Washington & Monroe- 8/30/2003

[Stephen]

Date(s) Hiked: 8/30/2003

Trails(s) Hiked: Ammonnusuc Ravine Trail, Crawford Path, Mt. Monroe Loop, Gulfside Trail, Jewell Trail

Total Distance: ~11.0 miles

Difficulty: Moderate, and a lot of it!

Conditions: In the clouds from 4000' and above. slight hail at Washington peak.

Special Required Equipment: raincoat, GLOVES!

Trip Report: How could I forget gloves?! Well, wool socks work just fine.
This was my first time at the big one, and, as usual, I was ambitious and bagged Monroe along the way.

The hike into Gem Pool was easy. Then the altitude starts. As we got to the Lake of the Clouds hut, the clouds settled in. However we had a neat experience on the plateau as we came down Monroe, we saw the cloud level dropping and rising, and got some great pics of the area (see below).

We moved on to the summit of Washington over the endless rocks. This area is just begging to roll your ankle. Plus with the condensation everywhere, the footing was a little tricky at times. The wind blowing us up the trail was intense at time, adding to the difficulty of trying to keep good footing as we walked.

Got some nourishment at the peak, took some pics of the sign, then the hail started. This made me a bit nervous, and we briefly discussed head back the way we came. However, neither of us (my brother was with me) cherished the idea of hiking into that headwind. So we stuck with the plan to make our way to Jewell.

As we hiked along, I said, "Look there's a piece of coal. Oh Look there's another one." I then glanced up as I almost ran into the tracks for the cog. Doh!

We were glad to get out of the clouds. We were even happier to get to the rolling hills with pine needle-covered trails towards the end of the Jewell.

Total trip time (with lots of dallying around the hut and Washingonton's peak) was 11 hours.

My pics can be found here.