Mt. Washington 5/25/2016

Color along the trail
Color along the trail

Solo hike today up Mt. Washington.  I have done this more than a dozen times but not since early last fall, when I ran across construction equipment.

Derek and I were on Mt. Washington a couple of months ago when we descended via the Mt. Washington trail after doing Change Peak.  But we did not hike up Mt. WA trail, nor did we visit the summit.

I got fairly soaked today, very rainy.  No views.  Best view was early (I was on the trail at 5:15):

NW view 5:50 am
NW view 5:50 am

By the time I was on the summit, the electronic gizmo at the top was the greatest view:

At the summit - oh boy, what a view
At the summit – oh boy, what a view

But as many times as I had been up there, I had never stepped to a little-noticed section just a few feet NW of the summit rock.  I entered the little tree-covered area to get out of the rain and I noticed an ‘official’ geocache box:

Geocache at the summit
Geocache at the summit

I opened it up and signed the notebook inside.  The first signature was from 2005, the most recent from about 2 weeks ago, so it has persisted for a long time.  Glad no one has vandalized it.  It isn’t easy to find, which is why it is a geocache.

There is a section on this hike that, with no snow, is fairly trivial to navigate.  The section consists of boulders you have to navigate but, as I say, it really is not a problem:

This is where I don't like to see snow
This is where I don’t like to see snow

But with lots of snow this place gives me the willies.  I was glad to see Mt. Washington has transitioned to snow-free.  Now, all I have to do is find a day without rain.

Visualization:

http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/mt-washington-5-25-16/#.V0X4SZXltD8