Moosilauke

After yesterday’s good news from Georgia and horrific news from Washington, I was grateful to spend a few hours in one place on earth that gives me great peace: Mount Moosilauke. As I drove east out of the Connecticut River valley and over the shoulder of Mount Cube, I could see that Moosilauke’s summits were clouded in – disappointing – but I also enjoyed a deep-red sunrise among the clouds near the eastern horizon. A bright spot in a gray day. Read on, and check out the photo gallery for videos and more pix!

I met Kathy at the Glencliff Trailhead just before 8am, and we were soon happily making our way up the familiar trail, marveling at the fact we’ve hiked together three times in one week (including Mounts Cube and Blueberry). The conversation flowed easily as we made good time up the snowy trail, and we soon found ourselves at the junction with the Carriage Road. There was about a foot of powder above of a foot (or less) of firm base, which is a good start to the new year but I’m certainly hoping to see a few more feet of snow to come.

The sky had shifted from gray to blue, as we climbed above the valley clouds. Traversing the ridge to the main summit, we could see an undercast to the west and clear valleys to the east; Moosilauke was surely the cloud-splitter today. The wind was strong, we could tell. Once we left the trees and began to climb the summit cone, a blustery north wind kept us staggering. Despite the wind, temps were in the 20s so the windchill wasn’t too bad.

The summit view was beautiful, but fiercely windy. We enjoyed the view for a few minutes before heading back down. Be sure to see the photo gallery for videos and more pix!

Hike stats:
Time: 4h49m
Distance: 11.9km
Gain: 978m