Northern Presidentials - Aug 1

The weather is forecast to deteriorate later today. Having done our Work For Stay last night, Spoon and I get an early start up to Mt Washington. At the top we get the last glimpses of views as the clouds start to roll in. Splendid! 

Inside the lodge a sign lists 150 deaths on Mt Washington since 1849. The intent is not to be morbid, but to illustrate that the risks are real and hopefully prevent more deaths.  The recent average is two deaths per year, and that's just this one mountain. Only 20% are younger folks that you might think of as more likely to take risks or make mistakes. Most are seasoned folk my age. That's a wake up call. While half are winter tragedies, half occur in the summer. I can't deny that the profile fits. Falls and weather are the most serious risks.

We get off the top and follow the route past Clay, Jefferson, Adams, Sam Adams, Quincy Adams, and Madison. The trail through the Northern Presidentials is a stunningly beautiful ridge route outlining a horseshoe, first north, then east, and then south.

We try to keep pushing to get down low before the weather deteriorates later this afternoon, but I can only muster one mile an hour in this rocky terrain (and those statistics for Mt Washington keep me cautious with every step).

We hike on rocks all day. While there is not much hands-on-rocks climbing, it is still very slow. The day accumulates more than a full vertical mile of descent, all of it pounding drops from one rock to another. Our knees and foot pads hurt and the incessant rocky descent seems to never stop. It seems like an endless rubble pile as we pick our way along the ridge, dropping over one peak after another. 

We hike together most of the day, but near the end Spoon took off a little faster to beat the rain, and we met up at bottom. The last couple of miles finally opens up into good trail and we both run to get down safely, beating most of the rain. 

Exhausted and sore, the mental worry about weather took away some of the joy. But it is still a great day. 

14.8 miles to Pinkham Notch