[Highwalker's Daughter]

Ree and I went up Mt. Washington today. It was a wonderful hike. It took us about 2.5 hours to summit. Along the way were some lovely flowers, meadows, a nice tarn, and views. Some people we met told us to go up the "goat trail" so we did that. It was interesting (and a good workout) to go that way, but my dog had a bit of difficulties with her short legs on that section. The views were excellent from there - in spite of the mist that rolled in and out and the layer of clouds below us. There was still some snow on one section of the trail (looked like logging road switchbacks there), but mostly it was snow free. The summit was a bit anticlimatic as the views from the meadow just below the summit were better, and the rock up there is not that wide and was already occupied. We managed to squeeze in, but the next party of two returned to an excellent spot just below the summit. There was a lot of cloud cover and the low rumble of thunder accompanied our lunch up there. We headed down to that meadow and this time were able to see the lakes below us as well as what looked like the "great wall" people speak of in reports. Sadly, Rainier never peeked out, but we saw a lot of other peaks. We went down the regular trail back to the tarn. We stopped at the "owl spot" on the way down and enjoyed reclining on the natural benches there. I'll post pictures later.

Ree at the summit

views

Chester Morse Lake

Ree at the tarn - left to regular trail; right to "goat trail"

[Hikingqueen]

Glad you got out today and thunder was close to me! Too close at times..

[Dayhike Mike]

I'm sooo jealous. My hike today was a bit of a washout. Ugh.

[Highwalker's Daughter]

DHM: Where did you go?

[bobbi]

goat trails can get tricky! glad you and ree got out to enjoy the day! looks like you're building up your trail counts for tuck and robin lakes!

[Highwalker's Daughter]

Yeah, the goat trail portion would have been ok without the dog. I definitely won't take her to Tuck/Robin as Ree said the trail up has parts that are similar to that. The elevation gain is fine for her, but the scrambling up and over tall boulders isn't.

[bobbi]

i'm probably the same height as your collie.. i may have problems with the scrambling up and over tall boulders!

[Highwalker's Daughter]

Ahh, one of the vertically challenged like my daughter (5'2" to my 5"8" . My dog is a Sheltie so she really has short legs. She's great in that she's quiet, doesn't go tearing off, etc., but she does need more help than a bigger dog. She just trots along behind me UNLESS someone has dropped food on the ground; then I have to pull her away from it. She also tends to stop and drink at every creek, but that gives me a good excuse to rest for a minute also

[The Angry Hiker]

I came so close to doing that hike on Saturday, but decided that I didn't want to be stuck in the pouring rain on a mountain with no views.

[Highwalker's Daughter]

We were lucky - no rain at all, but the mist did roll in and out. It's such a nice alternative to Si as there were so few people on the trail. I think we saw about 10 the whole day. We didn't meet anyone with old permits, etc. DARN - no entertainment at all other than the guy at the top doing breathing exercises, and he was quite nice.

[sarbar]

OK, so yesterday as I was hiking downhill I passed the turn off for Washington. There was this guy (maybe in his 40's?) who was hauling this body sized black duffel bag - it was as tall as him. And as well a couple grocery store tote bags. He'd walk 20 feet with the bags, drop them, go back for the duffel. And repeat. Ya know, there are things I don't need to know and why he was hauling all that stuff is one of them

[The Angry Hiker]

Wasn't there a post about some lunatic who was hauling a ton of gear along the PCT like that? I wonder if it was the same guy.

[sarbar]

If I could have gotten a photo without him knowing I would have As is, the guy was avoiding all eye contact

[Highwalker's Daughter]

I'm glad he wasn't there when we were.

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