White Mountains, NH

Gail and I had planned on taking a bike trip to Nova Scotia this summer, but while reading the accident report in one of our favorite magazines, Appalachia Journal, I thought I'd like to get a better understanding of the trails, conditions and locations they write about where people are always getting themselves in a situation where they need to be rescued, or recovered. 
Gail used to live in Vermont/New Hampshire and while there climbed all the peaks over 4000' feet in the White Mountains so she was thrilled to go back to show me some of her favorite spots and this time stay at some nice digs, as well as get to some of the places she'd heard about but never visited.
And there aren't any distracted drivers on mountain trails.

White Mountains, NH

We took this as some kind of sign, the kind that didn't apply while we were there, we were fortunate to have almost perfect weather.  That, combined with good planning and conditioning was exactly what we needed for some fantastic hiking in some of the most rugged conditions in any mountains.  I heard more than one person remark that they'd hiked all over the country and the Whites presented some of the toughest trails and weather.

White Mountains, NH

Every day was filled with awesome sights, I'm only posting 70-some pictures here, come visit sometime if you want to see all 500.

White Mountains, NH

Mostly I just swam, took naps and hung out while Gail climbed mountains.  It was hot, I didn't want to overdue it.

White Mountains, NH

We started out with a short hike up a small mountain with our friends Jackie, Hazel and Andrew.  Except Jackie forgot Andrew's sub so she had to go get him one while we took the long route past Artist's Bluff to get to Bald at the north end of Franconia Notch.  At one point we passed some guys using a rope to climb a boulder and Andrew told them when he climbs it he usually begins in the tree next to it and jumps onto the boulder.  More on him later.  Hazel got tired of carrying her backpack so Gail took it for her, when we got to the top to wait for Jackie, Hazel took her books out and read.  She'll do fine in kindergarten this year.  Jackie made it, but I had put away the camera.
Here's a picture of her with Gail from our bike trip through the Whites in 2011 when we hiked up the Basin.  That's Andrew to the right, taking advantage of his mom posing for a picture and turning her back on him for a chance to run up the falls:

White Mountains, NH

Of course mountains aren't climbed just because they are there, they are also climbed for a nice view or to see where you started from or still have to go.  And to stand at the edge of a 500' drop to get a good picture.

White Mountains, NH

One of the hardest hikes was on Webster Cliff Trail which happened to be opposite the valley from one of my favorite hikes, Arethusa-Ripley Falls Trail.  The top two pictures are from opposite spots-looking down at the car from the top of Webster Cliff then looking up at the cliff from the car.  The next two are of Ripley Falls, first from up on Webster Cliff, then at the base of the falls itself, and the bottom photo is Webster Cliff from the top of Ripley Falls. 
Got all that?  Are you taking notes?

White Mountains, NH

How nice is this view?  Boott Spur Trail looking over Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines and Pinkham Notch.

White Mountains, NH

The trails came in many forms, some had brand new stairs to avoid a treacherous scramble, others had some rocks positioned so the "flat" side was up in a pile of scree.  Many steep spots had intricate stairs constructed either recently or a century ago.  A bog on top of the Carter Range was made passable with a boardwalk that ensured the fragile plant life could live.

White Mountains, NH

Of course on the way down the mountain on our last hike we found the one stretch of flat, sandy trail.  I tripped and fell taking this picture.

White Mountains, NH

 Believe it or not, the trail the top photo is from Falling Waters Trail up to Franconia Ridge.  The waterfall in the other photo is on a trail I ended up on by mistake when I'd missed the sign for the turn I intended to take, and the trail turned into a sort of paved walkway you'd find in the state parks around here; flat rocks mortared together with even steps.  Nothing like we'd been on in the Whites.  Then I got to an overlook and when I did it took my breath away, I was expecting to start climbing up a trail and there was a 100' drop off.  It's the Glen-Ellis Waterfall near the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center.

White Mountains, NH

Rocks are certainly a feature of the mountains, big ones, little ones, combinations of different types, ones loved by trees as an anchor, some split over eons and others are stacked for a brief piece of time.

White Mountains, NH

On a day I hiked alone I thought it appropriate to visit a boulder.  Glen Boulder is perched on a knob of Mount Washington's east side and is visible from Rt. 16.  It's about the size of a dump truck but disappeared in the fog after I climbed to it, then appeared as a pea from Boott Spur, it's in the center of the bottom photo.

White Mountains, NH

Plants were also worth checking out, especially what we could identify as tasty treats.  There wasn't much fall color to be seen, but looking closely revealed lots of color on a smaller scale.

White Mountains, NH

We had excellent food and shelter for the entire trip, thanks mostly to Gail.  She cooked for us the first two places we stayed, then meals were pretty much included everywhere after that.  She found us a perfect Air B&B in Bethlehem, NH that gave us great access to the Franconia Notch area and some of the northern mountains.  Then we moved to Dry River Campground in Crawford Notch State Park where she stalked the park ranger to get an upgrade from a gravel parking spot to a brand new lean-to with an extended roof off the front, it cost an extra $4, glad she was willing to pay for it.  From there we moved to Joe Dodge Lodge in Pinkham Notch at the base of Mount Washington where we also got an upgrade to a room with three bunk beds to spread all our stuff out on.  That was in addition to the double bed we slept in.  One night was in an AMC hut above tree line near the summit of Mount Washington, more on that later, and then a night at a friend's house and a night with family in the Adirondacks.
I give them all Five Star Reviews, especially the soup at Pinkham Notch.  I was really impressed how Gail managed to pack color coordinated lunches for one of our hikes so the food matched the rocks.  Thankfully none of it had wheat which causes a poison ivy-like reaction for me when I eat it which is what you see in that picture of my arm, I'd eaten some french fries that had wheat on them before we left.  I thought of Mary Ellen when I said, "At least it's not on my hands."   We also traversed many trails with abundant blueberries.

White Mountains, NH

It seemed like the whole trip was a build-up to climbing Mount Washington.  We kept seeing it from afar, sometimes clearly enough to spot the many towers on top.  It's clear up there only about 50 days of the year, and as we experienced while we were up there the clarity can be very fleeting.  The weather is extreme to say the least and the wind has been clocked at 231 mph with the highest temperature ever recorded only 72 Fahrenheit.  Snow storms have occurred every month of the year, I was hoping to experience a little snow, either that or a view of the ocean, but didn't get either.  Next time.  They have set a few high temp records in the past few weeks, mostly in the mid-60's.
If your browser is like mine, you'll have to click on Older Posts below to see the rest of the posts from the trip and find out if we got up Mount Washington.