Patchy, dense fog this morning will give way to increaing clouds and the threat for more rain as another storm system slides by to the north and west. The associated cold front will slide through the region tonight ushering slightly cooler air. Any lingering rain overnight will change to wet snow, especially from the Mount Washington Valley on north during the day tomorrow.
Tim
Markle
Staff Meteorologist, Mount
Washington Observatory
6:30 at the Rocky Branch parking area. The forecast is once again annoyingly
grim, and worse yet is the fact that things are not going to freeze
up tonight. This, combined with the rain, would spell flood conditions
for most of the following day.
Fortunately, we were able to get through the better part of this hike
without getting too thrashed, although the rain did end up chasing us
out in good shape!
Thankful that we had dry conditions in the morning, we made pretty good time getting out to Isolation, making the summit at about 10:15 am.
The Drewski Gone Wild! show near the summit was without a doubt the highlight of the trip.
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Near
Isolation's Summit
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At
the Summit of Isolation
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Cath
at the Pack Drop
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On
the Hiker Ed Route
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Soon enough,
we returned through lovely birches via the fabulous Hiker Ed "Scenic
Route" Engine Hill bushwhack, which involves a bit of a climb to
get up in the birches, but was pleasantly open. On the trail again,
rain began to fall in earnest. Our pace increased in direct proportion
to the sizes of the raindrops falling, which put us back at the car
pretty quickly.
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Then
, it was off to Cabot via the feared Mount Cabot trail, a region
still rumored to ruled with an iron fist by outlaws, a place where
the gun rules, and the rules of law lie quivering under a wet
blanket of bureaucratic official-speak.
Would the wandering militias and warlords of the Great North Woods cross our path? Goretex vs. Semtex. Rain shells vs. shotgun shells. We knew the odds were against us, but could only hope that that the inclement weather and impending darkness would confine them to their tribal quarters. Even warlords hate wet socks. |
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Cabot
was a slog for the most part, a drizzling and dark journey of
despair up a rutted and flooded road of dismal dankness. OK,
let's just say I was not in the brightest of moods on this particular
hike. Even though we were in the final few days of this adventure,
the thought of doing many more peaks in wet and soggy conditions
wasn't doing much for our morale. We
longed for winter - couldn't it linger just a bit longer? |
 Slightly
Less than Elated at the Soggy Summit of Mount Cabot
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Tomorrow...Waumbek,
The Kinsmans, and more!
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All
images Copyright Tim
Seaver © 2006