An exciting day to climb Mount Washington. It is the highest point in New Hampshire, and the highest point east of the Mississippi. I sent Nathan a text to check off the highest point in NH for me.
It was a short and pretty easy hike. The first section out of the hut was a little difficult, but not to bad. After that a good trail.
At one point there was a side trail that went up to the peak of Mount Eisenhower. The AT went around the summit. I suggested to Tyler that he go up the summit and I go around on the AT. That would give him a chance to challenge himself without me being in front and holding him up. He has been so good to stay with me, and always follow. He agreed. I was surprised he did. We agreed that the first person who reached where the trails joined together would wait for the other. It was fun to see the excitement he had to do this. He offered one finally time for me to hike with him, which I declined. I told him it wasn’t a race and I was going to go normal speed. I actually did and stopped to take some pictures of some wildflowers. He also said he would call me when on the peak. I wasn’t 1/4 of the way when he called me. He must have run up the hill! It was a race against himself, I wasn’t even in the contention. I know he enjoyed the challenge, though he played it down. He has been great to hike with, and has always insisted to follow. Great son.
While hiking we texted Mindy and told her to come an hour earlier. At 1:00 pm. Mount Washington summit was covered in clouds, so we couldn’t see much. It was also cold and wind. 51° F and 39 mph winds. The chill factor was 40° F. When the family arrived we climbed to the very top and took a picture. See pictures. We debated whether to wait for the clouds to clear or leave. We decided to not wait. As we drove down we broke out of the clouds within a couple hundred feet. Tyler noted it and asked if we wanted to go back up. We said no. Another 10 minutes down the road, which was narrow, steep, and windy, we stopped to cool the brakes and take some pictures. We looked back up to see that the summit was completely clear. We should have waited 10 more minutes. It wasn’t forecasted to clear for a couple more hours. Tyler kidded us about him telling us. We decided not to drive back up.
It was good that we didn’t drive back up as we would have missed the window to go zip lining. We made reservations and headed to Lincoln, NH which was 1 1/2 drive away. It was worth it the kids hadn’t zipped lined before. We had a great adventure. Pictures tell it best.
We had s’mores tonight. Fun, fun, and tasty.
Pictures:
1. Trail to Mount Washington. Tyler and me.
2. Wildflowers.
3. Pictures on Mount Washington.
4. Zip line.
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