Mt. Washington Hike - Gulf of Slides & Tuckerman

Headed up to Mt. Washington on Sunday, September 18 for a 8 mile hike to check out some of the skiing terrain for later this winter.  Scott Osgood, Nikki Roux and I headed up the Boot Spur Trail around 9 a.m.  The trail is pretty steep in places and wanders up along side the Gulf of Slides, one of the places I most would like to ski this winter.   We then hiked along a ridge past the top of Hillman's Highway and over to the Tuckerman Ravine trail, which we descended down to the Lunch Rocks.  After a quick lunch, we made are way back to the parking lot around 4 p.m. and headed to the Muddy Moose for a beer and dinner.  Great way to spend a Sunday!  Here are some pictures:

Tuckerman's Ravine - this picture is of some of the rocks that make up the head wall. 

Stay hydrated!

Picture of Tuckerman's Ravine from a look out point on the Boot Spur Trail. 

Hillman's highway.

Probably the worst picture out of the bunch.

Gulf of Slides - picture #1 of 2. 

Gulf of Slides - Picture #2 of 2.

Boot Spur Trail, leading up to the intersection with the Davis Path. 

Top of the Boot Spur Trail.  Success!

Looking down in to Tuckerman's Ravine from the top of the Chute. 

Great picture capturing how steep Tuckerman's really is.  This is taken from the middle of the Lip looking over at the Chute.

Labor Day Weekend Hike - Franconia Ridge

Took advantage of the long weekend to hike Franconia Ridge with Erin and Jon Anderman.  The trail is one of the more well known routes in the White Mountains, but we were all first timers.  The trail starts at the Lafayette Place Campground just before Cannon Mountain, and works its way up to the summit of Mt. Lafayette.  At roughly 5,200 feet, Mt. Lafayette is the sixth highest peak in NH.  From their, we crossed a ridge line that allowed us to also summit Mt. Lincoln and Little Haystack before descending back to the parking lot.  Total distance was just shy of 9 miles.  The hike itself was great, but fog issues kept us from seeing some of the great views along the ridge, including a view of the slide coming down from Mt. Lincoln that I hope to ski this winter.

In addition to the hike, I was able to spend some time surfing with Ryan and Scott on Friday night, and also some time at Lake Winnepasauke on Sunday with Ryan and Justin.  Not too shabby for one weekend!

Enjoy the pictures!

This is a picture of the biggest waterfall on Falling Waters Trail near the end of the descent.  Not sure who the folks are that popped up in the photo.

Summit of Mt. Lafayette - great views!

On the ridge approaching the summit of Mt. Lincoln. 

Pretty cool shot (luck, not skill) - this is the ridge leading up to the summit of Little Haystack.

Same picture, but the clouds are less cool and it is tainted by our ugly mugs. 

The infamous Shining Rock.