Pac-man
New member
Summary:
Appalachia-->Highland Center (via Madison to Jackson)
Miles: 22.21
Elevation: 9693'
Book Time: 16:01
Actual Time: 13:15
Ever since I hiked across the Presidentials for the first time on a hut-to-hut trip and then proceeded to hear that people actually did the whole range in one day, I thought two things: (1) hikers are f'n crazy and (2) it could possibly be a longterm goal for me if I kept hiking. After my wife and I finished the 48 4kers in August, we realized that if there was a time to give a presi traverse a shot, it was now. Keeping a close eye on the weather for this weekend, we noticed it was possibly turning sour on Saturday, so we both took Friday off from work. The goal was Appalachia Trailhead to the Highland Center over Madison through Pierce.
Jill and I set the alarm for 4am and we were at the Appalachia Trailhead ready to go at 4:50am. We headed up Valley Way with our headlamps on (even though the moon was almost light enough!), but they were only needed until about 5:45am when dawn broke and the natural light was more than enough to take the gradual trip up to Madison Springs Hut. For first-timers at hiking together in the dark, Valley Way is perfect with good footing and wide trails the whole way up. We reached the hut just as the croo was announcing the breakfast was served - the smell of fresh breakfast was tempting, but we passed right by on the way to Madison. Reaching the summit, it was the earliest we had been to a peak and it was beautiful. We also noticed here that the weather was picture perfect - bluebird, a light breeze, and a strong sun to keep things comfortable in just a short-sleeve shirt.
Early morning sun hitting Adams and Washington.
The rocky ascent to Mt. Adams.
After a quick stop at the hut to fill up on water, we headed up to Adams still yet to see anyone else on the trail - making it up to the rocky summit at 8:30am. It feels pretty incredible to be up on a peak like Adams with nobody else within site - then, of course, we noticed the black smoke over Washington coming from the lovely Cog. We descended Adams and on our way to Jefferson, we started to pass the first hikers we had seen so far - although we enjoyed the privacy, it was great to see others enjoying the perfect day. Once we reached Jefferson, we decided to grab a seat and have something to eat. We tried to enjoy it, knowing the next couple miles were the long ascent to the biggest rock pile of them all. We started to notice on this trip that we were noticing a lot more on the trail than we had on our hut-to-hut trip - probably because we were now a little more comfortable with the terrain, we could look around a little bit more.
Love these cairns on Monticello Lawn
We made quick work on the rise to George and got the standard photo-op amongst the Cog railway masses at 12:15pm. We felt like we were making decent time and still felt pretty strong - so we grabbed a couple snacks, chugged some fluids, put on dry shirts, and walked around to take a look back at what we had done that morning.
Standard pic on the Rock Pile
Off we went to the Southern Presis with the sun getting really strong and the light wind and blue skies were still present. We knew the majority of the elevation was done, so the last few peaks would seem relatively 'easy' in comparison. We skipped right by the Lakes hut, even though it was tempting to dip our feet in the water, and we ascended to Monroe. It's always a nice view to look back at Lakes with Washington towering over it.
The hut, the lakes, and George Washington.
The grind really started to set in between Monroe and Eisenhower, so we took a break, chugged some electrolytes, took a gu, and ate a little more to find that second wind. And it worked. We started to pick it up again ascending Eisenhower and then made really quick work to Pierce, getting there at 3:30pm. We still felt strong and knew we had 3 hours of daylight left (our faux cutoff was getting to the Highland Center by 6:30pm), so we figured, why not, let's add Jackson to the traverse. We descended to Mizpah, and started to realize our energy was quickly declining - but we both dropped our heads and chugged along the trail to Jackson. We only stayed at Jackson long enough to look back at what we had done. We were both really proud of ourselves for what we had accomplished, but knew the final descent would test the knees. There was little chatter between the two of us on the slog down, just hoping that the final 2.6 miles went as quickly as possible. It was a rough, rough go, but we finally saw the opening of Rt. 302 and got to the trailhead at 6:05pm. PHEW!
We dragged ourselves to our car, feeling terrible, with smiles beaming across our faces. We had done something that neither Jill nor I would have ever thought we would have even attempted, let alone complete. It really was the perfect day - we pushed our limits, completed a goal, had perfect weather, and got to stay above treeline for a good 9 hours. There are so many reasons why I love to hike - and this day covered all of them.
Appalachia-->Highland Center (via Madison to Jackson)
Miles: 22.21
Elevation: 9693'
Book Time: 16:01
Actual Time: 13:15
Ever since I hiked across the Presidentials for the first time on a hut-to-hut trip and then proceeded to hear that people actually did the whole range in one day, I thought two things: (1) hikers are f'n crazy and (2) it could possibly be a longterm goal for me if I kept hiking. After my wife and I finished the 48 4kers in August, we realized that if there was a time to give a presi traverse a shot, it was now. Keeping a close eye on the weather for this weekend, we noticed it was possibly turning sour on Saturday, so we both took Friday off from work. The goal was Appalachia Trailhead to the Highland Center over Madison through Pierce.
Jill and I set the alarm for 4am and we were at the Appalachia Trailhead ready to go at 4:50am. We headed up Valley Way with our headlamps on (even though the moon was almost light enough!), but they were only needed until about 5:45am when dawn broke and the natural light was more than enough to take the gradual trip up to Madison Springs Hut. For first-timers at hiking together in the dark, Valley Way is perfect with good footing and wide trails the whole way up. We reached the hut just as the croo was announcing the breakfast was served - the smell of fresh breakfast was tempting, but we passed right by on the way to Madison. Reaching the summit, it was the earliest we had been to a peak and it was beautiful. We also noticed here that the weather was picture perfect - bluebird, a light breeze, and a strong sun to keep things comfortable in just a short-sleeve shirt.
Early morning sun hitting Adams and Washington.
The rocky ascent to Mt. Adams.
After a quick stop at the hut to fill up on water, we headed up to Adams still yet to see anyone else on the trail - making it up to the rocky summit at 8:30am. It feels pretty incredible to be up on a peak like Adams with nobody else within site - then, of course, we noticed the black smoke over Washington coming from the lovely Cog. We descended Adams and on our way to Jefferson, we started to pass the first hikers we had seen so far - although we enjoyed the privacy, it was great to see others enjoying the perfect day. Once we reached Jefferson, we decided to grab a seat and have something to eat. We tried to enjoy it, knowing the next couple miles were the long ascent to the biggest rock pile of them all. We started to notice on this trip that we were noticing a lot more on the trail than we had on our hut-to-hut trip - probably because we were now a little more comfortable with the terrain, we could look around a little bit more.
Love these cairns on Monticello Lawn
We made quick work on the rise to George and got the standard photo-op amongst the Cog railway masses at 12:15pm. We felt like we were making decent time and still felt pretty strong - so we grabbed a couple snacks, chugged some fluids, put on dry shirts, and walked around to take a look back at what we had done that morning.
Standard pic on the Rock Pile
Off we went to the Southern Presis with the sun getting really strong and the light wind and blue skies were still present. We knew the majority of the elevation was done, so the last few peaks would seem relatively 'easy' in comparison. We skipped right by the Lakes hut, even though it was tempting to dip our feet in the water, and we ascended to Monroe. It's always a nice view to look back at Lakes with Washington towering over it.
The hut, the lakes, and George Washington.
The grind really started to set in between Monroe and Eisenhower, so we took a break, chugged some electrolytes, took a gu, and ate a little more to find that second wind. And it worked. We started to pick it up again ascending Eisenhower and then made really quick work to Pierce, getting there at 3:30pm. We still felt strong and knew we had 3 hours of daylight left (our faux cutoff was getting to the Highland Center by 6:30pm), so we figured, why not, let's add Jackson to the traverse. We descended to Mizpah, and started to realize our energy was quickly declining - but we both dropped our heads and chugged along the trail to Jackson. We only stayed at Jackson long enough to look back at what we had done. We were both really proud of ourselves for what we had accomplished, but knew the final descent would test the knees. There was little chatter between the two of us on the slog down, just hoping that the final 2.6 miles went as quickly as possible. It was a rough, rough go, but we finally saw the opening of Rt. 302 and got to the trailhead at 6:05pm. PHEW!
We dragged ourselves to our car, feeling terrible, with smiles beaming across our faces. We had done something that neither Jill nor I would have ever thought we would have even attempted, let alone complete. It really was the perfect day - we pushed our limits, completed a goal, had perfect weather, and got to stay above treeline for a good 9 hours. There are so many reasons why I love to hike - and this day covered all of them.
Congrats!
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