(NJ-CT-MT-) New Hampshire (NH) Mount Washington (-RI)

Arriving at Pinkham Notch on the eastern side of Mount Washington on the morning was looking very promising with mixed skies and surprisingly good weather!

The weather station on the top of the mountain have recorded the highest wind speeds on the northern hemisphere, and hurricane strength winds are more common than rare.
The start of the hike was not indicating anything like that though, I followed Tuckerman Ravine Trail, the first half of the way and then took the winter route of Lions head trail up to the summit. The first part was beautiful and snow covered with little wind and apart form ice and slipperiness it was a very nice first part of the hike.

Higher up the trail got steep and once it reached the alpine terrain the wind swept mountain sides. The clouds kept the summit in a nice fog-like veil.

Parts of the trail was easy to follow between low spruce bushes, while other parts was indicated by a large number of stone cairns (see lower left of the picture above) that was placed so close that they could be used even in near white-out conditions.

On the picture below the trail can faintly be seen in the center of the picture going through the alpine vegetation.

The winds on the summit were around 50 mph on average (22 m/s), with gusts around 70 mph (31 m/s). Of course the wind was head winds going up meaning that it was even harder to make the way upwards, but more precariously it was tailwind on the way down which constantly attempted to throw you off of the mountain. Having ice-crampons for grip and poles to keep balance and stop myself from going sideways was very helpful!

The summit was offering wind chill temperatures of minus 25 to minus 30 Fahrenheit (-30 Celcius), and ice quickly built up on the surfaces of your clothes, once the clothes stiffened up though they provided even better protection against the cold of the wind.

On the summit one could see many snow feathers which built up from the prevailing winds and the snow and ice that gets deposited. Below is a small signpost which had more than a foot long "feathers" which were quite spectacular!

I didn't use my water bladder with a drinking hose since it would quickly freeze shut, and even energy drinks with high sugar content which should have a lower freezing point actually froze inside! of my backpack. Drinking ice-slurry was quite chilling but that happened on the way down and I had water which was nicely wrapped in a scarf to keep it from freezing.

The smile below was after having descended about a third of the elevation at which time I was feeling more confident that the warmer weather would arrive shortly.

Stats:

State: New Hampshire

High point: Mount Washington

Elevation: 6 288 ft (1 917 m)

Date: November 28, 2010

Total elevation to date: 70 532 ft (21 498 m)

Access: Trail, class 2 (in winter), 8.5 miles, about 6h.

Difficulty rating (of 10): 6

Potential Difficulties: "Worst weather on the northern hemisphere"

(NJ-CT-MA-NH-) Rhode Island: Jerimoth Hill

Shortly after visiting the New Hampshire High point I went down to Rhode Island to visit my so far lowest high point - Jerimoth Hill.

The high point itself is quite unremarkable in a faily flat region which is also indicated by different locations for the USGS benchmarks. The highpoint itself is marked by a small stone cairn and a sign along the short walking trail.

Below one can see one of the USGS markers for Jerimoth Hill

Along the way in New England the roads were quite varied with both ups and downs as well as twisting and turning and varied fuel economy depending on the flavor of the moment, the listed average was over several tanks, and the average for the shown half hour was rather on the order of 70+ mpg (under 3.4L/100km). the freezing temperatures didn't help either...

Stats:
State: Rhode Island
High point: Jerimoth Hill
Elevation: 812 ft (248 m)
Date: November 28, 2010
Total elevation to date: 71 344 ft (21 746 m)
Access: Drive-up, hike
Difficulty rating (of 10): 2
Potential Difficulties: "open hours", slightly confusing signs.

(NJ-CT-) Massachusetts: Mount Greylock (-NH-RI)

Mount Greylock in Massachusetts have a road for drive-up access, however that road was closed during the evening that I arrived in the area, since the towns around have nice weather I stayed around for the following day hoping that the gates for the scenic roads would be open.
Unfortunately the roads remained closed, and the next best option was a hike of about 7 miles.

The conditions I found of the roads was completely ice covered! any type of driving except very god ice-chains would have been very dangerous on the twisting and turning roads. So it was a very good decision to keep the roads closed off. Even just walking on the ice with poles was very hard and any wind gust could topple you over quickly.

 Just before the top is a small lake which had frozen and looked very idyllic in the nice weather.
The monument on the top together with signs, roads, trees, grass, and just about everything else was covered in ice. Wind was also blowing mostly on the summit.

I got lucky with some holes in the cloud cover during the minutes on the summit, and nice views and ice covered nature were plentiful. The way up and down on the trail was often covered in ice since a small creek followed the trail, and on the way down I took a tumble on the ice and found myself sitting down on my bum involuntarily all of a sudden. On the picture below I was still smiling and happily unaware of how slippery the decent would be...

I found what might have been the heaviest/hardest Christmas tree ever! walking into some of those small spruce bushes felt like walking into a rock!

Stats:
State: Massachusetts
High point: Mount Greylock
Elevation: 3 491 ft (1 064 m)
Date: November 27, 2010
Total elevation to date: 64 244 ft (19 582 m)
Access: Trail, 6.5 miles, about 3h.
Difficulty rating (of 10):  4
Potential Difficulties: ICE! finding trail heads trial intersections.

(NJ-) Connecticut:Mt Frissell/South Slope (-MT-NH-RI)

The Connecticut high point is different from most others in the fact that it is not a point inside the state as a stand alone peak, instead it is a slope on a peak that is located in another state (Massachusetts).

The trail was nice mostly with some scrambling parts with large inclination. After getting to the point of the start of the hike I realized I was lucky since the road was closed for the winter at the state line just meters away from where I needed to park.
The start of the hike ended up a bit dumb though since I thought I came to the point form south, but the gps had actually led me around to arrive from the north. This prompted me to set of in the wrong direction knowing I should have started to the left of the road coming form south. I even used a digital compass which seemed correct (looking at the south needle interpreting it as the north)... needless to say I felt quite dumb for not whipping out the ream compass in my bag which I am much more used to. After realizing the mistake and backtracking about 2 miles I headed out on the right path which was now setting in sunlight so I got good use of my head lamps.

To make the high point even more confusing there is a register not on the high point but on the peak! whihc is in Massachusets, and to make things worse it is even marked with the high point altitude rather than the actual altitude of Mt. Frissell.

A cairn made by hikers and a easy to miss state border marker between CT and MA gives the location away for the real Connecticut high point.

Stats:
State: Connecticut
High point: Mt Frissell/South Slope
Elevation: 2380 ft (725 m)
Date: , 2010
Total elevation to date: 60753 ft (18518 m)
Access: Trail, class 1
Difficulty rating (of 10): 4
Potential Difficulties: Road closures, finding the high point rather than the summit in the wrong state.

New Jersey: High Point (-CT-MT-NH-RI)

The New Jersey high point is suitable located in high point park, and the high point is called "High Point"...

 The top is marked by a 220 foot obelisk which makes the point easy to see from the distance. Travelling there is veru easy on nice paved roads, although a parked snowmobile indicated that also here there winter climate might create some difficulties for visiting the highpoint in colder weather. I got lucky though, and apart form some chilling winds it was nice and view were quite impressive.

Many high point have lakes close to the top, and New Jersey was no exception. It's fascinationg to drive or hike sharply uphill only to find that large masses of water made it up there, or perhaps rather down since they fall, while humans will have to climb...

Lastly a mandatory posing picture with the high point in the background.

Stats:
State: New Jersey  
High point: High Point
Elevation: 1803 ft (550 m)
Date: November 26, 2010
Total elevation to date: 58373 ft (17792 m)
Access: Drive-up
Difficulty rating (of 10): 1
Potential Difficulties: none? failing here is very hard and would require entering the completely wrong destination on a gps or similar.

(FAIL) Tennessee - Clingman's dome

After having spent an exhausting week at a IEEE conference in Knoxville, TN, the plan was to go hiking/camping in the Smokey Mountains. And with the week starting with sunshine and weather that was most suitable for short we felt pretty comfortable, the forecast however showed more and more cold weather looming, and once we hit the road it became clear that the Smokeys were off limits and the roads in the park were shut down due to ice and snow. On low altitude (1000ft -300m) this was not totally easy to understand but even the naked eye say that the surrounding hills were looking just a little bit too white.

So after having to change the plans drastically we decided on some day hiking, the nearest approach to Clingman's Dome involved some 34 miles of hiking in snow rain and hail. After setting out towards the Ramsey Cascades and accepting the inevitable that Clingman's was off limits we were treated to some gorgeous nature and weather. Soon after starting to hike hail started falling, and soon turned into a mix that was more resembling snow...

Soon the ground started being more and more covered by snow and with the snowfall came lower temperatures, but nothing too bad so we actually ahd to take clothes off rather than putting them on.

The route contained some interesting bridges over the streams which were essentially logs crossing the river and being supplemented by railing on the lower side, it was actually much more stable that it looked (thankfully!)

Some of the signs warned about children, or if it was falling I wasn't sure, but feeling quite adult I felt safe...

The cascades themselves were gorgeous in the Snowfall and more than well worth the 8 mile hike!

The forest was filled with high growth rhododendron bushes, and some ancient trees of absolutely massive proportions (for a swede...).

 Finally we also got some good shots of just why the park is called the Smokey Mountains!

Stats:
State: Tennessee
No highpoint reached...

(KY-VA-) North Carolina: Mount Mitchell

Mount Mitchell is the highest point in USA east of the Mississippi river. And also the highest peak in the Appalachian mountains. It's not particularly hard to visit though, it is located in a state park and with national forests around it. There is also a rad leading essentially directly to the top of the mountain.

That is however a road well worth taking especially in good weather. Coming from the north one follows mountain ridges fro close to an hour offering plentiful overlook places and scenic vistas. Once again the weather was on the right mood and apart from some scattered high altitude clouds, the sky was mostly blue.

The top have a lookout tower which offers stunning views, but also a bit of exposure to the chilling winds.

There is also some information and exhibits showing how the area have changed lately focusing much on acid rains and pollution that have severely hindered the current growth of the trees on the peak (post 1950's).

A bit of a curiosity is that the peak itself is essentially a grave with a professor from the University of North Carolina being buried in a stone grave close to the absolute top. Being that he was also a reverend he can not have had much faith in God since it is declared that he hoped for God to come and resurrect him, and rather than leaving anything to chance he tried to improve the odds by being buried as high  or as close to his god as possible... Having made the best of an effort he or those who buried him there are probably not completely pleased that he remains on the top of the mountain almost 150 years later... As for a scenic burial place though it is fantastic and I would personally not want to be resurrected and risk loosing what might be one of the more spectacular resting places I've ever seen.

Next week I hope to pass Clingman's Dome, leaving only one 6000+ ft peak in the eastern USA (NH).


Stats:
State: North Carolina   
High point: Mount Mitchell
Elevation: 6 684 ft (2 037 m)
Date: October 31st, 2010
Total elevation to date: 56 569 ft (16 770 m)
Access: Drive up
Difficulty rating (of 10): 1
Potential Difficulties: Road close after hours/season (8am-8pm currently)

(KY-) Virginia: Mount Rogers (-NC)

Mount Rogers in Virginia was the second HP on this trip and we spent the night not far from Bristol close to the border between Tennessee and Virginia. Speaking of that area I saw a lovely inviting street name...

Apart from some slaughters though the area close to Mt rogers is very nice especially in the autumn with much color changes and beautiful trees.  The hike up to the peak follows the Appalachian trail in fact quite a part of the way, it starts out in field like terrain and then enter woods most of the way to the top (4,5 miles one way).

One is supposed to be able to see wild ponies around th area, but that is especially true when approaching on the Appalachian trail from the east rather than the west as we did (both directions have almost identical distance to Mt. Rogers). Views were very nice in the sunny but somewhat cool weather. Autumn  is starting to make itself reminded more and more even further south.

The top is not fully easy to identify since it is a somewhat flat top, and the trail sort of forks off n many dead-end directions there. However a watchful eye will be able to find 2 USGS benchmarks close to the top, one marking the peak, and pointing towards it. Some older guidebooks and pictures show a sign at the top, this is however nothing that exists today.

In an effort to try to get higher than most peaks (an effort mostly involving some lookout towers and me climbing a few branches in trees etc) I did a bad Captain Morgan on the top of a cut-off tree...

We went down pretty quick and I tried to carry some extra packing along the way to get used t the backpack I'll use for some overnight hiking the following weekend. We also wanted to get to the North Carolina High point before too much time passed.


Stats:
State: Virginia
High point: Mount Rogers
Elevation: 5 729 ft (1 746 m)
Date: October 31st, 2010
Total elevation to date: 49 885 ft (15205 m)
Access: Hike (9 miles, about 3h)
Difficulty rating (of 10): 2
Potential Difficulties: Wild ponies? correctly identifying the highest point.

Kentucky: Black Mountain (-VA-NC)

Going to the black mountain in Kentucky is probably more of a administrative challenge than anything else.
Since th area is an old but still active mining area it is riddled with mines and the place of the peak is owned by a mining company which requires that one signs and submits a waiver releasing any responsibility regarding staying in the area.

Coming from Michigan it was a pretty hefty drive for a day, but the last parts were some nice roads between hills and forests. 

We arrived as the sun set and the light was quickly fading, the peak have an old fire lookout tower which is now standing there only as a decaying reminder of the thousands of towers that once was scattered around the country and used for different purposes. Climbing it is ill advised with many boards missing, and if it's dark and windy it's even more of a challenge and definitely not for the faint of heart, I had enough just watching Chris climb part of it.

There's a plaque at the top with some information and declaring it the highest point in Kentucky, but that is about as exciting as it gets. it's a forested area so the drive up and down offers more vistas than the top does...

The last bit of the road is getting a bit worn, and a high clearance vehicle is not exactly needed, but wouldn't be a bad idea either...

Stats:
State: Kentycky
High point: Black Mountain
Elevation: 4 039 ft (1 231 m)
Date: October 30, 2010
Total elevation to date: 44 156 ft (13 459 m)
Access: Drive-up
Difficulty rating (of 10): 1 (6 if trying to climb shut-down tower)
Potential Difficulties: pot holes, getting lost