41km, 1973m (6473ft) elevation gain. Total time 15.5 hours.
This hike was a lot longer than I thought. I almost thought I would beat the weather but until it turned for the worse it was a great day. Fall colours are in full effect and my pictures can't really do it any justice. If you're close, it could be worth a walk through Paradise Meadows soon.
I started hiking at 6:30am from the Raven Lodge at Mount Washington. The sun hadn't quite come up yet. I followed the back trails past Lake Helen Mackenzie and took a slightly longer route along the back side of Kwai Lake that I had not been on before.
It was a bit loud in this part of the woods with the Kwai Lake Campsite on the other side of the lake. A lady who had camped there followed me for a bit up the trail. She eventually passed me at a stream filling up water before the climb up the mountains and I didn't see her again until the summit of Castlecrag.
It took me 3 hours to get near Circlet Lake where I turned South to make my way past Moat lake, Stuart Wood Island and the path up Castlecrag. There was another slower group on the trail who must have been camped at Circlet. I passed them pretty quickly and made my way up to Castlecrag.
The path took you over some pretty large avalanche sites and at times it was easy to get off course. I believe I made it to the summit around 1pm. It was a great view of the surrounding area. Looking North you could see Mount Washington and how far you had travelled. Then you start thinking about how far it is to get back home.
After eating lunch I made my way off the summit and started heading towards Mount Frink. The wind had really started to pick up and there were no trees along the ridge to help but it was fairly easy going to the Mount Frink Summit.
Once at the summit I stopped briefly, adjusted my gear and started my way towards the shoulder of Mount Albert Edward and the way back. I didn't have too much time to linger any longer.
And soon I realized I lost my phone somewhere. Luckily, I had left it on the cairn stone of Mount Frink but it was still over 100 feet of elevation I had to regain to get there again. Oops!
As I made my way towards the shoulder of Mount Albert Edward the weather had started to get worse and I was starting to lose light fast. I got down to Circlet Lake while it was still raining lightly and put on my rain gear.
Soon after leaving Circlet Lake it had really started to pour! The last three or more hours of the hike were spent hiking back in the dark and pouring rain. I had a headlamp and my feet were dry but I still didn't like it much. I was on a better maintained part of the trail now but there were still plenty of roots and obsticles to trip or slip on. I couldn't see too far around me so there was also a bit of a fear of the dark. Hopefully I wouldn't run into any wildlife!
I made it back to the truck at 10pm. I underestimated how long this hike would take me and didn't bother to look up the sunset time either. At least I was prepared to hike in the dark, I just didn't think it would have been for such a big section of the trail! My feet were killing me!
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