Summit #6: Mount Moosilauke

Six of the ten mountains in my goal have now been climbed. Yesterday, I climbed my sixth: Mount Moosilauke. Moosilauke is 4,802 feet high, and is the most southwestern of the White Mountains. The whole trail was 7.2 miles long. My climbing buddies were my papa, my brother, and my dad, so there were three generations of our family on this hike. We woke up about 5:30 in the morning and drove to New Hampshire. Then we had breakfast in North Woodstock at Peg's Family Restaurant, and got to the beginning of the trail at 8:45 AM.

Mount Moosilauke is interesting because it's actually owned by a college: Dartmouth College. The college owns about 4,500 acres of the mountain and also has a big lodge at its base where you can stay. We started our hike at the lodge. The weather was cool, humid, and super foggy. We hoped that the fog would clear by the time we got to the top, but it didn't. If you were standing 20 feet away from me, I probably couldn't see you. There was this one place that my brother and I called the Dark Forest because it was so dark and misty, and it reminded us of Harry Potter.

We hiked up the trail for about 2 1/2 hours, and we made really good time going up the Gorges Brook Trail. It was foggy the whole time. When we got close to the top, there weren't as many trees, and it was just barren rocks, and more fog. We got to the summit at 11:15 AM and there were some other hikers there. We told a few of them about my project. We had heard that the view from the summit of Mount Moosilauke is supposed to be one of the best in all of New Hampshire and the White Mountains, but we never got to see it. But it was still really neat. At the top of the mountain there are some rocky foundations from an old hotel. It was called the Tip Top House and was built in 1860. It burned down in 1942 after a 3-day storm. Me, my brother, my papa, and my dad all sat in one of the old foundations, because it was really windy and wet, and we had something to eat.

Then we started our way back down, but we took a different trail. From the top we followed the Appalachian Trail for about a mile and a half and then branched off onto the Carriage Road Trail. We walked and walked, with my brother and me taking turns being the leader. It took us another 2 1/2 hours to get back to the lodge, but it was a nice hike. The fog never lifted. And when we got back down, we looked up and still couldn't see the summit or most of the mountain.

If you would like to see some more photos of our hike, please click here. You might also notice that my brother and I are wearing Summits for My School T-shirts. If you would like to buy one (or a mug, or a necktie, or a baseball cap....) just click here. They're really nice T-shirts.

Green Tip #6: When we were near the top of Moosilauke, my papa found a candy wrapper under a rock. My dad picked it up and stuffed it in his backpack so that he could throw it away later. So my Green Tip is to please not litter. It can hurt the environment very badly. And if you see litter, pick it up and throw it away. And if you see anybody littering, if it's OK with your parents, you can go over and ask them not to litter.