Our plan today was to hike Mailbox Peak (there it is) but the road to the trail head was under construction and a very nice but very firm highway worker told us to scram.
So we came up with a quick plan B. We went four miles farther east on I-90 and, once again, found ourselves in the parking lot from which most hikes up Mount Washington are launched. And we decided to do the Great Wall trail again, but this time make the final turn correctly.
Which we did.
70 degrees, perfectly sunny, absolutely perfect weather. And when you are hiking through a forest, the sunny weather creates some awesome interplays of sun and shade.
Check out the final sentence in the 2nd episode of Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ and multiply it by several miles and you will get the idea.
Speaking of forest, it has its own attractions:
View after view makes it difficult to choose a winner but this one is pretty nice: (good eye, Derek!)
The Great Wall is an exceedingly impressive wall of rocks and trees:
Every time you get a nice view of Mt. Rainier from the summit of this mountain the view is different. Infinitely interesting:
Looking at the map and adding the distances as best as we can we figure our hike today was about 12 miles. And we did it in about 4:45 – not exactly running, but given the elevation gain (about 3300 or 3400 feet) not bad.
Our next hike is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12 and we are aiming at Mount Teneriffe. With just a little luck we will have the Garmin eTrex 20 I ordered last week and we will be able to map our route and gather all the statistics – groovy!
UPDATE 5/10/2015 (Happy Mother’s Day)
Removed video link 5/11, just too much hassle.
Good show!
Thanks, Bruce – hopefully we can get to the Teneriffe trail head on Tuesday and have something new to report.
You guys must be in good shape – what an excellent way to get exercise!
It is a wonderful way to get exercise. But whenever we think we are in good shape we notice someone running up and down the trails.