At this time one year ago, I was hiking up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail to the summit of Mount Washington, the highest peak in New England, and the highest peak in the Appalachian Mountains north of Roan Mountain (in Tennessee).
Since I've never had the opportunity to hike out west, the nearest I've been able to come to the kind of scenery one expects to see in places like the Rocky Mountains are the peaks and summits of New England. I have never been disappointed in the scenery when I go hiking in Maine and New Hampshire.
I never got tired of looking down into Tuckerman Ravine on my way to the summit of Mount Washington. I look at this and can almost see the glacier that carved this enormous cirque. 
The weather was appropriately overcast, cold, and blustery by the time I reached the highest point on the mountain. I really didn't want it to be otherwise.
The views on the way down were no less spectacular than on the trip up. Here I was approaching Lion's Head, one of the more amazing sub-peaks on Mount Washington. 
And a double rainbow rewarded me as I hiked along toward Lions Head.
Other hikers passed us going up, toward Lions Head as we headed down to Joe Dodge Lodge and a hearty meal and a hot shower and a soft bed. Looking back on my adventure of last year only makes me go a bit more stir crazy as Carole and I remain stuck in Charlotte due to her impending surgery. We'll have a wait of several weeks after that before we can head off into the wilds. Until then, I have only my memories of past trips and photographs from some of my amazing hikes to increase my level of utter and complete frustration! ARGH!!!!
With any freaking luck at all, I'll be able to hitch up the trailer, strap on my daypack, and head up into the Black Mountains of North Carolina for views like this one, as I did in the summer of 2007. Wish me just a little bloody fortune.
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