I Did It!!

I feeling very proud of myself.

On Saturday, I hiked all the way to the summit of Mount Washington--the highest peak in the Northeast. It took 5 1/2 hours, and although we planned on taking the easiest trail up, we got lost and wound up taking the hardest trail up Tuckerman's ravine--one of the most difficult parts of the hike to begin with.

I hiked with my sister, and that's us at the summit. I have to admit that when we were 4 hours into the hike, we began to question how sane we were to attempt this, but once we accomplished our goal, the adrenalin rush set in. We now want to hike the mountain again.

Just so you can get an idea of what the hike involved, this is Tuckerman's Ravine. We climbed all away from the base of the mountain, to the ravine, scaled the ravine to it's upper ridge, then climbed another couple of miles to the summit.



This is an example of some of the terrain we hiked. My sister and I climbed straight this wall to the top of the falls.

Climbing Mount Washington is probably the most physically challenging thing I've done in over twenty years (unless you count childbirth). It was hell doing it, but exhilarating to accomplish it. Completing the climb made me realize that I want to do more adventures like this one.

We had a wonderful time off the mountain as well. We stayed in a lodge maintained by the Appalachian Mountain Club. The Joe Dodge Lodge in Pinkham Notch provided Spartan accommodations, but they were clean, cheap, and a hearty breakfast and Dinner were included.

My sister and I befriended a young couple that are hiking the entire Appalachian trail from end to end for their honeymoon. They said it will take them over six months to accomplish the task, and involves hiking ten or more miles a day. They started in Maine in June, and were just over a month and a half into their adventure.

The biggest problem they said in accomplishing their goal, was eating enough food!!! The wife, who was 28, dropped 3 sizes so far on her trek. I can attest to the fact that they both ate huge quantities of food, but they were burning so many calories hiking every day, that both were losing weight fast.

So, if you really want to drop weight fast and eat everything you want, here's the solution--hike the Appalachian Trail from end to end.