Saturday July 30, 2005

Davis Path - Rte 302 to Mt Washington

With our plans to go sailing for the weekend being messed up with a need to possibly work Sat night, we opted to join some VFTT members for a hike of the Davis Path. The original plans called for a ascent as far as the Boot Spur trail where we would descent to our car at Pinkham Notch. However - the plans changed as we kept seeing Mt Washington getting closer as we made our way over several peaks. Between talks of filling our tummies with whoopie pies on the summit, and two babes promising to moon the cog, the plan was modified for 5 of the 7 of us to include a full traverse of the Davis Path, with Lions Head as the route down to our car at Pinkham.

This is the first part of the route we took today.

Directions to the trailhead: The trail start on Route 302 at a parking area on the West side of the Saco River near the Notchland Inn, @ 5.6 miles south of the Wiley House in Crawford Notch.

Time to summit: 8:45

This is the second part of the route we took today.

The profile of our hike.

A 3-D view of the first part of our hike to the summit.

A 3-D view of the middle part of our hike to the summit.

A 3-D view of the final part of our hike to the summit.

Here at the start of the hike are Rachel (AKA Little Sister) and Mary Ellen (AKA MEB) It's 7 AM and the sun is shining.

A little less than an hour into the hike we stopped for a break at and overlook and enjoyed the views, and some snacks. Andy brought the healthy food.

Rachel pointed out the peaks that she could recognize, including Mt Willey where Brian was scheduled to hike the next day.

MEB broke out her double chocolate - chocolate chip cookies which we all dove into.

Abouit 75 minutes into the hike we reached the summit of Mt Crawford. Great views in all directions.

WE could see our destination, although at this point we had not decided we were heading there, but the topic was starting to be discussed.

Rachel and Brian taking in the sights. Brian leaves for the West Coast next month, so is working hard to finish the NH48 before he leaves.

MEB with her hair down - first time hiking we have seen here without a cap or bandana.

As we continied on we enjoyed a look back at the summit of Mt Crawford. Next up would be Mt Stairs.

Just below the summit of Stairs is a lookout. Here is MEB taking a pic of the great view.

Brian being sure to stay hydrated. We all brought a lot of water with us as we anticipated that most of the water would be dried up - it was.

A view looking south from the ledge just past the summit of Stairs.

Here is the crew enjoying the sun, views, and of course - a snack. Just a few feet from the ledge is a legal campsite that was occupied by a couple who showed suprise that we all only knew each other from a website.

Next up was Davis. The trail between Stairs is gentle and very pleasant. Along it are a couple more legal tent sites. Mt Washington is getting closer!

Rachel was working on her tan - guess her ideal hike is one including a beach.

MEB and Geri at the summit marker. The steady breeze kept us cool and the bugs away. We could have spent several hours here enjoying the view.

Tom and Brian sharing a story. It was about here that the talk of summitting MT Washington gained momentum.

Of course - no peak is complete without a snack! After 30 minutes we headed out for out next peak - the first 4000 footer of the day - Mt Isolation.

From the summit of Isolation, Mt Washington looks fairly close.

Tom, Andy, and Brian celebrate checking Isoalation off their NH48 list - congrats! This was Andy's first hike with the VFTT crew - what a way to start!

Rachel and MEB - who are sisters from the Portland, Maine area.

Brain and Geri listening to the discussion on summitting Mt Washington. Was it the thought of whoopie pies that has Brian smiling - or something else?

After leaving Mt Isolation the trail to the junction with Boot Spur is steep and steady. About halfway we stopped for another break, and snacks. Here is Brian enjoying the view.

What a great spot for a picnic.

We re-grouped one more time at the Glen Boulder junction.

Geri and Andy leading the way. When we reached the Glen Boulder junction, Andy and Geri decided to head down to Pinkham Notch, while the remaining 5 of us continued on to Mt Washington.

Only 2 miles to go - no problem!

That's the AMC Lake of the Clouds hut in the center of the pic.

Meb taking a pic while Rachel looks on. Tom (in blue) continues upward.

One last rest before the summit. No summit pics - the place was packed due to the finish of the Sea to Summit race.. The race, which started in New Castle, NH consisted of a 12 mile ocean kayak followed by a 90 mile bike ride, finishing with a 8 1/2 mile run, the last 4.1 miles up the Tuckerman Ravine trail to the summit. The winning time was 8 hours 7 minutes. The fastest women completed the race in 9 hours, 50 minutes and was 54 years old!!

One last pic as we head out. After leaving the summit, some of the group decided that we had to complete the days trip in under 12 hours, and set a fast pace down Lions Head, which turned into a jog once we reached the Tuckerman Ravine trail . We even managed to give some folks along the trail some entertainment as MEB's pole got stuck in a rock, and I ran right into it - OUCH!

We reached the AMC center right at 7 PM - after a few quick phone calls (good news from work!) and wash up we were off to gather cars and food. After hearing from Hiker Bob that he had completed his hike (Congrats!) 8 of us met at the Mooseland Grill, where we found 3 more members of VFTT.

The total trip took 11 hours 45 mnutes with just over 7000 feet of elevation gain. A great day on the trail which has us excited about atempting another "death march" - a Presidential Traverse. Stay tuned!

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