch around 7:00 am. We reached by 7:38 am.the gate to the road route opens around 8:00 am. The day was similar to sunday's with little cool breeze at the base. The route was very steep and lot of curves and could see the entire valley of the mountain on one side. As we drove further we could see fog and visibility was reducing. We could hardly see few meters ahead of us. We reached the top, parked the car in the dark windy fog. As soon as we stepped out of the car we could feel the fierce winds(60 miles per hour) and barely could see anything except for the fog. The wind was very chilly. Then we realized why people kept on saying weather was good on sunday. Had it been like this on Sunday it would have been much difficult to do the summit. We took few snaps at the top and then returned around 9:56 am. we reached Connecticut around 5:56 pm due to heavy traffic. Then left for NJ and reached friend's place around 8:41 pm. Had dinner and left for home around 9:40 pm. Reached home around 4:00 am. Overall it was fantastic experience the summit, the camping, the gusty winds. This was the first mountain summit and felt happy. All is well.

                           

Read More