June 19 - June 21, 2010
Hike taken from the AMC Discover The White Mountains chapter: "Hut to Hut Presidential Traverse"; text in italics is taken from the book. Over three days, this hike will offer you spectacular views on the largest piece of alpine real estate in the eastern United States. It offers hikers the opportunity to bag as many as eight 4,000-footers.
Rating: Very Strenuous
Distance: 25.5 miles including all summits
Elevation Gain: 9, 600 feet including all summits
I booked two nights in the AMC Huts (food and lodging very near the peaks), which allowed us to travel lightly. Day 1: NH 16 to Madison Hut: "after a moderate climb across the floor of the gulf, you begin the very steep climb up the headwall. Make no mistake about it: this is one of th emost difficult sections of trail in the White Mountains, with steep scrambles over rocky ledges... expect to spend a lot of time on the headwall." Indeed, this was the most difficult climb I had to date. The day was really hot, and we quickly ran out of the water. I ended up stopping to catch my breath every 30 seconds on the headwall, and filled my bottle with unfiltered water from the mountain stream (the most delicious tasting water ever!). But what a beautiful world opens up once you climb the wall: amongst the gray stones there is a huge white granite boulder, and below it a small alpine lake (Star Lake: "Its shallow waters reflect the treeless, rock-strewn upper slopes of Mount Adams and Mount Madison, while alpine plants like cotton grass, mountain aven, and pale laurel grow in the thin soils filling the spaces between boulders covered with map and target lichens.") Dropping our bags at Madison Hut, we climbed Mt. Madison, and then spent the evening gazing at the sunset reflected in the alpine lake. Notable moment: on the way up, we decided to swim under the waterfall. I went into it fine, came out blind. Turns out I forgot to take my glasses off, and they were drowned in the freezing pool below. The guys dove to find them, but all in vain. Danya saved me, he had extra pairs of contacts on him, and our vision is equally bad. Picture below shows me still wearing the specs... next one is Danya sitting on the white marble during sunset.
Day 2: Madison Hut to Lakes of the Clouds Hut. A gorgeous day on the Presidentials was somewhat spoiled by the continuous fog, rain and thunderstorm. In fact, being in the t-storm on the range was really scary: we hid under the rock caves and waited out as the lightning struck seemingly very close. Despite being wet, we summited Mt. Adams, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington, and Mt. Monroe. The highlights included hearing the train in the fog, realizing we are near the Mt. W cog railroad, and then seeing the train pass by two meters from us... a surreal experience. Below, Skavish is hiding from the lightning (yes, not the most effective method ever).
Once at the Lake in the Clouds, we entertained the hikers by undressing and going for a swim in the Lake in the Clouds. It was freezing, but swimming in the mountains became our tradition!
In the evening, we met a humongous hiker who we nicknamed "The moose"; he did not have money to stay in the hut, and did not want to sleep in the rain, so they gave him a place to sleep in the kitchen and asked him to stir the shit in the compostable toilet. We had lots of fun talking to him and about him, and "The moose" became one of the many memorable characters in our travels (later to include "The everglades guy," the Mayor of Newton candidate, the group from Quebec, and many many others).
Day 3. Lakes of the Clouds to the car. The day started foggy, but it cleared by mid-morning and we were treated to the gorgeous views of the Whites. We summited Mt. Eisenhower, Mt. Pierce, Mt. Jackson, Mt. Webster. On the picture below, Danya is taking a picture of Moose's footprint (we followed his footsteps once we ate breakfast and he stirred the morning shit).
The picture below (from the last day) is my favorite: truly, it tells it all about the trip and our experience.
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