Big George

[AlpineSummit]

So, I have now stood atop Mt Washington having finally earned my place there by way of the boot - wooHOO !!! No motorcycle, van, or car this time folks - just good ol' fashioned sweat. What a fun climb.

I have got to say that all in all this was a much easier hike than I would ever have thought. I was pumped up for what I thought would be the workout of teh summer. Oddly tho, this is not a tuff climb; at least when using the Ammonoosuc Trail. Fairly steep, but very pleasant to walk and once the Lake of the Clouds hut is reached - it's a piece of cake to hike the last 1.4 miles and 1200' feet to the summit.

We descended the Jewell Trail, which leaves one above treeline for a long-long time. This was quite the novelty as I am accustomed to hiking in the beloved ADK which is a kwik up & down, in & out of the trees to the summits. Not on this mountain tho! Trees? What trees? George don't need no stinkin' trees!

We somehow manged to find the only period of 8 crappy hours of weather out of 4 otherwise perfect days to hike in. No matter really, as we had a great time. Once in teh trees and an hour from the finish, a thunderstorm came thru and cleared all the clouds away. Back at our car, we were finally able to see the darn summit: 4 hrs and 4000' feet away. Ok, that was a bummer!

All in all, a great trip. And I will share a pic or two when I get home tonite.

Some observations:
- despite being BIG, Mt Washington is easy to climb. Not rugged at all. At least not the way we did it (from the west)
- cairns, thousands of 'em and they're everywhere and really close together. Yes, for good reason too.
-Lake of the Clouds 'Hut' is no hut, it's humongous! It's MEGA-sized and it sleeps 90?
- where are the bugs in the WHites? Maybe in the Adirondacks? Camped out for 4 days & nites and have about 6 bug bites! yea, I can live with that.
- the Cog RR people (aka Environmental TERRORISTS) should be ashamed at what the impact of that disgusting railroad does to the mountain. Just AWFUL to see coal chunks, coal dust, black coal smoke belching everywhere - and not just near the tracks either, I am talking hundreds of yards away you can see dust and grime and chunks of unburned coal just choking the alpine veggies. Walking the gulfside trail, we were choking on coal smoke from I'd guess a mile and a half away!
- sadly there are yahoos in the Whites also. One group of 19, speaking a foreign language, was walking all over the grass on the gulfside trail. I tried to be nice and pointed out to them that they are supposed to be on rocks. "They make our feet hurt" was the lame reply and then laughter as they proceeded past us. OOOOOOOOkay.

Anyway, it was a good trip - and what a mountain!

[Rivet]

- the Cog RR people (aka Environmental TERRORISTS) should be ashamed at what the impact of that disgusting railroad does to the mountain.

So did you "moon" the train?

[lumberzac]

Trader :P
JK

Actually I plan to set foot on "Big" George some time this summer as well. Thanks for the trip report.

[Sparky]

I agree with your comments, that it's not too bad of a hike.

I would venture to guess that the reason for presumed difficulty could be the possible extremes in the weather. If you have a good day, it's really a pleasant hike, except for the wafting smoke from the cog railway.

[Rik]

Glad you had a good trip. Did you find enough water? Did you buy anything on top? Be honest? I got a big kick out of buying soup and a t-shirt!

[1ADAM12]

Congrats on the "BIG" climb. Maybe one day I can add that accomplishment to my list.

Thanks for the great report!

Adam

[AlpineSummit]

Did I buy anything on top?
Me? The mountain purist?

Of course! Let's see:
- 2 chili dogs for me, one for mama, 2 diet cokes (no french fries! bummer)
- a patch - maybe 2, not sure
- mama bought a fleece
- postcards for our kids
- and 3 fridge magnets, one for each of the 'Angels'

Yea, I bought stuff! Turned out to be an expensive summit.

Water was NO problem, I carried my filter for nothing. Water at the summit and at the Lake of the Clouds 'hut'. Hut, that kills me. I wish my casa was as big.

[AlpineSummit]

Nice meeting you also - and Carla, correct??

[AlpineSummit]

We're already talking about trying it again, my way this time. My way would have been Ammonoosuc to summit and maybe the Huntington to descend. We had two cars & coulda done it.

I have a sneaking suspicion that we may be back there this year or next for a re-do.

[Sparky]

When I was up there last summer. We made a vacation of it and stayed at the Mt Washington Hotel. It was really nice at the end of the days hike, sitting on the back porch looking up at Washington and Monroe, saying I just hiked up there. Also, our room had a great view of Washington.

Here's a link: http://www.mtwashington.com/

Glad to hear you had a great trip. I also, found it an expensive hike. Glad I brought some credit cards for the summit shop. ;)

[Antlerpeak]

Alpine if you liked big George you would really like Jefferson. We climbed it from the Caps Ridge Trail, awesome climb. Then hiked along the ridge to Washington and down via the Ammo trail. Of course we had to spot a car. But you could walk the road back to the Caps trail. A second trip we went up the ammo trail hiked south to mitzpah hut spent the night and out over Mt Jackson every summit was great. Huts are pricy but the food is great.