Mount Washington — Tuesday, Sep. 3, 2002

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

Since WTA doesn't have a catagory for hikes way back east, I put this one in the furthest east here in Washington state. While on my vacation trip to visit my sister Mary in Conneticut, we took a three day trip up to New Hampshire and did the hike/climb to the summit of Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the eastern U.S. You can get to the summit in three different ways, from the west side by riding the steam powered cog railway ($49.00), drive up the auto toll road on the east side ($16.00 per vehicle/$6.00 per passenger) or hike up for free. Our trip started at Pinkham Notch off of Highway 16 on the east side of the mountain. We didn't need to get a Forest Pass since this hike starts at the A.M.C. lodge and behind the USFS Ranger Station. The first half of the trek we hiked up the Tuckerman Revine Trail which was about 10 to 12 feet wide, all rock (like hiking up a dry creek bed with boulders). This section of the trail is wide for winter time use to run big snowcats up for skiers. Since it is still humid in New England this time of year, the first 1.5 miles felt like hiking in a sauna. The sweat was poring off me while my sister wasn't bothered by it since she has lived in Conn. for the past 30 years. After a little over 2 miles we came to the junction with the Lion Head Trail with a sign that read, ""Mt. Washington 2 Miles"". This was a very tough trail to go up. Big boulders to climb up and over, part of it reminded me of the hard part of the trail to Glacier Basin out of Monte Cristo, it turned into a rock scramble. Climbing up ledges and gullies. When we got above the tree line, the other mountains of the area came into view. We could see the summit high above us and hear the steam whistle of the cog railway locomotive. This is where the wind began blowing on us, which felt pretty good. After getting to the junction with the Alpine Garden Trail the route turns into a rock scramble up a boulder field to the top. There are giant rock carens along the way so people do not get lost if the clouds blow in and cover the route. This hike/scamble is 4.1 miles to the summit of Mt. Washington, 6,288' high with a 4,270' gain. There is a State Parks/USFS building on top to get out of the wind (blowing 25-45 mph when we were on top, the record wind speed was 231 mph on April 12, 1934) which has a mini cafe with great views. We watched the Cog Railway train coming up the mountain and went to the offical sign that marks the summit. This is not an easy hike at all because of all the rock on the trail. My sister had never done any rock scrambing before, but did great on this trip.