I was able to find a camp spot a few miles from Jericho Park. Nice place, platforms for tents, plenty of space to park your vehicle, for $28/night plus $5 for some firewood.
I practiced setting a fire before I left for my June month long trip. Practice makes perfect.
I’m getting faster at setting up the tent. Or maybe its the platform, with the loop bolts on the edges, that makes it easy to get things set up. I set up the fire first, since I knew it would start raining soon.
Once the fire was going, it was time to pitch the tent. I never pitched a tent on a wooden platform. Every campground that offered platforms gave you a gravel rectangle, so you had to drive stakes. I just needed to run the guylines to the loop bolts. Easy peasy.
I’ve got to admit, this is a very good tent, very impressed by it. By the time the tent was pitched, it started to drizzle, then it started to rain, then it started to pour. It didn’t stop pouring. It poured all night. There was no wireless at the campsite, but I had four bars (ATT) so I was able to upload the photos for this blog post. I set the alarm for 0600 and went to sleep.
The plan for Sunday was to first do Mount Washington (the earlier the better), then go to the trail, however the priority every morning is breakfast then a shower. Well, as it turned out, the campground didn’t have any showers. That might explain why they weren’t full. Since it was still raining, and I knew I wasn’t going to stay two nights (without a shower!), I tore the tent down, packed the Jeep, and found a local hotel.
I had a couple hotels.com nights available, so I used one of them that day. The following morning I hit the nearest diner for breakfast, then I headed out to the trail.
Since I couldn’t check in until 3PM, I went ahead and drove up Mount Washington. I got done early, so I hit the trail. The guy who manages the place advised me to do the Green trail first, before trying any of the Blue trails. Because “Our Green trails are like the Blue trails at Rausch.” Ah, ok, I’m fine with that. He wasn’t kidding.
The Green trail was challenging enough to get out and pick a line several times. I may have scraped a bit, but it wasn’t bad at all. I ended up doing the Green trail from the gate, to mid way to the West. I didn’t do the extended Green trail that heads West, since it turns into a Black trail, without an easy way to turn around. So I did the Green trails at the East side of the park.
After finishing the trail, I headed to the hotel. I brought the tent kit and some rope to the room, so I could find a way to hang the tent kit, so it could dry overnight. It all dried up by morning. I packed the Jeep again, and headed to the diner for breakfast.
They make great omelettes, and even greater coffee. After finishing breakfast, I hit the road. Apple Maps gave an ETA of 8.5 hours to get home, which after all the fuel/rest/food/bathroom stops ended up being 11 hours.
It was a fun trip. I got another Badge Of Honor (BOH), and I’ve already decided to go back once I get my 35″ tires and 2″ lift installed.
Overlander at large 