Up And Over The Tallest Mountain In The Northeast…Mount Washington Via The Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail And Lions Head.

The 22nd annual edition of the “You and Me Makes We” picture at the Gem Pool. I think we are aging a bit more gracefully than the poor little pine tree next to us.

The absolutely fantastic Gem Pool on Mount Washington.

Once a year Laurie and I journey up to the Gem Pool about 1.5 miles up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail on Mount Washington. While there we have our picture taken next to the same tiny pine tree so we can track how it (and we) age. Most of the time we continue on up the trail to the Lakes of the Clouds hut for a warm bowl of soup before heading down the other side on Tuckerman’s Ravine Trail. This time we chose to head up to the summit of Mount Washington. We also chose to journey down Lion’s Head Trail for something different. Awesome hike and views.

Close to the headwaters of the mighty Ammonoosuc River. It eventually empties into the Connecticut River that flows down the NH/VT border.

Laurie is awaiting our annual adventure.

Sounds harmless that a place offers lodging and meals only 2.1 miles up the trail? A very hard 2.1 miles and the lodging is bunk style with many strangers snoring next to you. The fee…about $150 per night per person.

A slightly different type of roadside memorial for this poor Dartmouth Outing Club chap who died of exposure in early December 1928. Not our vision of a good way to go.

One of the many rock hops we needed to perform to get to the other side of the Ammonoosuc.

A surprisingly sturdy bridge. No slipping!

Much of the trail to the hut is on slanted slabs of granite. Surprisingly non too slippery, even when wet.

Not part of the trail but a cool set of waterfalls nonetheless.

The summit is in the clouds as usual. We will soon join the party at tree line.

Each fragile plant in the Alpine Zone can grow only a few centimeters per year due to the harsh climate. The highest recorded temperature on the summit is 72 degrees.

Not sure how many of those pine cones will successfully become a new pine tree?

Instead of a video I tried to put a good rock scramble into a gallery here. I think the video take is probably better but….

One final rock scramble to reach the hut and a much deserved bowl of soup.

What a great space to sit and contemplate life.

Found one of our entries in the log book at Lakes of the Clouds. Excellent memories of a past trip through the area.

One of the two lakes that lend themselves to the name of the hut Lakes of the Clouds.

Here is the other lake “in the clouds” today.

We say goodbye to the hut for another year on our way up to the summit of Mt. Washington 1.4 miles of rock away.

The rock piles called cairns help guide folks along the path when the fog is too thick…..which is almost all the time. Usually these cairns have a brightly colored rock set on top to help with visibility.

We were lucky enough to pass one of the hut’s croo carrying supplies down from the summit.
These wooden framed packs hold well over 100 pounds of supplies.

Views of some of the structures on the summit of Mount Washington. Almost always in the clouds all the buildings are actually chained to the ground to weather the constant winds that are normally in the 30-50 mph range with a world record 231 mph recorded years ago,