We’ve heard great things about the White Mountains in New Hampshire, but one of the best things we heard was at our campground just outside of the Presidential Range a gentleman told us “good luck, ain’t no switchbacks here. Here, we go straight up”.

Before we uncovered the merits of this purveyor of truth, we had a non-hiking day to fill and some provisions we needed, so we did one of our favorite things…

SHOPPING! We absolutely love REI. We would go to REI just to hang out and see what’s new, even if we didn’t need anything. Fortunately this trip we did need something, because who likes to go to REI and not buy something?!

I’ve been in need for a mid-layer jacket for a few months now and (spoiler alert) we needed micro-spikes for the hike. Not to be left out though, Guinness wanted something too.

Can your dog really be considered spoiled if he doesn’t have a tug-o-war kayak? This was a no brainer, it made it in the cart.

After stocking up on necessities, we had a few more errands to run before heading back to the campsite. We struck out on the things we needed, namely a gravel bike for me, but we did find this gem…

Guinnness rocking his new outdoor trucker hat.

After a fun day of shopping in the local towns we headed back to camp to get ready for the big hike. Fortunately for us the weather forecast called for beautiful skies and warm temperatures. For those familiar with Mount Washington you know how rare that saying is. For those unaware, briefly read this.

Note: As I’m writing this it’s snowing on top of the mountain...it’s June 7th.

The Hike

“Here we go straight up”

The morning of the hike came and we were up early, the comments from our neighbor the day before on our minds. We definitely were wondering if we could do this. 1,000ft/mile is pretty intense and we knew that the first two miles were relatively flat, which meant it was more like 1,500ft/mile. Plus snow and ice. Plus crazy winds. Only one way to find out.

Omni Mount Washington in the foreground with Mount Washington in the background.

Forests, Creeks, and Waterfalls

As expected the beginning of the hike was relatively mild, over creeks and through thick forests before getting to the Ammonoosuc River. We stopped about every two feet to take pictures and take it all in, and the weather was indeed perfect. We started out in the high-60’s, so it was very comfortable.

Guinness ran about 100ft for every 10ft we took. He would run up the trail and then back to us, never leaving eyesight. He had a ball and loves his hiking pack, which doubles as a nice elevator when we get to a creek too big for him to cross.

Stairs, Snow, and Ice

Once we cross the first big waterfall we were officially going up. Steeper than the steps in your home, it was up up up, except these were uneven boulders covered in water from the nearby river. This trail quite literally takes you up the Ammonoosuc River, which actually begins on a snow-melt lake on top of the mountain at Lake of the Clouds.

For now, we were still well below that, and begin the climb up the rocks, snow and ice. This was actually Guinness’s favorite part. He loves to dig and when we got to the snow he just went crazy and started digging all over it…because who is tired after having scaled 4,000ft.

Lake of the Clouds

After a 3hr climb we made it to Lake of the Clouds and intersected the Appalachian Trail. Through hikers on the AT will stay here and wait out weather before continuing on through the Presidential Range. As you read earlier, the weather can be brutal on top of the mountain and hikers have to wait for favorable conditions. Since we already had those, we racked back by the lake and had an amazing lunch.

Mount Washington Summit

After our 4,000 calorie lunch, we headed off for the summit. We were pretty warm at this point and protected from the winds by the lake. We couldn’t have picked a better spot. As we began crossing the partial lakes and ice, Guinness took off out on the snow covered ice (see aforementioned comment about him loving the snow) and almost fell through; it was more like slush than hardpack. Fortunately the little nugget didn’t become a popsicle and we ventured on.

This part is cool…literally.

All signs of vegetation vanished. If not for the absence of red in the rock, you’d think you were on Mars. Every direction looks the same. We eventually were no longer walking on ground, the path was just boulders. LOTS. OF. BOULDERS. To guide hikers, they’ve built these massive cairns every 20ft or so and it’s obvious why. In any inclement weather, you wouldn’t be able to see which direction to go, so instead, you go from one cairn to the next until you finally get there. Of course, if you can only see 19ft in front of you you’d have a problem; hence the Lake of the Clouds shelter.

It turned out that even our perfect day could turn fatal if not prepared. The winds picked up by this point and were consistently around 30mph with gusts in the 40s. The temperature dropped drastically, to around 50, with a wind-chill of 40, on the summit. We were still warm from the hike up, but cooled off quickly. We broke out the down jackets though and powered through.

The Descent

After our summit photoshoot and Olgs donning every piece of clothing she brought, we started down. We decided on doing a loop, so the route down was slightly different. 5.5 miles up, now 6 miles down. The wind was howling at this point and it made boulder hopping even more difficult; but the sun beating down on us kept us warm and full of energy.

After descending a bit we came across one of the coolest parts of this mountain, The Mount Washington Cog Railway. Originally we were just going to ride this up, but with the favorable weather we decided to take the more challenging, and in our opinion, rewarding option, hike to the top.

As we began to descend it got warmer with every step. Layers were shed and we even had to put the cooling vest on Guinness. We were on the westward facing slope and directly in the sun and got hot. Fortunately we dropped back into the tree line around 5,000ft and were back on firm ground after about 4hrs straight of walking on boulders.

The route back was much less eventful, and we were pretty exhausted at this point, but we did pass a few meandering creeks which felt great to dip in to keep cool.