Mt. Washington Two-Day Hike -- possible?

[pootrak]

A few friends of mine are waking up bright and early on Saturday morning to hike Mt. Washington or somewhere nearby. We'd like to park our car somewhere, get a good solid days hike in, camp somewhere, and then hike down the next day and drive home that night. We've done this in the past with Mt. Moosilauke and it worked out really well. Ideally we'd like to stay on the AT and also, have a challenging hike.

Can anyone recommend a path to take that includes a place to park the car, and also a good place to setup camp for the one overnight before hiking back down the next day?

Thanks!

[jbwood5]

There are options to do this from the Pinkham Notch Vistor Center (Joe Dodge Lodge). You'll need to get there early to get a parking spot or settle for the overflow area about .2 miles South on the highway. You have the Tuckerman Ravine Trail to Mt Washington, the AT to Mt Madison (stay at Valley Way campsite), and the take the AT back to Pinkham Notch.

[Feral Bill]

The above is long day. You can hike north from Washington, from into the Great Gulf, camp, and take a short day out. You could descend via Boote Spur, camp along the way, and return to Pinkham Notch that way. Camping spots could be tricky on Boote Spur.

[peakbagger]

There are lean tos available on first come first served basis near the base of Tuckermans Ravine. Most folks would get reservations and hike up the shelter, then dayhike from there. Just realize every site along the AT is going to be jam packed to overflow everynight of the week for the next 5 or 6 weeks. One thing to keep in mind is that camping is restricted around Mt Washington. The Cutler River Drainage to the East is closed and the Ammonusuc Ravine trail is also closed. In most other areas you need to go down off the ridge line.

If you are open for alternatives. Spot a car at Lincoln Woods, drive tot he end of Zealand Road, hike over to Guyot Shelter and then hike out over the Bonds to Lincoln Woods the next day. Guyot will be crowded but there is a caretaker to pack folks in, definitely take in the sunset from West Bond.

[Slo-go'en]

The only place to camp near Mt Washington would be at the Hermit lake shelter and good luck getting a spot there on the weekend. You'd have to hike up starting at 5 AM, then wait for someone to pack up and leave when you got there. There are very few designated camping spots in this area (the only other one is the Osgood tent platforms in the Great Gulf, which is a long ways from Washington). Camping anywhere else is either not practical or not permitted.

Doing Mt Washington as anything other then a very long day hike really isn't practical unless you can get into the Hermit Lake shelter. A better option is Mt Adams and staying at one of the RMC camps. Mt Adams is only a few feet lower then Washington (412 feet to be exact) and much nicer, as it doesn't have all that crap on top, like 100s of tourists.