The forecast calls for rain

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

September 4, 2022

The forecast called for rain starting in the early afternoon, and continuing for the next two days. To avoid the rain, we were up at 5:00 a.m. and on the trail by 6:00. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and lighting up the peaks of the White Mountains as we got started.

We have already wondered into God's wonders--and the sun is barely up this morning.

Getting up early was encouraged by the prospect of rain later today. But we also are in hope of seeing a moose on this trail. One trail review mentioned that hikers saw a moose here at Lost Pond several days ago. Other reviewers mentioned that beaver are often spotted here as well.

We were disappointed that no moose were found munching on the tender lake grass this morning. The beavers didn't even show up for us. But the combination of the still water and dramatic early-morning lighting made this little pond look like a painting in an art gallery.

We started at Pinkerton Notch visitor center, where a long list of shorter hikes merge. We're at the foot of Mount Washington--the tallest peak east of the Mississippi. This is where Appalachian Trail hikers make their trek over the tallest summit of their 2,170+ miles this summer--Mount Washington. This morning we were back on the Appalachian Trail with its characteristic white blazes on the trees.

After a mile, we came to a  wide river crossing with no bridge. While Mark rock-hopped across it, Denisa was pretty sure she would fall in if she tried. So we changed our plan of hiking a loop, and headed back on the Lost Pond Trail. Since we were back on the AT, we saw over two dozen through-hikers this morning. Those hikers included the first females we have seen so far, as well as the first retired-age AT hikers. We saw a family with three teenage daughters. We talked to a man who retired in December and started the hike on the AT three months later. We talked to a woman so ready to finish this hike, but glad she did it. They all finished the Mount Washington peak hike in beautiful weather yesterday, so they were in good spirits with the tallest peak behind them. They were on mile 1868 now, and will soon be in Maine--the last state of this 2,170 mile hike. We love the stories of the Appalachian Trail hikers!

We left the AT and headed up the Square Ledge Trail. It was straight up for a half mile, to a large rock outcropping.

Mount Washington's peak was in the clouds this morning. But we still sat on that ledge looking towards it, with our hiking boots in the foreground. Mount Washington's claim to fame is that it has the "world's worst weather." It has notoriously high winds, high precipitation, and low temperatures in the winter. The highest wind speed in the world ever recorded by a human was 231 miles per hour at the top of Mount Washington. That sounds like the world's worst weather to us!

We watched as a flock of birds headed south across the horizon. It looked like they got the memo that it is time to leave since temperatures are getting cooler.

We were blessed to be wandering through the White Mountains of New Hampshire that are full of God's wonders!

After taking a nice break on the square ledge, we headed down that steep half-mile hike. We found some nice ledges in the down-hill walk through the forest.

Across the road from our trail head was the Appalachian Mountain Visitor Center. Inside this building can be found showers, restrooms, and packing rooms specially designed for through-hikers on the AT. They also have a camera on the top of Mount Washington that can be watched from the inside of the visitor center. We watched the camera, where we first saw the entire summit engulfed in clouds. But then, just for a moment, the clouds shifted. We got a fog-free shot of the top of the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi. We were at first surprised at how many people were at the summit. Then we remembered that while a few will have made the arduous hike to the top, most rode the cog railroad or drove their vehicles to the summit.

We planned this day full of short hikes so we wouldn't get caught in the middle of a long hike when the rain rolled in. We continued down our list of short hikes as long as the weather would allow it. We walked through the tunnel under the highway to take the 0.3-mile hike to Glen Ellis Falls.

It's over 100 rock steps to the base of the falls, with more viewpoints along the way. And it still isn't raining!

Since the rain hasn't started yet, we headed up the Crystal Cathedral Trail. Just 0.4 mile up the trail is a nice view of the Crystal Cathedral Falls. We could continue up this trail all the way to the summit of Mount Washington on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail--but we didn't. Still no rain, and now Mount Washington is out of the clouds?!? Did the weatherman miss his forecast?

As we kept adding hikes, we tallied over 5 miles today. Still no rain, so we stopped at the Jackson Covered Bridge. 

It was built in 1876, and is still a handsome bridge over the river that runs through Jackson, New Hampshire.

This day that was forecast to be a rain-out provided us lots of beautiful views of these White Mountains. We're glad that we didn't scrap all our plans just because of the forecast! We headed back to our campground, where we cooked dinner and watched an on-line church service. In celebration of the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, the owners of Green Meadow campground offered free live music and hay rides around the park. We didn't think they would be giving hay rides today because of the rain, but it was a beautiful evening.

After being blessed with a rain-free day, it finally started sprinkling around 8 p.m. Even though the forecast called for rain, we still got to enjoy much of these White Mountains of New Hampshire on this Sunday of the Labor Day weekend. Once it got started, the rain continued through Monday. So we stayed inside the motor home all day. We remember sitting inside motor homes at the RV shows, imagining if they would be comfortable enough to spend all day inside. Eight years later, we can testify that our motor home has passed that test. We cooked two meals and caught up on some blogging and trip planning. By the next morning, most of the holiday RVers in the full campground had gone home. We had a lake beside our motor home that wasn't there when we arrived three days before. But we knew that the forecast called for rain--and we finally got it.