Last weekend, my friend and I hiked the Tuckerman Ravine trail on Mt. Washington, (in the state of New Hampshire for readers who are outside the US). We were blessed with perfect weather, albeit wintry. There was complete snow cover, and crampons were a must. My kind of day. Pardon the less than stellar quality of the photos. I was lazy and used my iPod.

I had done this trail eight years ago and guess what? I didn’t remember what a slog it was – 1,850 feet straight up. For more information on the ravine, click here.

When we reached the base of the ravine about two and a half hours later, there were many hikers, skiers (and dogs of various descriptions), all enjoying the sunshine and getting ready to climb or skin up the ravine so they could ski or otherwise slide down. It was chilly in the wind though, so we stayed just long enough to refuel and take it all in.

On the way back down, the snow was much softer and when I stopped to listen, all I could hear was the dripping of  ice and snow melting from the trees. It is spring in the mountains – kind of.