A returning guest came to us hoping to take on Huntington Ravine — he’d hiked with us before and had a positive experience. This time would be slightly different, though. Not only would the grade of the hike be jacked up compared to the last trip taken years ago, this time he wanted to take his eleven-year-old daughter along. And based on his daughter’s hiking résumé and ability, we were totally fine with it. And as it turned out… well, we’ll let Redline Guide Debra McCown tell the story:
Today Washington, Tomorrow the World
Sunday was a treat: a hike up Huntington Ravine with an 11-year-old avid hiker and aspiring mountain climber who was poised to check off her 99th and 100th 4000-footer summits before her first day of middle school on Tuesday.
We began with Huntington Ravine (a Class 3 scramble with a reputation for being the hardest hiking trail in the White Mountains), which she handled like a pro — better than most adults, tacking on an unnecessary near-vertical scramble and asking for more.
After a quick photo on the Mt Washington summit, we then went over to Mt Monroe, where she posed for a photo with her hand in a ‘C’ (the Roman numeral for 100, recently learned in school), and then one on the edge of a cliff with a T-Rex.
She hiked like a pro, too, and we were well toward the bottom of Tuckerman Ravine by the time the afternoon thunderstorms rumbled over the ridge.
Much of the conversation on our hike was about mountains. Before we began, she shared a list of peaks that she hopes to bag by the time she’s 16: Rainier, Denali, Everest!
She’s already hiked Mt Washington in winter. She said that since Washington is training for Rainier, Rainier is training for Denali, and Denali is training for Everest, by her reckoning she’s already a quarter of the way to the highest summit on Earth.
She wanted to know everything about my recent trip to the Cascades, what gear she should bring to Alaska, and what she can learn this year to progress toward her goals.
This kid brought the kind of energy and passion for the outdoors that makes my soul happy — rare in adults, and even more so in young people who are still years away from being old enough to have a driver’s license.
And kudos to her dad (who was also on the hike) for recognizing her love of mountains and putting in the hours behind the wheel on countless long drives from Massachusetts to hike these mountains with her.
I sincerely hope to see her again this winter when the mountains are full of snow — and watch her crush it again on something harder than a hiking trail. —Debra, a.k.a. T. rex
All that said, now it’s time for photos from both guest and guide… enjoy.
