Trailwork on the Alpine Garden Trail--on the Beautiful Day of 9/20/2016

**SISTERS HIKING FOR EQUALITY

My sister and I are hiking all 48 of New Hampshire's highest mountains during every month of the year -- that's 576 mountain ascents -- to raise money for Global Fund for Women.  Click on THIS LINK to help us support women's rights and equality across the globe! **

Trailwork on the Alpine Garden Trail

9/20/2016

We did trailwork on the Alpine Garden Trail today!  There were beautiful views and clear skies.

Mom had to drive up the Auto Road.  She was nervous, because she is afraid of driving on roads with drop-offs, but she faced her fear and did well.  An extremely kind hiker, Arlette, offered to help out with trailwork, so we drove her up Mt. Washington to work with us.  It was lovely to see her again!  We had meet briefly on the JMT, but I was able to spend more time with her today.

We brought Max along so he could get a little exercise and fresh air up top.  I took some pictures of him in the car, because sunlight was bouncing off his fur in such a way as it provided me an opportunity to be photogenic.

I brought my hiking buddy, Harley, along for the ride!  Arlette makes these sock hiking partner dolls for a living--they are adorable.

Beginning up the Auto Road...

My sister and me:

It was interesting seeing what tourists do to experience Mt. Washington.  Our drive up the Auto Road came with a CD explaining exciting things about Mt. Washington and the area, as well as other enjoyable tidbits.

We were all a bit amused by our touristy feeling.

Once we got on the Alpine Garden Trail, we started near the intersection with Tuckerman Ravine Trail and worked our way backwards.  We kept an eye out for sloppily-put-together cairns, faulty scree wall, and branches sticking out into the path.  This trail is at least a year-long project.  Our main focus today was clipping branches that came into the walkway, and building/reinforcing scree walls to make the trail clearer between the intersection with Tuckerman Ravine Trail and the intersection with Lion's Head Trail.

We were so grateful to be working in such a gorgeous area with crystal clear skies and only a slight breeze.

Sage and I tried to give Max as much shade as possible so he was cool enough.

Sage and I worked on this scree wall for a while so the path would look more obvious.  Before it was just a jumble of rocks, and now there is a cut out path with a border.  It was fun!

We decided to each take a picture of the other working.  Here is Sage doing some heavy lifting.

Here is the picture Sage got of me--I am lifting and carrying a large rock.

It was noon, so we all ate our lunch and looked at the lovely view before our eyes.

All of us decided to pose our hiking buddies for the camera.  It took effort to not have them fall over.

Some pine cones!

The ray of light coming across this picture is pretty cool!  This is Sage walking towards me.

After trailwork, we had a quite tasty and refreshing strawberry ice cream treat.  We got a fair amount of work done; it was a successful day!