Mt Washington hike

For the first time in 20 years I could not run down Mt Washington (due to my arthritic ankle), so I made the best of it and came up with some “high points” to visit.  After a quick change of clothes I grabbed my camera and Action Dave and headed back up to the summit where my loop would start.  The weather was perfect with clear skies and very little wind.

 

I headed down the connector trail which was a rocky jumble that dropped 300’ in a ¼ mile.  My legs were a bit wobbly from the race but I took my time and was cautious.  This took me to the White Mountain National forest high point, which appeared to be a grassy flat area near the trail.

 

From the WMNF HP I continued down the connector then turned onto the Gulfside trail.  This was a lot less steep, dropping another 300’ in ½ mile.  The Gulfside Wilderness high point was also close to the trail on the edge of the massive drop into the Gulfside.  I took a few pictures then headed up a connector trail the dropped me at a parking lot on the Auto Road.

 

From the road I climbed to the Nelson Crag trail then did a quick out and back to bag the Ball Crag summit (6105’).  I took some pictures from this point including some shots of the summit from an angle I’d never seen before.  From Ball Crag I completed the loop by climbing back up to the top of Mt Washington (6288’).  I finished the hike with a short visit to the summit building where I bought a couple of (expensive) Cokes for the ride down.

 

I definitely missed getting to run down on such a beautiful day, but the new (for me) views made it well worth missing.