Mt. Moosilauke, 4000 Footer #1

Well, I can finally post about something related to my very first post.  A couple of years ago I decided to hike the 4000 'footers of New Hamshire's White Mountains.  Today I found the time to get up one of these big bastards.  I climbed to the top of Mount Moosilauke, the western most 4000 Footer and also one of the most southern.

The day started off with leaving the house earlier than planned, so I arrived at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge at 8:45 am.

Moosilauke Ravine Lodge run by Darmouth College

You can't help but think of Bugaboo Creek when you're in here.

This is the wilderness I was about to walk into.

 I started on the Gorge Brook Trail just after 9:00 am and made my way up the mountain.  I did some super serious hiking, my friends.  I was hualin' ass and it wasn't pretty at times and there wasn't a soul around for most of my hike up so it seemed that I had the mountain to myself.

This is my favorite picture from the hike (below)

After about an hour and a half, three 20 something guys were coming down the trail and they told me I had about a half hour to go.  The clouds were getting thicker but the tree cover was thinning out and it made for a nice change.

Then the tree line ended and it was just a short hike to the top.  I took a half hour up top for lunch and photos and then made my way back down.  As I was going down, it started to rain a bit.  Also, going down takes longer than one would think.  It took me 2:00 to get up and 1:40 to get down.

A short clip from the summit