Not many great views today, it was a bit misty/foggy. But a great hike nevertheless.
I had planned to show up at the trail head about 6:30 but I had some chores and some Boeing work to do and did not head up the trail until 7:20. But it worked out well as I met three intrepid hikers en route and we wound up going down together.
They had never done the Great Wall to the summit – there is a little trick someone showed me – so we met up at the summit and decided to go down the Great Wall together.
There is a section of the trail that is signed from the main trail and connects to the Great Wall proper. This section ends abruptly thanks to the new trail construction, but you can bushwhack a few yards to intersect the new trail.
Coming down I was looking for where to bushwhack but the new trail construction has changed the view so much I didn’t find it so we wound up intersecting the main trail way up at the pond. This added an additional half-mile to the trek. No big deal, but I am going to go back and find the right way and hang flagging tape.
Below is a Google Earth view of our track today in this area (in blue) and the former track (in red). You can see how close we were. Frustrating:
There were some views today:
And, as always on this hike, there is the fun of navigating a big pile of rocks about 2/3 of the way up:
In the parking lot my Garmin said the hike was just less than 10 miles, but the downloaded stats give the distance at 10.3 miles and the elevation gain as 3,300 ft. It took about 5 hours and was a great way to spend Saturday morning.
A link to the visualization:
http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/mt-washington-great-wall-9-24-2016/#.V-b3lZWV8bw
Great hike today and it was great meeting you and hiking together. We also learned alot of great information from you on the different trails and mountains.
Thanks
Ken
Likewise, we will definitely get out on the trails again, and soon. Winter is coming but right now is prime time – not too hot, not too cold.