Today we climbed our first 4000+ foot peak on the trail since Virginia (not including Killington, whose peak isn’t actually on the trail), Mt. Moosilauke.
My dad dropped us off for another slack packing day. Before the big climb we had to hike about 6 miles. It wasn’t too bad, just one hill to get over. We stopped briefly by a nice steam with some cascades for a little snack. It was a relaxing spot.
The climb up Moosilauke was steep, but really not as bad as we had in our minds. Yes it was pretty long and constant, but by the time we started wondering how much further, we reached the ridge near the south peak. The rest of the climb to the higher north peak was a pretty easy ridge walk. It was a gorgeous day on the summit, but very windy. There were a lot of people on top, but we found a nice spot out of the wind to eat our lunch, and to enjoy the spectacular views. On a nice day, this summit is definitely worth the effort.
The climb down was unbelievably steep… probably some of the more dangerous sections of trail that we’ve been on this entire trip. There were parts where rebar was inserted into the rock just so you’d have something to get you up and down. We were grateful to be slack packing this section. As tough as the descent was, there were some pretty cool waterfalls that we followed.
Before we knew it we ran into my brother and sister-in-law who hiked up the trail to meet us. We headed back into North Woodstock and finished off the hike with a few pints at the Woodstock Inn and Brewery. It was a fine way to finish off our 14 mile hike up and over Moosilauke.
