A few weeks ago I went on another hike to the White Mountains. This time the hike was to the top of Mt Lafayette. The peak was at about 5000' elevation. It was supposed to be a 6 hour hike round trip so we started pretty early. At 8am-ish it was only in the high 30s!! Once we started going up we got pretty warm pretty quickly.
This was a gorgeous, gorgeous hike!! The hike just went up and up and up with no flat sections and no brief downhills. About half-way up we reached a super-steep section where we had to practically rock climb up. After that we hit the snow line. Yes, snow line - as in, there had already been several good snows! And it was only the beginning of November!!
Hiking in the snow was easy - many hikers before us had packed it down and it wasn't the deep.
The tough part was the ice! There were two long sections that were like a super steep ice skating rink. I slipped and went down a few times and embarassingly screamed like a girl each time (sorry - no pictures of the embarrassment!). The last stretch was incredibly steep and snowy and windy. We were so close to the top but the winter obstacles made it feel like we were so far away. The best we could do was follow the cairns and hope that we were going the right way.
Perserverance and the promise of m&ms at the top pushed us through. What a reward! What a view! It was so clear that we could see Mt. Washington (its the snowy peak in the picture below)! So amazing!
We rested and froze in the wind for about an hour at the top before making our way down. Sadly this might have been the last hike with a major elevation climb for the season. The weather is getting colder and I am getting wimpier. Can't wait wait to check out the White Mountains in spring!
Hiking in the snow was easy - many hikers before us had packed it down and it wasn't the deep.
The tough part was the ice! There were two long sections that were like a super steep ice skating rink. I slipped and went down a few times and embarassingly screamed like a girl each time (sorry - no pictures of the embarrassment!). The last stretch was incredibly steep and snowy and windy. We were so close to the top but the winter obstacles made it feel like we were so far away. The best we could do was follow the cairns and hope that we were going the right way.
Perserverance and the promise of m&ms at the top pushed us through. What a reward! What a view! It was so clear that we could see Mt. Washington (its the snowy peak in the picture below)! So amazing!
We rested and froze in the wind for about an hour at the top before making our way down. Sadly this might have been the last hike with a major elevation climb for the season. The weather is getting colder and I am getting wimpier. Can't wait wait to check out the White Mountains in spring!
No comments:
Post a Comment