Location

The following is a summary of a night / day hike to the summit of Mt. Washington via the famous Tuckerman Ravine trail

We began on Saturday evening at 10:30pm, leaving from the visitor center at Pinkham Notch. The Tuckerman Ravine trail is the most widely traveled route on Mt. Washinton. For a steeper, longer and less crowded alternative try the Lion’s Head trail. We began our ascent at 10:30pm in order to avoid the Labor Day Weekend crowds. The first mile of the trail is easy going, with minimal elevation gain and relatively good footing. Soon after the trail turns to a wide path of boulders and begins climbing towards Hermit Lake. The trail is wide and enclosed by foliage. Hiking the lower section of Tuckerman’s at night is ideal because the trail has no view and is mostly a slog. Water is accessible on the lower mountain and we stopped to fill-up and rest at many points along the trail. Between Pinkham Notch and Hermit Lake the trail ascends 1,800 feet in 2.4 miles. As we approached Hermit Lake the trail steepened significantly, becoming a series of stone steps that ascend the remaining 2,500 feet. The majority of movement is on rocks ranging from flat intentionally placed stairs to boulder fields marked by cairns.

After two hours of hiking we passed the established Hermit Lake hut and lean-to’s, all of which were filled near capacity. We chose to push on giving little thought to our future sleeping arrangements. As we approached the lower headwall we realized the cloud ceiling had dropped significantly and condensation was accumulating on the rocks that were our path up the headwall. We decided that it would be prudent to defer the headwall portion until it could be done under natural light. In keeping with leave not trace principles we scouted the area for flat rocks that would minimize our impact. We found a comfortable well established clearing immediately under the lower headwall and set about making dinner and winding down. No camping is allowed outside of designated areas on Mt. Washington and we were conflicted as to whether we should hike back down the Hermit Lake and wake up an entire campsite in order to get 2 hours of sleep. Instead we decided to not to make camp but to rest from 3am-sunrise at the base of Tuckerman Ravine in direct view of the coming sunrise.

Just prior to sunrise, the air was crisp and the cloud ceiling was high. I took pictures continuously as we packed our bags and headed up the headwall. As we ascended the headwall we followed the pink glow of rising sunlight on the exposed rocks. By midway up the headwall clouds had begun to descend upon the mountain and as they passed over Tuckermans and dropped into the canyon swirled around, vying for position with the newly warmed air. The view at this point was breathtaking and it was short lived as the clouds descended blanketing us in myst. The final push to the top was not particularly note-worthy. We entered the alpine tundra encased in fog and negotiated from cairn to cairn barely able to make out the members of the group. My first reaction to the summit was one of disappointment, we had climbed through pristine environments, encountered virtually no-one, only to Summit onto an established road with minivans whizzing in both directions. In fairness, had the visibility been better I would likely have been in awe of the view.

We found our way to the true summit and waited behind the line of tourists, all of us taking the requisite pictures that would immortalizing ourselves as blurry forms on the famously stormy mountain. Subsequently we entered the observatory which reminded me of a ski mountain lodge with thankfully lower food prices. We spend several hours in the pack room (downstairs) resting ourselves and the dog, waiting for a break in the clouds and running outside in giddy anticipation of the coming view. In the early afternoon we were blessed with a sustained cloud break and we lounged in the alpine tundra, protected from the wind via a large rock that overlooked the Boott Spur trail and the surrounding mountains. Overall the trip was exceptional, hiking with my good friend Mike and John Vega as well as John's Siberian Husky Denali is always a treat and I would like to thank John for organizing the trip and leading us up the mountain. Mike should be commended for willing his way up and down the mountain just weeks after knee surgery. It is fantastic to be lead up a mountain by a working dog.