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Mountain Monday-Mt.Washington via Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail

Happy Monday! Does anyone else feel like this weekend went by way too quickly? We spent Saturday at the Nutcracker (it was amazing and the little candy canes were our favorite..) and then later decorated a gingerbread house and watched The Santa Clause : ) I hope your weekend was just as great! 

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite photos of my hike up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail to the top of Mt. Washington in the White Mountains in NH. This article by Outside Magazine is a great introduction to the mountain if you've never heard of it before or just like to read about those things...

The hike along this route is less busy than the typical Tuckermans Ravine trail, however it is a bit steeper and longer. It is a total of 9 miles roundtrip and takes you by the Lake of The Clouds Hut (my favorite hut and so beautiful/historic inside).

The weather atop Mt. Washington and above tree line is extremely unpredictable. It can also get extremely dangerous when the sun starts to set and you have not begun your decent down or made camp at a hut for a night. I got to the top of Mt. Washington around 2pm and decided that the weather was starting to look unpredictable and took the Cog Railway down!

One-way tickets for the Cog are definitely not cheap (around $50), so make sure you budget wisely if you plan on taking it as part of your hike. There is nothing more rewarding (I think) than taking a train down and being able to see all that you just hiked up. When you arrive back at the train station, it is around a 0.5 mile hike on the roadway back to the parking lot (if you hiked from the trailhead).

If the weather is good and you're feeling up to tackling a challenging (and long) hike, then this is definitely one I would recommend. 

Favorite hike in the White Mountains?

Ever ridden the Cog Railway or hiked Mt. Washington?

Anyone race this weekend?!? Hope it went great!!