Vivek’s Army marching onto Mt. Washington

Daphne Du Maurier’s famous novel, Rebecca, has this captivating opening line – “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Just substitute Mt. Washington for Manderley and that was my line for the last three plus years.

Going to Mt. Washington is a dream for many as it was for me. For the past three and a half years after first reading about it in an article, I had dreamt of going there. Each year I would see this event posted on the Meetup Calendar, but something or other would come up and I could never RSVP ‘Yes’ to these events. But this year, on June 12th, finally all roads led to Rome.

Fast forward to the post pandemic world of Desi Meetup and suddenly it seems there was renewed and vigorous interest in all hiking activities. When this event was first posted in Desi DOERS group, I and couple of my friends signed up quickly. I kept my fingers crossed that nothing would crop out to sabotage my intent. As we were all steadily bagging Catskills peaks since March 2021, I had some confidence that I could manage to not shame myself for my hike up this fearsome mountain.

Suddenly for the past two months, all conversations during our hikes and offline focused on this main event – How is the weather like in June? What if it rains? What to pack? How should we prep for this hike? On and on these conversations would go and every time Vivek Jain posted a comment in the Event, my friends (Vinita and Priyanka) would dissect it, discuss it and were soon back on Amazon ordering stuff or running to Woodbury Commons to the Arcteryx store. It really helped to have Vivek post the route map, and mentions Hotel Bookings and looking for car pools.

This event was billed as a one way trip up and down by Cog Railway. But being Desi Hikers, most of us opted to come down on our own. Alliances for the hotel rooms and car trip were formed, gear was bought and the final week dawned quickly enough and we started watching mountain forecast in all earnestness. I kept praying for no rain. As I had already done the Franconia Ridge Hike a month earlier and seen the beauty of the White Mountains, the anticipation of this hike was getting unbearable. I started wishing I had paid more attention to practicing breathing techniques taught in our Yoga class.

Priyanka, Vinita and I had taken the day off from work and on Friday, we loaded all our stuff in the rented car and were soon driving North. We reached Twin Mountains by 4.15 pm and once we had checked in, decided to check out the parking and trailhead. Vivek had mentioned that we could start earlier than 7 am and we knew a lot of people were taking advantage of the good weather to get started early at 6 am.

We checked out the trailhead and parking situation and came back to the Hotel to obsess on what to pack, what to wear and above all what not to take. Gaiters? Yes/No? Crampons, definitely No. And so on and so forth. We finally fell asleep and the next day all these questions started swirling again. We left on time and encountered a baby bear and a Mama Bear on our way to the trailhead. Looking at the mountain in front of us we kept marveling at the weather and our sheer good luck to get such a good day for a climb.

We parked at the trailhead at the Hiker Parking and soon members of our group started showing up. We quickly gathered our gear, paid the parking lot dues and lined up for the time honored tradition of taking a group picture. With butterflies in our stomach but raring to go like a bottle of champagne uncorked and after hearing Vivek’s final instructions, we were off.

We were going anti clockwise taking the Ammonoosuc Trail till the Lake of the Clouds Hut and from there onto the summit of Mt. Washington by the Crawford Trail. The total length of the trail going up is 3.8 miles with an elevation gain of 4k feet during the entire trail. The first two miles were scenic, wooded and the with the Ammono0suc Creek running to our left. Many in the group were left enthralled by the tinkling of the water and the many waterfalls that kept us steady company almost till the Lake of the Clouds Hut. Soon everyone was delayering as they warmed up with the climb. Exposed tree roots, rocks and some steep climb kept our eyes busy and we were soon at a point where the trees turned to shoulder height shrubs and then suddenly the vista unfurls and the Hut starts showing up in front of us.

All around us the beautiful mountain ranges were visible in unending undulating circles and to our left we could see Mt. Washington and it’s bare and rocky uphill terrain. The weather Gods were happy and the day just kept getting better with each passing hour. We had read so much of the unpredictable weather conditions and the gusty winds and the sudden fog that descends on this mountain that it was quite a surprise to see clear visibility without any haze or fog. This was the antithesis of The Perfect Storm and we could not have ordered this weather even if we had the money to buy it.

We were soon at the Hut and letting out a big hoop we started taking some pics. The Hut is about miles from the trailhead and we could clearly see Mt. Monroe 0.3 miles to the right of us. We decided to go there too. We saw Karthik’s backup outside the hut and dumped our backpacks and were soon trotting off to reach the summit of Mt. Monroe, one of the Presidential Peaks. A quick walk and a final scramble and we bagged our first peak of the day. The unending vista and Mt. Eisenhower south of us left us enthralled. You start wondering how it would all look in the Fall and especially in the Winter. With a quick shrug and after taking minimum pics, Priyanka and I sped down to the Hut, picked up our backpacks and were soon off. Many from our group had reached by now and we met Vivek here again.

Now began the last leg uphill to conquer Mt. Washington but what a difference in the terrain surrounding us! Rocky, bare with Spring flowers shyly peeking their heads begging us not to trod on them. There were no trees or shrubs but just hardy alpine vegetation on the rocks. And did I say how many rocks?? Rocky cairns dotted the path showing us the direction else you would not which direction to take as the rocks pretty much consistently dotted the hillside. It was around a 1.5 mile trudge upto the summit and at a certain point it felt like it would never end. The Hut started looking smaller and smaller and we were soon at the top!

To the right is a wooden structure held down by chains called the Tip Top house which has survived a fire and of course getting blown off the mountain. Here someone had conveniently hung up the Desi Outdoors banner and we saw Vinita (who had climbed up an hour earlier than us) waiting. We took our group picture and let our minds slowly digest the elation surging through our veins – We were up here finally! We had done it! We had looked into the eyes of this monster and survived to talk about it. There was so much to take in. I had never climbed a mountain that had a commercial business on its summit and it felt very different from my other ascents.

We had been told by others to stand in line for the summit pictures but my mind was on the Observation Deck, the structures and the train. How in the world did they get that train to come up there I wondered? The summit is pretty large and I wish I had time to examine the structures and just sit for a moment to take it all in. We soon had our pics taken at the Summit and then with the entire group near the Desi Outdoors Banner. As more and more team members had arrived by then, the group pictures were taken and soon the group broke into a Bhangra led by Rajeev and Charu.

The excitement was palpable and I could see the sense of relief and exultation on Vivek’s face as he greeted each hiker as they summited. Vivek was our glue, our friend and leader who made us believe in ourselves, educated us on the pitfalls and shared his commitment and dream of enjoying being outdoors. Very few people can communicate that level of enthusiasm and sheer persistence into a group, but he did. The group dynamics also worked in our favor – talking it out with fellow hikers, making our alliances and partnerships and picking fellow hikers who matched our pace helped. Vivek Jain’s leadership made this dream a reality for all – new and unexperienced hikers as well as the more experienced in our groups.

Soon we all dispersed again – some to eat, some to shop at the Gift Shop and some of the ladies had brought a change of clothes to take more pics. Soon Vivek came into the cafeteria asking up to wrap up as we needed to head down now. Soon we were saying our goodbyes to others taking the Cog Railway down or being picked up by family members for the drive down. Taking a last look around, Priyanka and I headed down the Gulfside Trail. Extremely rocky terrain and we had the pleasure of seeing the Cog Railway on its way down. Crossing over the train tracks I soon understood why it was called the Gulfside trail. A beautiful unending gulf/chasm formed between the southern Presidential range and Mt. Washington.

Soon the rockiness of the Gulfside trail dwindled and we turned left onto the Jewell Trail. Climbing down steadily with the full bright Sun shining down on us, we were soon glad to reach the tree line and be engulfed in the cool darkness of the Forest. The downhill walk became more manageable but also very buggy with lots of flies and bugs swarming around. We also realized that we were almost all out of water. Vivek and Rahul caught up to us and before Vivek continued, he reminded us to make a left on Jewell Trail when we came to a T junction. That reminder helped as we were only 0.3 miles till the end from that juncture. Our adventure, alas coming to a close very soon.

We were soon at the Jewell Link trail and crossed a small stream and the Cog Railway tracks to see Manu, Mona, Jaswinder and Kala hanging out. Boy, what a day I thought. Everything worked in our favor. Weather was perfect and so was the company. Though we were tired, none of us I am sure wanted the day to end or our adventure traipsing through the Whites. But all good things come to an end.

Looking back now and thinking of the lessons learned, I feel immensely grateful to the supreme being above that all of us from the group who ventured out came back home safely with nary a scratch on them. Everyone raised each other’s spirits or lent a helping hand and we all finished the hike the way we wanted to. A big hurrah and a shout out to Vivek Jain, Karthik k, Paresh Bhai and Dash for making this dream a reality for most of us. Happy trails everyone! Cheers to a job well done!

Date of the hike: Saturday, Jun 12, 2021

Weather: In the 70s for most of the day, winds 5-10 mph, Sunny

Fellow hikers that I know: Vivek Jain, Swati & husband, Rahul, Charu, Vinita, Priyanka, Rajeshree, Seema, Mindy, Kala, Deepthi, Sharmila, Ranjeetha, Parul, Paresh, Niten, Karthik, Manu, Rajeev, Siraj, Abhinn, Ranga, Vineet, Shelly and Prsauna and many more whose names I don’t know.

Picture link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/DVUwx9Y3YCYM8vNk9

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