eddie
New member
Continuing my new adventures in the Whites. Last Sunday was Jeff-Adams-Madison with my son. Today he wanted only to go boating with his cousin so I went solo. The forecast was one similar to last Sunday with cobalt blue skies so I figured that on a day like this Washington was my first choice and that I might as well tack on Monroe since it is right there next to it.
I left Pinkham Visitor center at 6:15am to beat the crowd to the top. A "must do" on my hiking list has been Tuckerman's Ravine and this has to be one of the most spectacular hikes I've been on, especially because right from the start at Hermit Lake the views only get better as you go up. I was feeling especially energized by the scenery and made it to the summit by 8:50am with only a few people around. I was able to avoid the 43 degree temp with 30mph winds at the restaurant at the top but also get a good look at what I hiked on Sunday.
After a nice break, I must have passed 30 people and 3 sherpas on the way to Monroe, and easy 1h20m hike to the summit - and nobody there! I enjoyed 20 minutes of solitude there taking in the views. This is a strange little peak - a small pyramidal shape poking out of the high plateau. I went back to the Lakes Hut to check out the restroom and realized that this has to be the most "civilized" hike I have ever done - coffee on the summit of Washington and restrooms at both locations. This was further reinforced by the neat and tidy rock trails down to Lakes of the Clouds Hut and then over to Boott Spur. Nothing is even close to this in the ADKs.
I took the Camel Trail to Davis Path and could not believe the beuatiful gem of an alpine garden along this trail on the "flat" portion, it is truly a beautiful place. Onto Davis Path to Boott Spur Trail and since someone was sitting on the Spur itself, I went down a couple hundred feet beolw to about the 5300 ft. elevation to have lunch on another unnamed rock spur to have lunch. This was a magnificent place, looking down over the entire Tuckerman's Ravine a thousand feet below! I was on the edge of an almost surreal world; this was the greatest thrill of the day. The entire hike down to Split Rock provided continually changing pespectives on the mountain and terrain.
The total start to finish time was 8 hours exactly, 1h20m of which was lounging to enjoy the views plus there were numerous photo ops. For those of you who hike in the Whites all of the time, you may take this report and these views for granted, but to me the Presidentials are a spectacular place. I look forward to hiking the Whites for many years to come.
I left Pinkham Visitor center at 6:15am to beat the crowd to the top. A "must do" on my hiking list has been Tuckerman's Ravine and this has to be one of the most spectacular hikes I've been on, especially because right from the start at Hermit Lake the views only get better as you go up. I was feeling especially energized by the scenery and made it to the summit by 8:50am with only a few people around. I was able to avoid the 43 degree temp with 30mph winds at the restaurant at the top but also get a good look at what I hiked on Sunday.
After a nice break, I must have passed 30 people and 3 sherpas on the way to Monroe, and easy 1h20m hike to the summit - and nobody there! I enjoyed 20 minutes of solitude there taking in the views. This is a strange little peak - a small pyramidal shape poking out of the high plateau. I went back to the Lakes Hut to check out the restroom and realized that this has to be the most "civilized" hike I have ever done - coffee on the summit of Washington and restrooms at both locations. This was further reinforced by the neat and tidy rock trails down to Lakes of the Clouds Hut and then over to Boott Spur. Nothing is even close to this in the ADKs.
I took the Camel Trail to Davis Path and could not believe the beuatiful gem of an alpine garden along this trail on the "flat" portion, it is truly a beautiful place. Onto Davis Path to Boott Spur Trail and since someone was sitting on the Spur itself, I went down a couple hundred feet beolw to about the 5300 ft. elevation to have lunch on another unnamed rock spur to have lunch. This was a magnificent place, looking down over the entire Tuckerman's Ravine a thousand feet below! I was on the edge of an almost surreal world; this was the greatest thrill of the day. The entire hike down to Split Rock provided continually changing pespectives on the mountain and terrain.
The total start to finish time was 8 hours exactly, 1h20m of which was lounging to enjoy the views plus there were numerous photo ops. For those of you who hike in the Whites all of the time, you may take this report and these views for granted, but to me the Presidentials are a spectacular place. I look forward to hiking the Whites for many years to come.
