A Hike Like No Other...

Day 1
It was a cold, rainy trip as I headed to the Riverside T Station at 5:30am in the morning. As we formed into our teams and got onto the buses, the first drops of rain came down. All of us were hoping that the rain would clear by the time we got to the trailhead.

Once we were dropped off at the trailhead on Route 2 at 9:50am, my team, consisting of Beth, Gina, Laura, Rosa and I assembled ourselves and all of our belongings together getting ready to face our 3-day adventure. There were 4 teams of 5 people going on the Northern Presidentials leg of the White Mountains. After a few warm-up exercises as an entire group and giving our send-offs to each other, my team leader, Beth, gave the 5 of us a necklace that she had gotten from New Zealand. 2 of us had the necklace with a fish hook pendant on it symbolizing prosperity and safe travel; the rest of us received a koru pendant necklace symbolizing renewal and rebirth. I had chosen the koru necklace.





We left the trailhead at 10:30am and traveled on the Air Line trail to Madison Hut. It was 3.7 miles to the hut and we gained 3525 feet to the hut from the drop-off point. We arrived at Madison Hut at 4:30pm, stopping off for lunch halfway there. It was a long hike with steep slopes along the way. Though we started off with clear weather, we did encounter some rainfall along the way, which did not make the trip very pleasant, slipping on some of the rocks. Once at the hut though, we were grateful for our meals specially prepared by the hut “croo”. It was very cold at the hut and once we got there, none of us left until the next morning. With sore legs and sleep-deprived bodies, all of us settled into bed at lights out at 9:30pm that night.






Day 2
We woke up to French Toast at 7am on Saturday and left for our trip to Mt Washington at 8:35am. It was a long, rocky, cold, cloudy and rainy travel to Mt Washington. Traversing the challenging and beautiful Northern Presidential Range on an almost completely above-treeline ridge, we passed the summits of Mt Adams, Mt. Jefferson and Mt Clay along the way. The wind was quite heavy at times that it felt like we’d slip off the rocks at any moment, but we held on tight and strong and trudged our way to the top of Mt Washington. The summit of the mountain is 6288 feet tall with incredible views of the surrounding mountains and beyond. We arrived at the summit at 4:20pm and were greeted with a sunny and clear sky, making the view even more amazing. We descended and were greeted at the Lakes of the Cloud Hut at 6:20pm. We made it just in time for dinner. The entire trip from Madison Hut to Lakes of the cloud Hut was 6.8 miles.













Day 3
On the 3rd and final day, we left Lakes of the Cloud at 8:45am on the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. This trail was 3.1 miles to the Cog Railway parking lot. Although we were descending the entire way, it was quite steep at times. Considering this was our 3rd day hiking, we were tired and did indeed take a few stops to enjoy the falls and even a little dunk in the gem pool (Beth was brave enough to completely submerge herself in the water). We finally reached the parking lot at 12:50pm; putting a great end to a long hike.












It was an awesome and adventurous hike and the memories of hiking Mt Washington are still fresh in my head. The feat of strenuously climbing and summiting the highest peak of the White Mountains definitely made the 3 day trip well worth it. Despite the fact that there were times when all of us were burnt out, we still made it through and what an adventure it was!

Thank you to all for your support and generous donations.