Climbing Mount Washington

Here it is in Winter

  Way back, a long time ago for me, I climbed Mount Washington.  It was a day in early summer, the gardens were planted, freshly weeded too, the sheep were in pasture so didn't require much human care.  I was 11 or 12 years old, so that makes 1952-1953, one of those.
  A local farmer, and family friend, David Gale was our leader.  Davids father and my Dads father were close friends, now it would be BBF I guess.  My Dad called Davids father Uncle Fred - so it was a family thing in spirit.
  I believe we rode in the back of a pickup truck, along with our blankets and change of clothes, from Lebanon, Maine to Mount Washington, that's maybe 75 miles, or less.  We stayed at a campground in a New Hampshire State Park overnight.  In the morning David woke us up early and while we ate (I don't remember what) we decided to swim in the partially dammed up stream.  We all jumped in about the same time, and the reaction was all the same too.  The water was from snow melt in Tuckermans Ravine on the mountain - cold, cold, and colder - colder than the ocean in Maine I think.  After that we all had enough energy to climb.

Tuckermans Ravine in winter

  We climbed up on a common trail, it wasn't hard at all, just long.  Reaching the top on a clear day, I still remember, you really can see 110 miles to the ocean.  Oh my goodness what a sight!  And to top off our visit to the top we got a small tour of the weather station.  Oh, and it was cold up there, and we were ready to head back down - the Tuckerman Ravine trail.  The trail was steep and rocky but there wasn't much snow left at that point, but the middle part in the photo still had quite a bit.  We walked down about 10 or 12 miles, which is a long walk for a mountain that's one mile high.  We didn't swim in that stream again either.
  The next morning it was back in the truck home to weed the gardens and move the fences for my three sheep from place to place.  But, I still remember the time we climbed Mount Washington.

Here we are, that's me with the dog.