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| How many days out of the year is the summit of Mt. Washington in brilliant sunshine, warm, with practically no wind? Not many, but 8/25/13 was one of the few! |
Anyone from the Northeast, happening to read this, will know how amazingly beautiful the weather was this past weekend. In fact, it caused me to break with a standing tradition of not hiking on weekends (another of this crowd-averse, self indulgent retiree's perks.)
I've needed to check off some of the highest peaks from my list and was beginning to realize that I ought to do them soon while the odds of good weather were best. The plan came together Saturday evening with the added advantage that one of my daughter's was able to hike with me. Audrey has just begun tackling her 48 4000 footers. This hike was #4 for her and #'s 47,48,49 & 50 for my 71>71 list.
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| Yes, you could see "forever." |
We began on the Jewell Trail about 7:00 am. This was my first time on Jewell in spite of always having had a fascination with his story -----Winfield Jewell had worked at the Mt. Washington Observatory, or what ever it was called at the time, but then was accepted as a member of the Greely Expedition to the arctic in the late 1800's. Only six of the team survived after they were abandoned on Ellesmere Island for three years. Winfield was not one of the survivors. His remains are buried at the Lisbon, NH cemetery near my family's plot. Fittingly, a trail on Mt.Washington was named in his honor.
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| Greely Expedition members. Winfield Jewell, seated, second from right |
On a happier note ----- Jewell's spirit, I'm sure, was relishing in the warmth of the abundant sunshine on the Mountain this past weekend.
Everyone was out enjoying it at the summit. At least it appeared that way as we approached the summit sign for the obligatory photo. We forgo waiting in line for a "close to" picture. After all, we had other peaks to climb!
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| They came by trail, Cog Rail and Auto Road to get here! |
The other peaks on my 71>71 list, but not on Audrey's 48 list, we were able to bag today were Ball Crag at 6112 feet of elevation, Nelson Crag at 5635 feet and Mt. Clay at 5533. Fitting them all together involved a series of trails, many ups and downs, and a short rock whack. Every one of the 13 miles was enjoyable! (Well, maybe a couple of them "tested us" a bit.)
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| Ball summit |
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| Nelson summit |
Then it was off to Mt. Clay passing by the auto road, the cog and impressive Great Gulf.
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| The Great Gulf with Mt. Clay forming it's westerly flank. |
Finally we had to leave --- back down into the scrub and the woods and the end of our enjoyable 11 hour day above treeline.
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