White Mountain National Forest - 2006
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We traveled to the White Mountains in New Hampshire like I have in a number of other situations. I drove. After reaching Erie, PA in 12 hours, I was surprised when the gas station attendant told me we had another 12 hours to go. Wow. So, after leaving Chicago at 8pm on Thursday, we arrived at the trailhead for the Ammonoosuc Trail near the Cog Railway at 6pm on Friday. With little to no light remaining, we started up the Ammonoosuc Trail, and after a few hours found a flat somewhat open spot to camp for the night. The next morning, we packed up our gear and continued east on the trail, continuing to add elevation. After many hours and passing the Gem Pool, we found a flat, shallow place to stow our gear, and serve as an eventual basecamp. Having a lighter load, we continued southeast towards the Lakes of the Clouds hut. We overcame the treeline and reached the ridge around 3pm on Saturday. My partner was pretty spent, but the allure of Mt. Washington was pretty appealing. I initially struck out for the summit, but then the reality of situation dawned on me. It would be multiple hours to reach Mt. Washington and return. Upon my return, we would be descending the trail in the dark. Not a good situation. Instead, I returned to my partner, and after taking some pictures descended. A few hours later, we reached our previous cache, and camped for the night.
On Sunday, we descended the mountain and returned home. After nearly a day of driving, lots of fuel fill ups at $5/gal, we returned back to Chicago on Monday afternoon. In the future, I would elect to fly to the Northeast US.