After my Appalachian trial hike, I wanted to do a one day hike, but something that’s more than just a hike, I needed a little bit of a challenge. Because, why not? Everyone can do the easy stuff 🙂

I decided to hike up Mt Washington for a couple of reasons. It is the highest mountain in the 30-mile-long Presidential Range, the White Mountains, and New England; and the 18th highest US state high point. It is also known as “Home of the World’s Worst Weather”. I mean, how do you NOT want to??

A quick Google search later, and I know that there are several ways up the mountain, and on average, it should take about 8 hours up and down the mountain. Perfect.

Since it’s a day trip, there’s not much planning to do, I need a small backpack, some water and an extra layer or two for in case the mountain decides to live up to it’s reputation.

I have planned on hiking Sunday and headed out to Mount Washington State Park on Saturday after spending Friday night in Boston.  Since I had a lot of time, I drove through all the little towns in New Hampshire, and loving it.  Everywhere signs of fall are showing and it was beautiful. 

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Since I don’t plan well, I have no idea where the trailheads for the different trails were, I didn’t book a place to stay and I also still had to pick up some snacks and water for the hike.  I also realized that I didn’t bring a hat or sunscreen or bug repellent.  This hike is already starting out great.

I made it to Mt Washington State Park, found the entrance to the Auto road, but still couldn’t figure out where the damn trails started.  No one around there looked like hikers either, they were all just standing around taking selfies with the mountain in the background.

At this time it was around 5pm already, so I decided to go find a place to stay and then put my google skills to work (that part I probably should have done way prior to the trip).  Of course the first two places I tried had no vacancies – the weather was gorgeous, trees were starting to show fall colors, so lots of tourists in the area.   Clearly I didn’t think of that either, duh.

I finally got lucky, and got a room at the Mt. Washington B&B at a very reasonable price.   I met Mary Ann, who couldn’t be nicer and more helpful.  She provided me with the directions to AMC Pinkham Notch Visitor’s Center where I would start my hike up Tuckerman Ravine.    A quick trip to Walmart to pick up a hat, water and salami for the hike, a wonderful meal and a couple of sangrias at J’s Corner Restaurant and Lounge later – I was ready to settle in for the night for a (relative) early start in the morning.

Since the hike should take about 8 hours, I got up at 7am and was downstairs in the dining room for a quick cup of coffee and chat with Mary Ann at 7:30am.  I didn’t have any breakfast, but judging by the entries in the guest books I was missing out.   I definitely plan on going back and try that!

At the trailhead, I parked my car, had a quick run to the bathroom (pretty sure there won’t be any porta potties on the way up, and I’m not a fan of doing my thing in the open) and joined a couple of other hikers in our journey to the top.

Knowing that it was going to be a long hike, I started out slow and just enjoyed being outside in the gorgeous NH weather.  At this point it was about 59 degrees Fahrenheit, even though it was forecasted to be in the low 80’s later, the cool weather was awesome.

About 30 minutes in, I met an English couple and walked and chatted with them for a while.  They were very nice, and informative about the trail – they have hiked it a couple of days before and obviously now the guy was an expert on anything hiking related.  He offered lots and lots of info, non-stop.  He also offered to take my picture for me, saying ‘You can do me at the top”.  Since his wife was standing right next to him, I assumed he meant I can take his picture when we get to the top.  Well, that’s what I hoped anyways.

They were a tad slower than me, and I left them behind after dire warnings from Mr KnowsALot that I shouldn’t go too fast, that the worst is yet to come.  Truth be told, I enjoy hiking alone, it’s very therapeutic and a great time to be alone with one’s thoughts without the possibility of getting distracted by everyday life.

Just around the next corner, there was a bridge and just before the bridge was a trail to the left, and I wasn’t 100% sure whether I should turn or go straight, there were no signs either.  Turns out there was another lady in the same predicament and we tried to figure it out together.  Phones had no service, so we couldn’t pull up a map (yeah yeah, I know I should have brought one, I told you I didn’t plan well for this one).  This is where I remembered who was behind us!  The guy who KnowsALot!  We waited a couple of minutes and they showed up, and thankfully guided us in the right direction.

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Then we reached another crossroad, but this time with signs. As well as a couple of people sitting around it. Most of them were waiting on their hiking partners. One of the people in the group was the husband of the lady I met earlier and I had a nice chat with them, really great people.

I had to make a decision at this fork in the road, either take the route up via Lion’s Head or up Tuckerman’s Trail. Since I’ve done my research so well (NOT), I had no clue which one I want to take. Mr KnowsALot and his wife explained to me that the Lion’s Head is slightly longer, but with more and better views, and that the two routes meet again about 1000 feet or so from the top. Well, I can’t brag about my hike if I choose the easy part, right? So, Lion’s Head it was.

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This is where the climbing part began. As you can see in the pictures, I had to follow the yellow (not brick) road. That’s not hiking, that was straight up rock climbing and I loved it. I also noticed several piles of rock along the way (like in the third picture above), and wondered how bored people got that they took the time to build several of these along the way. I only later realized that those were the trail markers, duh. Rookie, I know.

They didn’t lie about the views. Once I got to the top of Lion’s Head, there was a slight breeze and the views were spectacular. The pictures don’t really do them justice.

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At this point, I thought I must be close to the summit. Lol, big mistake. Every time I looked up, I see little dots of people waaaayyyy ahead of me. The thing I was most grateful for, was that I wasn’t carrying a the load I did when doing my 3 days on the Appalachian Trail. I got this very light daypack from Amazon, and was carrying only water and a couple of snacks.

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The last 1000 feet or so were pure rock/boulder climbing. I took it slow because one has to be very sure of the next step and you kinda have to plan ahead for 4 – 5 steps, to make sure you actually go the right direction and don’t take get stuck and have to figure it all out. It may look easy on the pictures, trust me.. it’s not!

Then – 4.5 hours later – finally I made it to the top! The kicker here was, as soon as I reached the parking lot where all the losers (aka people who drove up the mountain) parked, there was another uphill and a staircase to climb to get to the touristy stuff (restaurant, restrooms, etct). At this point, my first stop was – well, more like HAD TO BE the bathroom, so I just sucked it up and climbed the damn stairs.

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I got to the bathroom and encountered several of the same people I’ve seen on the way up, so I guess it’s safe to say, we climbed the shit out of that mountain.

After the bathroom, it was time to refuel. I bought a water and a red bull (which has never tasted so good), and sat down to eat the snacks I brought with me and then went to explore. There was actually a tourist train going up/down the mountain on the other side, I imagine that could be a cool experience as well.

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I wanted to take a selfie at the top with the summit sign, but the line was so long that I just snuck in there and took a picture of the sign by itself, and then a couple of selfies of me in the wind on the other end.

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After about 30 minutes at the top, I realize that……. now I need to go all the way back. I saw a sign for ‘Hiker’s shuttle’ and I seriously considered asking about a shuttle, but just for a split second. I didn’t come here for half of the experience, I needed to and was going to do the whole damn thing, if it kills me.

As I was starting my way down, a guy was coming up the same path WITH A 3-ISH YEAR OLD GIRL ON HIS BACK! She was in a special seat-backpack, not sure what you call those things – but you get the idea. And she was singing, lol. I would too if someone was carrying me. I mentioned to him how much I admire him- he told me that they have had some practice runs on smaller mountains, and that she is loving it. Also that he learn a LOT of nursery songs during that time. That was seriously the cutest thing I’ve seen.

Downhill is easier in some ways, but it wreaks havoc on old knees, trust me on that. I had to take very frequent breaks. The fun part of this hike is that you see a lot of the same hikers during your up and down trip. We all suffered together and there is something about a shared experience like this, that just made you feel a special bond with each other. Or I was delirious. Either way, they were my family for the day.

At some point, I was looking around for a marker to make sure I stay on the trail and didn’t see any. There was a guy a couple of steps behind me – so I turned around asked him where the trail was. His reply – “uhhh, I don’t know, I was following you”. Lol, big mistake. So we looked around, realized we’re way off trail and had to figure out the easiest way to get back. Only there was no easy way. We just had to climb our way back.

I’ve decided to take the shorter route back (obviously) and got to see more gorgeous views including a waterfall. A waterfall means water, which means slippery rocks, which means I walked even slower. There was a guy who slipped and fell on his ass twice and I really didn’t want that to be me. One time I had a slow-motion kinda movement backwards, but luckily there was a rock behind me, so it just looked as if I was in the process sitting down slowly and awkwardly. One of the guys who was just behind me, smiled at me knowingly as he passed me – and I told him – “I totally meant to do that”. He nodded with a ‘suuuurrreee’ look on his face.

The last 2 miles felt like a lifetime. There were 2 guys who would sprint-walked past me, then I caught up with them later where they sat around chatting, then they would pass me again, I caught up again, rinse and repeat. At the 3rd time one of them said to me “I’m impressed, I can see you’re in pain, but you’re just chugging along!”. How did he know I was in pain… well, that will give you an idea of how funny I walked at that point. I got this sharp pain in my left knee if it was bended and higher than my right knee – so I had to adjust how I went down the rocks (even the little ones), always leading with the left knee. Add to that, my sore toes from hiking in my one size-too-big running shoes (I know, I know) so I was trying to NOT let my foot slide forward bashing my toes in the front of the shoes – and you get the picture of how awkward my ‘walk’ must have looked.

With about 2 miles left, I met a lovely couple, and I could tell they were worried about me. I knew they saw my duck-walk and was wondering if I was gonna make it, so, they would walk just slightly ahead of me, frequently stopping to look at something, then glance back at me and asking if I’m doing ok. They did that until we reached the end of the trail.

The trip down took me 3.5 hours, my Google Health app says I walked just about 14 miles for the day – and my body felt it. For the next two days I could barely walk, I was so sore. In places I didn’t even know I had places. But it felt great. Can’t wait to do it again.

Here are a couple more photos – enjoy.

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