The day started early with a 5am alarm, but I woke up feeling well rested and prepared for the day (my new mattress is so comfy! yay!) I spent the evening before laying out my gear, packing & fueling up with a big pasta dinner. Simone picked me up at 5:30am and we headed North towards the Pinkham Notch visitor center. Along the way we stopped at Starbucks to grab some iced lattes and breakfast sandwiches. Both were delicious and energized us for the long day ahead. I had bacon in mine & sorry that I'm not sorry.
We pulled into the visitor center at 8:30am and noticed other hikers walking through the parking lot with their hats & gloves on, which seemed odd to us until we stopped the car and actually stepped outside. It was chilly! The sun was hiding behind an approaching front & the wind was blowing through the open parking lot. We put on our hiking boots, some extra clothing layers, our hats & gloves and headed inside to the visitors center. I didn't print off a trail map, so we bought a map & an emergency ice pack. The lady at the checkout said it should take about 8-10 hours round trip. I asked her about the approaching front & she confirmed that there was a 30% chance of rain starting around 3pm.
We clocked in at the start of the trail at 9am. I was eager to get moving so that we would warm up, but that didn't take too long to achieve. We were stripping off our gloves, hats and extra layers shortly after ascending into the treeline. In fact, I started to get so warm that I wished I had brought my tank top with me (which I ditched from my pack after I felt how cold it was in the parking lot). After some minor hesitation, I stripped down to my sports bra. I'm usually too self conscious to do this, but I did not want to sweat through my clothes. We stopped a few times to take pictures, eat snacks, dig out more tissues for our runny noses & add/remove layers of clothing as needed. It took us 2 hours to cover the 2.4 miles up to the Tuckerman Ravine shelter.
We stopped briefly at the shelter to use the toilets & then moved on. The next mile of hiking was more intense, but still manageable both physically and mentally. There were pretty waterfalls and gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains to cheer us on as we ascended into the clouds. We stopped when needed and chatted with a few people we met on the trail, which made the experience that much more enjoyable. An older gentlemen that we met was there from Montreal training for Mount Kilimanjaro. He happily took our picture & enjoyed hearing our story of training for Mount Washington.
The last .8 mile push towards the summit was intense. At that point, we were above the clouds and well into in the Alpine zone with the wind blowing as we scrambled over rock after rock after rock. The trail is non existent at this altitude and you're just wandering over the piles of rocks in the general direction of the next cairn. This was physically and mentally exhausting, but at that point you have a visual of the summit and that helps to push you along.
We reached the summit and experienced some really strong winds. The long straps on my pack were whipping in the wind and my hiking poles felt like they were possessed, trying to blow away from me. We found the summit marker, waited in line a couple of minutes for our turn to get some pictures & then quickly took shelter inside. After a stop at the restroom, we found a couple of open spots at a table in the cafeteria & took turns watching the packs and getting food. The little break was great, but we were anxious to get back on the trail to try to beat the rain. After a quick check on my water supply (2 out of 3 liters left, no need to top it off) we packed up, layered up and retraced our steps back down the trail.
The first .8 miles I knew would be steep and extra rough with the wind against our faces. I was wearing every layer that I brought with me & was especially thankful for the second pair of gloves that I had packed, as my first pair had gotten wet while we had traversed our way through sections of running water on the ascent. Simone had remembered to bring her knee brace & we just took our time planning our foot placements and using our poles to brace ourselves. It was slow, but steady going.
Then the rain started. It started first as a light sprinkle, which we tried to ignore, but developed quickly into a light rain which required us to break out the rain gear around the .8 mile marker. I had been hoping that we would have made it to the treeline before dealing with the rain, but no such luck. The next 2 miles were pretty treacherous with the rain making the rocks slippery under our muddy, wet boots. I slipped and took a fall, but managed to catch myself with my pole just before hitting the ground. We both brought our headlamps, so we decided to just take our time and let the faster parties pass us. The descent took forever. The last hour was especially brutal and I preoccupied my mind with thoughts of a hot shower, warm meal & glass of red wine.
We finally made it off the mountain at 7pm, which clocked us in at the 10 hour mark round trip. I think we would have been a little faster on the descent without the rain, but I was generally happy with our time. We briefly celebrated our victory with a tap of the hiking poles and a high five before hopping in the car to find our hotel. I had booked us a room at the Attitash Grand Summit hotel & after checking in, we quickly showered and made our way to the bar. We toasted to our success with a yummy bottle of Pinot Noir & filled our bellies with turkey tips, mashed potatoes and green beans. They had a gas fireplace with leather sofas in the lobby area, so we settled in there to finish our wine and check in with our loved ones before heading to bed at 10:30pm.
It was an awesome weekend and even though my legs are too sore to even walk today, I'd love to do it again next year. Maybe to celebrate *my* 40th birthday! Jesus. I'm not ready for 40 yet.
