While we had a presence in Franconia Notch — a team climbing to The Watcher — and a Presidential Traverse was in the making, Redline Guide Chase Hall was also leading a trip. This one to the summit of Mt Washington — the tallest peak in the northeast. All of these luckily (and unplanned) taking advantage of some sublime mountain weather. What follows is Chase’s recap of the day along with some photos.
Two Mountain Goats… 🐐 🐐
Two mountain goats hiking on a pile of rocks was the theme for my guest’s first ever summit of Mt Washington. The whole day was a beautiful success. My guest, from Florida, wanted to summit and was open to any route possible. I drafted a plan and we executed it — with a bit of a tweak.
We met in Pinkham Notch at 7:30 AM and the lot was already almost full of hiker cars. After parking we jetted down Old Jackson Road for a nice warm up to Raymond Path. On the way we were talking about the route and my guest was open for an atypical adventure. I mentioned Huntington Ravine, telling her that it would be a scramble (one I felt she was capable of) and she smiled and replied affirmatively to the idea.
We diverted from our original plan of hiking up Tuckerman Ravine Trail and changing it to Huntington. The day was perfect! The look on my guest’s face when she saw the awe-inspiring ravine told me that this was going to be a great day. She proved she was more than capable as she scrambled and we ascended with no issues. We saw some rock climbers doing their thing. We stopped and had a snack as we watched some clouds form.
The adrenaline was pumping after the climb and seeing the summit building from the top of the ravine made the whole day even more special. We jumped onto Nelson Crag Trail and hopped on more rocks to the 6288-foot summit. We arrived at the same time as two Cog train cars full of riders and lots of automobiles that had taken the Auto Road up. There were probably over 250 people on summit at lunch time. My guest and I ate our lunch, refilled our water bottles, and then hiked over to the start of the Tuckerman Ravine Trail for our hike down. We descended through the beautiful ravine. Stunning.
The whole day was an excellent adventure. I was very happy with my guest allowing me to push the envelope a bit. We were constantly talking with each other. My goal was to make sure my guest had fun and wasn’t worrying about anything. I reminded her that she did something awesome. ‘You hiked up and down Mt Washington on two challenging trails,’ I said. I was quite proud of what she achieved when visiting the area. It’s my hope that she comes back to hike Franconia Ridge with Redline Guiding in the near future and asks for me. —Chase
Please note that the photos of this trip are out of sequence.