BIGEarl
Well-known member
July 27, 2013: Mount Washington
Trails: Tuckerman Ravine Trail, Lion Head Trail, Davis Path, Boott Spur Trail
Summits: Mount Washington
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
After a pretty tough week I contacted Sue to let her know the planned weekend hike might be more than I can handle. I wasn’t feeling very well all week and didn’t get much sleep at all. Instead of canceling or down-sizing we decided to stay with the plan and see how far we could go. There are many opportunities to bail on this one. Our plan was a loop of Washington and Isolation from PNVC.
We arrived at PNVC early but the place was already filling up fast. On the way we passed full trailhead lots at Appalachia, Stony Brook, and Nineteen Mile Brook. There would definitely be no wilderness experience on this one. We managed to get a place near Joe Dodge Lodge for the truck, grabbed our things, and set off. Our plan was to head up Tuckerman Ravine Trail and Lion Head Trail to the summit of Washington.
The conditions were perfect. We even seemed to have the place to ourselves - at first. We were actually sharing the trail with a huge number of others out to enjoy the day in the mountains. We made our way to the Lion Head Trail junction seeing many others ascending and descending along the way. Evidently, Lion Head Trail is a less popular route than Tuckerman Ravine Trail. After we made the turn the crowd disappeared. We only saw a couple others on this trail during our ascent.
By the time we started up Lion Head Trail it was clear to me the day was going to be difficult. Even though it didn’t seem that way to start, my energy level was very low. Late on Thursday and through Friday I thought I was back in the game but that wasn’t the case. I was feeling better but still had some distance to go. When we made the turn I checked the time and we were doing fine, right on plan. As we climbed Lion Head Trail our pace dropped and we slowly lost time to plan. We kept climbing and stopping as needed. At one point Sue asked if I wanted to turn around. I knew we could at least reach the summit of Mount Washington but had my doubts on Isolation. This was a concern I also made clear the night before as we were deciding how to approach the day.
We reached the upper junction of Lion Head and Tuckerman Ravine trails and again found the crowd. This time it was huge! We were above the treeline and could see quite a distance up and down the trail. Tuckerman Ravine Trail was an endless parade of people heading to or from the summit. As I mentioned earlier - there would definitely be no wilderness experience on this one. We merged in the line, passed some slower hikers, and some faster hikers cruised past me. Sue pulled out and took off for the summit assuming I could probably find my way up. Eventually I made the top and found Sue relaxing near the summit sign. The combination of road traffic, Cog traffic, and foot traffic was impressive.
We made a quick stop in the Sherman Adams Summit Building to use the facilities and I needed some water. Outside we met Bobby Butler and Eric. They were evidently a short distance behind us on the same route. I’m pretty sure they were as anxious to leave as we were. We got a few of the usual pictures but this time they didn’t include the summit sign post; the line to it was way too long. After a brief visit with Bobby and Eric we were on our way south.
We were also on our exit hike. We left the summit roughly 1.5 hours behind plan and it wasn’t likely to improve if we stayed with it and set off for Isolation. The hike plan was adjusted on-the-fly and we decided to exit via Boott Spur Trail. The descent to Tuckerman Junction was crowded, very crowded. We made it to Tuckerman Junction and continued straight on to Davis Path. Suddenly, quiet. The crowd was gone and we had only a couple others ahead or behind that we could occasionally see in the distance.
Boott Spur Trail is a very rocky place and the descent was slow. The dry conditions made for terrific footing on the rocks and we had no trouble all of the way down past Split Rock and on to Tuckerman Ravine Trail. Once we hit Tuckerman Ravine Trail it was a short walk back to PNVC.
Late afternoon at PNVC and the lots were jammed, plus the highway had vehicles parked along the side for several hundred yards in each direction. I think they were all hiking Tuckerman Ravine Trail.
We took the time to make a quick change at the visitor center and were soon on the highway home. On the way we passed the same trailheads as in the morning and noticed Nineteen Mile Brook, Stony Brook, and Appalachia were all overflowing with many vehicles on the side of the road at each location.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
Trails: Tuckerman Ravine Trail, Lion Head Trail, Davis Path, Boott Spur Trail
Summits: Mount Washington
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
After a pretty tough week I contacted Sue to let her know the planned weekend hike might be more than I can handle. I wasn’t feeling very well all week and didn’t get much sleep at all. Instead of canceling or down-sizing we decided to stay with the plan and see how far we could go. There are many opportunities to bail on this one. Our plan was a loop of Washington and Isolation from PNVC.
We arrived at PNVC early but the place was already filling up fast. On the way we passed full trailhead lots at Appalachia, Stony Brook, and Nineteen Mile Brook. There would definitely be no wilderness experience on this one. We managed to get a place near Joe Dodge Lodge for the truck, grabbed our things, and set off. Our plan was to head up Tuckerman Ravine Trail and Lion Head Trail to the summit of Washington.
The conditions were perfect. We even seemed to have the place to ourselves - at first. We were actually sharing the trail with a huge number of others out to enjoy the day in the mountains. We made our way to the Lion Head Trail junction seeing many others ascending and descending along the way. Evidently, Lion Head Trail is a less popular route than Tuckerman Ravine Trail. After we made the turn the crowd disappeared. We only saw a couple others on this trail during our ascent.
By the time we started up Lion Head Trail it was clear to me the day was going to be difficult. Even though it didn’t seem that way to start, my energy level was very low. Late on Thursday and through Friday I thought I was back in the game but that wasn’t the case. I was feeling better but still had some distance to go. When we made the turn I checked the time and we were doing fine, right on plan. As we climbed Lion Head Trail our pace dropped and we slowly lost time to plan. We kept climbing and stopping as needed. At one point Sue asked if I wanted to turn around. I knew we could at least reach the summit of Mount Washington but had my doubts on Isolation. This was a concern I also made clear the night before as we were deciding how to approach the day.
We reached the upper junction of Lion Head and Tuckerman Ravine trails and again found the crowd. This time it was huge! We were above the treeline and could see quite a distance up and down the trail. Tuckerman Ravine Trail was an endless parade of people heading to or from the summit. As I mentioned earlier - there would definitely be no wilderness experience on this one. We merged in the line, passed some slower hikers, and some faster hikers cruised past me. Sue pulled out and took off for the summit assuming I could probably find my way up. Eventually I made the top and found Sue relaxing near the summit sign. The combination of road traffic, Cog traffic, and foot traffic was impressive.
We made a quick stop in the Sherman Adams Summit Building to use the facilities and I needed some water. Outside we met Bobby Butler and Eric. They were evidently a short distance behind us on the same route. I’m pretty sure they were as anxious to leave as we were. We got a few of the usual pictures but this time they didn’t include the summit sign post; the line to it was way too long. After a brief visit with Bobby and Eric we were on our way south.
We were also on our exit hike. We left the summit roughly 1.5 hours behind plan and it wasn’t likely to improve if we stayed with it and set off for Isolation. The hike plan was adjusted on-the-fly and we decided to exit via Boott Spur Trail. The descent to Tuckerman Junction was crowded, very crowded. We made it to Tuckerman Junction and continued straight on to Davis Path. Suddenly, quiet. The crowd was gone and we had only a couple others ahead or behind that we could occasionally see in the distance.
Boott Spur Trail is a very rocky place and the descent was slow. The dry conditions made for terrific footing on the rocks and we had no trouble all of the way down past Split Rock and on to Tuckerman Ravine Trail. Once we hit Tuckerman Ravine Trail it was a short walk back to PNVC.
Late afternoon at PNVC and the lots were jammed, plus the highway had vehicles parked along the side for several hundred yards in each direction. I think they were all hiking Tuckerman Ravine Trail.
We took the time to make a quick change at the visitor center and were soon on the highway home. On the way we passed the same trailheads as in the morning and noticed Nineteen Mile Brook, Stony Brook, and Appalachia were all overflowing with many vehicles on the side of the road at each location.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
Last edited:
