Weekend at Lakes

[Great Guinness Ghost]

Last weekend MeridenFF and I spent two days hiking the Whites, staying over Saturday at Lakes of the Clouds hut. Our trails were; Saturday-Tuckermans' to Lions' Head to Alpine Garden to Nelson Crag to summit. Summit down Crawford to the hut. Sunday we took Camel trail to Davis path and down Boott Spur back to Tucks'. The weather was nice to start Sat. but clouds and wind significantly increased over Lions' Head. Near the top of Nelson Crag winds were at 30 - 40 mph. The high gust for the day was 66 mph. I know where I was then 'cause I saw Kevin move five feet to his left unintentionally! After a long lunch and tour of the Observatoy (Great job Natalie) the visibility increased to 30 miles. We went down to the hut, had a great dinner and a cold beer, attended a seminar on Alpine flowers where we actually saw the extremely rare Dwarf Cinquefoil. The warm front moved the clouds out setting up a great sunset. Sunday we awoke to clear skies and a warm breeze. Forecast for the valley was low 90's. IT WAS! Once we headed down Boott Spur there was no longer a breeze at our back, but plenty of sun on our face. Even the black flies were walking. Got back to Pinkham by 1:00. Showered and headed down to Flatbreads for lunch. I highly recommend the Kalua Pork pie! Anyhow, that was our weekend in a nutshell. As always we had a great time, met some good people, and are definitely looking forward to coming back for STP!

[Bretton Woods Brat]

Great pic of Lakes!

[KD Talbot]

Sounds like a great time. I can't view the pictures, will try in firefox.

Edit: Works in Firefox. Nice! Thanks for sharing!

KDT

[Bill O]

Is that a glacier forming in the lake?

[mtruman]

Is that last shot of a newly placed geocache? We'll all want the coordinates of that one before STP!

[Brad]

Excellent! Glad you had a good time.

[MeridenFF]

I can't sum up the trip any better then my hiking partner did. GGG thanks for a great time. Let me add a little to the expirience by saying this. The money spent was more then worth it for the time spent up on the mountain. The staff at the huts does a fabulous job and the staff at the Observatory, with volunteer Natalie, leading the tour more then willing to give us a view of our life time. I highly recommend trying this trip or one of the other huts that AMC offers. The trails were in good condition with the exception of some muddy spots but that is mother nature, so enjoy the trails but hike safely. And if you do spend the night on the mountain, remember this, the first sip of a good drink, is well worth the weight on the hike but just like us plan on sharing with your table mates. It is amazing what a few onces of a good brew among fellows hikers means. GGG thanks again and I hope to get my pics down loaded tonight.