Half and back

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sleeping bear

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Location
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I'm not normally a numbers junkie, well okay, maybe a closet one :eek: . Since I'm pretty sure yesterday's hike was my longest ever, I felt compelled to figure out all of the stats.

From Crawford Notch to Mt. Washington, hitting Pierce, Eisenhower and Monroe on the way.
Total distance- 17.2 miles
Total time- about 10 hours
Total elevation gain to Washington- 5,350 ft
Total elevation change- 11,300 ft (the whole day)
Total calories burned- probably between 5 and 6,000

Jessbee and I were both very excited leaving the Mt.Clinton Road parking area. Nice to meet Kerry13 there :) .

We encountered a little more snow and ice than we'd hoped for at about 3,000 feet, but decided against crampons.

Once up onto the ridge, the sun was shining, there was a bit of wind, and most of the snow was gone. Birds were out and chirping (what was that one again Jess?) all over the place.
We turned and got to the top of Pierce before continuing along the Crawford Path toward Eisenhower. There seemed to be quite a few people out enjoying the awesome weather.

On our way over to Monroe we passed Rols and two others whose names have escaped me. On Monroe Jess and I had a breif discussion about whether or not to continue the rest of the way to Washington, it went something like-
"well, should we do it?"
"yep"
"okay"

And we were off. The snowfields on the side of Washington were a little trecherous without poles or axes, especially since we were still avoiding getting out the crampons. As we came out to some rocks I though I recognized the black, grey and white striped hat on someone descening the trail towards us. It turned out to be MEB and her sister. We chatted for a few and then continued our climb. My legs were tired and that last 1/2 mile was pretty slow.

Although I didn't count them, there were probably 25 or 30 people on the summit. Tons of skiers, lots of people in shorts. I dug out the can of Young's Double Chocolate Stout I had brought along and Jess and I shared it. Beer is so good when you've earned it.

Descending Washington was also a little tricky sans traction or balance aids. My "falls-on-ass" tally officially reached 4. Jess must have better balance, I don't think she ever made it all the way down. :D

Following the Crawford Path around Monroe we found some intials in the snow (see photo) :D .

The rest of the hike was rather uneventful, other than the phenomenal weather :) and some minor postholing :rolleyes: .

This morning I did notice that I failed to apply sunscreen to a two inch band around my neck. My husband has been calling me a redneck all morning. :rolleyes: How's that song go? "your long hair can't hide that redneck"???

What a great day! Some photos
 
It was nice meeting up with two more folks from VFTT. We wondered if you would go on to Washington. Nice hike!!! We did go on to Ike and descended Edmands....but, we hated to leave the ridge. It was certailnly a special day up there.

Hope to run into you on the trails again.
 
lindsey- sure looks like you had a perfect day for putting in all those miles : )
your pic's were great and i enjoyed reading your tr.
i'm headed up this coming weekend and i'm hoping for a repeat of this weekend's weather : )
kmac
 
sounds like a great time - everyone was out in the hills this weekend - except me :( :(

well thats not entirely true - I hiked the mighty mt wachusett today (franklin state forest yesterday) with conor!! Conor's first summit :D :D - yippeeeeee!

Last spring, I was lucky and had about 3 days in the pressies like this weekend - its a real treat to be up there in conditions like this weekend - remember it - cuz it don't happen all that often. ;) ;)

bit different than the last couple of times you were on george. you actually got to enjoy it this time!
 
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nice report, sweet pictures!

me and my friend did eisenhower last weekend and i'm wishing we had waited a week because the conditions seem 200% better than what we had. you definatly lucked out! hopefully the weather gods will bless me with some sunny/calm trips this summer :D
 
Thanks for writing up the TR. Nice photos as well! This was a great day to be above treeline for such a long time. The Crawford Path was a very pleasant walk, and although the ice and snow was annoyingly slick on the way up, it was a blast slipping around on the way down! I'm totally psyched we got all the way to Washington, although my legs were a little tired rock climbing the next day :) Thanks for an awesome day.
 
Nice running into you two on the way to Washington....sure was an awesome day to be out. :)

-MEB
 
7summits said:
I wonder what time you took this picture, I took this one looking toward Mt Washington, Clay and Jefferson at around 2PM, both of you are probably in :)

So many VFTTers also on the range this past weekend, we could put together an album to commemorate this beautiful day.

Funny, I was looking at Rol's photos from Monroe thinking Jess and I must be in them somewhere. They're probably in some of mine too. If you look real close at the one of Carrigan you can see brush flying up where Dr. Wu and Nh Mtn Hiker were, okay maybe that's a stretch :D

I think we must have been on Washington right around 2, I'm not sure though.
 
sleeping bear said:
This morning I did notice that I failed to apply sunscreen to a two inch band around my neck. My husband has been calling me a redneck all morning. :rolleyes: How's that song go? "your long hair can't hide that redneck"???

Yep, Ah'm a gonna have to grow me one o' them there classy mullets or as we call 'em back home, a Tennessee Top Hat! Ah got me a bit o' color on tha back o' ma neck this weekend. 'Course Ah don't use that there sunscreen stuff. Ah may not be smart, but Ah've got good intentions! :D

It was a great weekend to be out on the trail. I'm glad to hear that you have such a great time and that you had the good fortune to run into so many great people along the way! What fun!!
 
Lindsay nice TR. Looks like you and Jess also picked a good day.
Mtnpa and I were on Ike in the afternoon we started out late.
What a beautiful day above treeline. Had a little picnic and
headed down. Great pics!!!
 
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