Not Your Standard Birthday

A standard birthday, just to be clear, means to stay at home with family or friends, or celebrate with a night on the town. A not-so standard birthday then might be defined as, say, a hike up to the summit of Mt Washington. Of course this is a fairly standard event for Redline Guide Ken Hodges. To our guest, Denise, though, we have no doubt this is something she will long remember. You see, Denise isn’t a hiker, which makes this even more exciting for her. She was drawn to the Rock Pile — the mountains are calling — and wisely desided to hire a guide as a hiking companion to make sure she was safe and properly outfitted (she rented one of our popular Ready Packs). Being that some of us volunteer for search and rescue in the area, we are grateful for her decision. If more people hired guides, fewer people would require rescue.

Ken, as always, has offered a re-cap of their day to and from the (spoiler alert) summit of the 6288-foot Mt Washington. The tallest point in the Northeast.

On Saturday, August 12th, Redline Guiding got a call from a woman, Denise, who wanted to do something epic for a milestone birthday she was getting ready to celebrate. She decided that it would be a hike up Mt Washington. We were happy to oblige her on her very first mountain so on Monday I met her at the Ammonoosuc Ravine trailhead and together we set out under very sunny skies and pleasant temps. We went at a moderate pace, reaching Lakes of the Clouds for a short break then continuing on, reaching the summit and enjoying our lunch in the early afternoon. Along the way Denise learned why Mt Washington is affectionitly called the “Rock Pile!” There was a large crowd waiting to pose at the summit so Denise decided to forego touching the sign. We had a leisurely return trip with exemplary weather conditions getting back to the trailhead in time for dinner. —Ken Hodges

 
Thanks for that, Ken, and for all the fine photos of your awesome tour.

Congratulations. Well done, both of you!

Side note: This isn’t our first birthday celebration hike. Keep them coming. It’s fun!