Tuckerman Snowshoe & Lady's Lookout

While my Dad was busy with the chore of picking up pine cones after a spring storm rolled through North Carolina, I was happily playing in a foot of fresh snow laid down by that same storm in New Hampshire.

The morning was windy and very snowy, but by the time Abbey laid down for her afternoon nap, the wind had calmed and the snow had slowed down to a reasonable intensity for walking. I bundled up and strapped on my snowshoes with the intent of taking a short quarter-mile walk to Crystal Cascade.

As I started walking up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail, I realized that the path was nicely packed out below the foot of new powder and that the going was easy. The easy going quickly had me contemplating a longer walk.

When I got to Crystal Cascade, all ninety vertical feet of it were under snow and ice. It basically looked like a snowy hill. With that disappointment, my mind was made up that I would trudge on up the east slope of Mount Washington for another ninety minutes to see how far I would get.

By 3:30pm, I was standing at the foot of the lower headwall of Tuckerman Ravine and 1,850 feet higher than my starting point. While you can't see the dramatic headwall due to all the falling snow in the picture, this is the area on Mount Washington that is famous for springtime backcountry ski runs. Since the avalanche danger with the new snow was very high, no one was skiing the ravine. Instead, skiers and snowboarders headed down the John Sherburne Ski Trail.

Wearing snowshoes, I had to return back down the Tuckerman Ravine Trail. Heading downhill in a foot of powder definately goes much more quickly than going up. In fact, I arrived at the bottom within minutes of the snow boarders who left the ravine minutes after I did. They were surprised to see me at the bottom so quickly.

In all, it was a quiet 4.8 mile hike during which I saw only five other hikers and two on skis along the trail.

As I walked back to Joe Dodge Lodge, Julie and Abbey were coming out the door for a walk before dinner. We crossed the road and post holed through the deep snow for about a quarter mile to the Lady's Lookout.

Yeah, the name is a bit sexist and I know plenty of lady's that can hike further and higher than most men. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the short walk in the woods among the birch, spruce and fir and worked up an appetite for dinner.