Mt. Washington Success!

If you refer back to August and my attempt at Mt. Washington post, I mention a road.  I've been hounding our law enforcement division to take me with the next time they went up there and it overlapped with a project or rove day for me.  It finally happened, thanks mostly in part to dear Anthony.

 

The peak in the picture was our goal.  I've heard rumors, horror stories, tales of individuals screaming the whole way up this road.  It was quite the road.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but was very glad Anthony was driving.

The whole of Nevada is covered with abandoned mines and ghost towns.  On the west side, where the road is, we stopped briefly to look at this site.  Don't worry, I didn't go in, but it was pretty awesome to gaze into.

We made it safely, thanks to Anthony's skill at handling switchbacks with hairpin turn and 45 degree slopes, pretty much to the top of the mountain.  I honestly don't know if I can count it as hiking, since from where we parked, it took all of fifteen minutes to summit the peak.  Hooray for a new peak in the park!

Hello again, Wheeler.  This time standing to the south of the peak and looking north, at 11,658ft elevation on Washington.  And hello Pyramid (far right); I've summited you too!

Had to do something, so I stood on my head.  It's the best way to get the blood in it at such a high elevation.  And, notice the attempt at pointed toes in park ranger boots.

Because of the geology of the region and the fact that the park lies in the eastern portion of the Great Basin of the US, our east slopes are nice and gentle and the west slopes are steep.  Here I am investigating just how steep that west slope is.  Eek!

The bristlecones were all over!  They are such impressive trees.  Look at this guy, growing right out of the rock!  See that peak on the ridge line to the left, that's Lincoln and a goal before I leave.

Another abandoned mine site.  This was a pit that I'm assuming had some sort of shelter over it.  The shelter collapsed and plugged the hole. 

A bristlcone in the foreground, craggy mountains in the back, and an absolutely beautiful stand of aspens showing off their fall colors.  It was a hazy day, so sorry not the best clarity on the aspens.

I survived the road.  I didn't scream, I didn't gasp, but coming down the switch backs I definitely maintained a death grip on my seat belt.  After the almost 1.5 inches of rain we got in two days earlier this week (yeah, welcome to the desert), we had the best weather you could ask for.  As I gain more confidence as a hiker, I wish I had another two months of summer to explore this wonderful park.