This is a long overdue trip report form late June of this year.
I jumped on a plane in Charlotte headed to Boston this summer with a friend of mine to meet up with another friend who was living in Boston at the time. We arrived in Boston and went into town for some oysters and Sam Adams. We stashed our luggage at the Parker House and ate and drank until we couldn't take anymore and then hopped on the T for my buddy's apartment. We are all in our early 30's and a few years ago this may be been at 2am but we were asleep by 10:30.
We crashed at his place and got up at 6 and grabbed his car and drove to the hospital where he worked and picked him up and hit the road. He slept in the back while we drove North for the white Mountains. We stopped somewhere in New Hampshire of a road without much on it for some breakfast. We pulled into a picture perfect New England town and by some strange chance I had been there once before on my only trip to New England as a 6th grader. I recognized the Poor Peoples Pub as a place we stopped when I was a kid traveling with my family. They were closed but the door was open so we went in and I bought a T-shirt and got a recommendation for a place to grab breakfast. We had some excellent blueberry pancakes and it was evident to everyone in the restaurant that we were from the south with our accents. When we finished breakfast and asked for our check the waitress told us another customer had paid our bill and hoped we had a great vacation. We loved the hospitality the entire week in New England, the people we met were welcoming and incredibly generous.
We made it to the trail head at Pinkham Notch a little later than expected but hit the trail just after lunch. Our original plan was to make it past the Madison Hut that night and camp below the tree line but the weather intervened. It started raining and we weren't covering as much ground as we expected so we made it to a campsite just below the tree line and set up camp in the rain. I knew I could be in trouble when my rain jacket had soaked through in a light drizzle. (It is a Marmot Precip rain jacket) It had soaked the shoulders of my down sweater but luckily I was able to get it dried out overnight. I am currently in the middle of making a warranty claim with Marmot over the lifetime guarantee of their jacket to be waterproof.
All three of us are hangers. I had my claytor with ccf pads and a marmot sleeping bag and then we had a stock Hennessy and a Grand Trunk in the group.
We slept fine but it rained all night off and on and was raining pretty good when we got up. We hoped it was going to slow down but of course it didn't we we packed up in a very cold rain and hit the trail. It wasn't long before we were about to get above the tree line and just as we did we passed a hiker who started at the Madison Hut that morning. He said "it's another world up there, get ready". Turns out he was right. We cinched down our pack covers and made sure we were as waterproof as we could be.
I would consider myself an experienced hiker, I have been backpacking for years a lot of which is chronicled here in my trip reports. I have camped in national parks, sectioned hiked parts of the AT, solo hiked, hiked Mt. Mitchell, Grandfather, Mt. Rogers, Linville Gorge, The Blood Mountains, the Smokies, Lake Tahoe, and I've skied all over the Rockies. I felt like I was prepared for the weather in New Hampshire. I've skied when the wind is blowing at 40mph and the wind chill is -50 but I have never done anything outdoors that prepared me for hiking above the tree line in a storm.
As we stepped out of the trees the first thing that was noticed was the wind as we had to brace ourselves against it. We learned later that day that it was blowing at a sustained 50mph with 70mph gusts. Plus it was raining and the temp was just slightly above freezing, in late June. At home it was 90 and humid. Visibility was at best 20 feet and at times you could barely see your feet. All that combined with the rockiest terrain I had ever seen. There was no dirt, just rocks. No trail, just rocks. We navigated from rock pile to rock pile or cairn which being Scottish I am quite familiar with the term and we loved hiding behind them for a few minutes to get out of the wind.
The uneven terrain took a toll on my knee which just seemed to deteriorate as we went. We covered ground at a snails pace and we all fell every few steps. We couldn't see anything and it was hard to even stand in the wind. The rain was painful as it hit your skin and it was freezing. We would occasionally yell at one another that we were insane and that our wives would kill us if they could see what we were doing. As much as we tried we couldn't seem to cover any ground. At some point the pack cover flew off my pack and pulled loose the knot that kept it attached and was gone. One of my trekking poles got wedged in some rocks and could not be coaxed back out so it had to stay on Madison as an offering to the mountain.
It was about 4 tenths of a mile from where we got above the tree line to the Madison Springs hut. When it came into view after 3 hours of stumbling over rocks we were thrilled to say the least. At some point on the mountain I felt my left boot start to fill with water and then some time later I could feel my right start to fill. My goretex rain pants were soaked through and my rain jack felt like a cotton sweatshirt.
We busted into the Madison Hut shivering, wet, and desperate to get warm. I was soaked to the bone. My pack was soaked and everything I had on was wet. Thank god for dry sacks I stripped naked and put on dry clothes and hung what I had up to dry. The people in the hut had not gone outside and looked at us like we were nuts. We had blue feet and were shivering like crazy. The hut was gorgeous and we wanted to stay but they were booked for the night. All we knew was that we could not go back out in that weather and expect to be able to camp. One guys sleeping bag was soaked through. My boots were filled with water and I was still shivering after an hour in the hut. We paid for hot tea and some fritata that was great and started to consult our maps.
Based on advice from the folks in the hut we decided to take a trail down the mountain that would put us on the opposite side of the ridge from Pinkham Notch and not at all where we had planned on being. The nice thing was as soon as we were back below the tree line the hiking was back to normal, the rain was no more than a drizzle and the wind had stopped. It really was another world up there.
We made it back to the road and my knee was feeling much better. We stuck out our thumb and in no time at all had a ride. One of our guys jumped in a car of a super nice guy who happened to be the chair of the democratic party in the county and gave him a ride back to Pinkham notch to pick up his car. He then drove pack and picked us up and we went into town in search of a hotel with a dryer. We staying in Gorham for the night.
We found a great motel for $70 and immediately took turns showering and drying out every single thing we had in the 3 dryers. After that we ran to the store for some beers and then crashed. The next morning we headed back to Pinkham notch to try again.
We set out for Tuckerman's Ravine and made it to the camp area in a few hours. We explored the cabins and lean-tos and then picked out a site and let the host know where we were. The set up was great and I fell in love with Tuckermans Ravine. The amenities were awesome and the scenery was amazing. As the clouds started to part the views were amazing and to top it all off people were still skiing there, in june. We hiked up the ravine a little way and took in more of the views, chatted it up with other campers and skiers. What a great place!
We cooked dinner had a few sips of bourbon and went to bed with plans to summit Mt. Washington the next day.
We got up the next morning packed day packs and set out for the top of Washington. The summit was a few thousand feet above where we were and it was straight up. The day was beautiful, no clouds and perfect temps. Unfortunately about halfway up my knee started acting up again but I was determined to make it. The trail was all uphill and after passing the lions head and taking in the amazing views the trail turned to rock again. We reached the summit just after noon and as soon as we stepped onto the parking lot the wind hit us again. It was gusting above 70mph and almost knocked us of our feet. I was limping pretty good at this point but we went into the visitor center for some lunch and relaxation. I was pumping vitamin i for my knee and enjoying some tourist pizza. We bought our souvenirs and started back for the trail and I quickly realized there was no way I was going to make it back down those rocks on my knee. I was in obvious pain just going down stairs and I had to swallow my pride and throw in the towel.
I sent my friends on their way and headed for the hiker shuttle. The shuttle one way was $40 so I broke the rules and offered a young couple $10 for a ride pack to Pinkham notch. They obliged and off we went. The view was gorgeous from the seat of a truck and I was back at Pinkham notch again in no time at all.
I set out to hike back to Tuckerman’s on a much gentler grade. My pace was slow but I made it back just after my hiking partners had packed up camp. I took my pack and we headed back down to the parking lot.
We unloaded and cleaned up and then hit the road for Portland Maine. I was not able to straighten my knee and sitting in the car did nothing for it. I have never had an issue while hiking before but I worry about this now. I’m 31 and as I sit here now several months later my knee still doesn’t seem right even after several doctor visits so we will see.
Portland was a great city and we found a reasonably priced hotel right downtown. We showered and then set out for a late Lobster dinner. We dined on lobster and fresh oysters and then hit the town for local beer. Had an excellent night and then crashed in the hotel and slept like babies. The next day we toured the town, ate locally made blueberry ice cream, lobster rolls, and had a few more beers. We headed south towards Boston with some quick stops in Kennebunkport and Ogunquit to take in the towns. From there we went straight back to the airport and boarded a plane headed to Charlotte to go back home.
All in all it was an adventurous trip. We had to improvise due to weather and medical issues but we had what I guess you can call a quintessential White Mountain experience and we had an excellent whirlwind tour of Boston, New Hampshire, and Southern Maine. The trip wasn’t expensive and is certainly one to remember. I do know that I am going to have to rehab this knee and make another attempt to that I can cross off the traverse from my bucket list but you won’t have to twist my arm for a return trip to hike and visit New England.
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