Mount Washington

Carter Koch (my uncle), and my brother Eric left the trailhead at 6:00 am. At around 6:30 we came to the stream crossing. It was quick but very frigid, 48 degree air temp. 45 degree water temp.

There was still snow under the large boulders in the fan and in Tuckerman's. We took a rest at the top of the fan in the gully right next to a little waterfall. Then we began the so called crux of the route which was wet in the cracks from rain the (night before. Most of the cracks were wet and slimy creating some dicey moves.

Further up the trail we came across a quarter face down on the trail. Eric jokingly warned me not to pick up the face down quarter. I picked it up and less than a minute later a huge rockfall flew down the gully we were sitting in moments before. It was a wake up call for us; this mountain may be small, but it is no Sunday stroll.

From the top of the Ravine we took the Alpine Garden trail to the Lion's Head trail to the summit. Tuckerman's and the summit were both complete zoo's.

We quickly descended the other side to escape the crowds. We descended down Boot Spur only seeing 2 other hikers.

Overall we lucked out with no crowds in Huntington, (3 other people)a close call with a rockfall, and no afternoon wind or thunderstorm. By days end we took 10.5 hours to do 10.5 miles. Not a land speed record but it was still a nice challenging trail.