N to S Presidential Traverse - 09/04/05

[Artex]

An awesome group of VFTT'ers including MEB, Little Sister, Bob, Geri, Lendawg, Hockeycrew, Adamiata, Drewski and myself completed the N to S Presi Traverse yesterday.

Full trip report and pictures are up on my personal website. Click here for the direct link

A quick summary: This was a great challenge that was full of lots of laughs. Great group and great times!!! A huge thanks to you all for making it so memorable and fun, and a special huge thanks to MEB for organizing it!

 

[poison ivy]

Great to read your report... I was thinking of everyone on this trip yesterday and wondering how you guys were doing. The pictures make it clear you all had a blast!

-Ivy

 

[MEB]

Aretx,

Thanks so much for writing up the trip report!! This truely was a great day and for me the longest and most challenging hike I've yet to do. I had serious doubts about weather or not I would even make it and I was suprised at how well I felt even towards the end. The best part of the day for me was when we summited Eisenhower and we finally started to get some views. By the time we reached Jackson the sun was setting and on Webster we were treated to a star filled sky...looking back we could also see the lights on the summit of Washington. Making our way down in the dark was slow going and slippery and it seemed as though the trail would go on forever!

Thanks to everyone who came along trip and thanks to Andy for scaring the daylights out of us as we emerged from the woods at the end!

-MEB

 

[MichaelJ]

Congrats on a successful traverse! I was wondering how you folks were doing as I watched the weather here in Massachusetts vary from sunny and clear to ominous and then back to clear, over and over.

Good to hear you made it - great TR, Artex!

 

[drewski]

pres trv

i am a little disappionted i didnt finish.i could of made it.i slept like a log.thanks to all.very nice day.

 

[sapblatt]

Incredible

Congratulations to all of you! That is a great accomplishment, an d a great way to kill 17.5 hours! And to think you went all the way to Webster!! I have never read a trip report that included so many people in it that I have hiked with...I wish I was there and cannot wait to get back north next weekend.
Congrats again!

 

[MichaelJ]

i am a little disappionted i didnt finish

Don't be! You went all the way to Pierce and that's an impressive feat no matter how you put it!

(and there's always next summer )

 

[giggy]

congrats guys/gals - sounds like loads of fun - I was trying to come on this with you folks (had contacted bobandgeri) but due to some family obligations I couldn't make it this weekend.

looks like weather cooperated for the most part. I only made it to lakes when i tried and bailed due to pouring rain and blisters in june. Its a tough day hike - esp with web/jack tossed in for fun.

congrats again - hopefully I will have the pleasure of hiking with you folks some day.

 

[Artex]

Don't be! You went all the way to Pierce and that's an impressive feat no matter how you put it!

(and there's always next summer )

Ditto! I understand the disapointment, but I wonder what percent of the people on earth could make it that far. You done good, Drewski.

Giggy - Thanks! Would have been nice to meet you. There'll be other opportunities.

 

[chinooktrail]

Jamie, great to meet you, and another wonderful trip report and pix! I am SOO glad you all made it! Wow, what an accomplishment. I was thinking of you all last night and hoping for a safe return and a succesful mission, sounds like you had all that and then some! You were all a fun group to hike and dine with, hope to see you all in the future for more hikes! Jamie, best of luck in October for your marathon.

 

[adamiata]

Thanks to everyone for a great hike, especially MEB for organizing it and Artex for such a fast trip report. This was one of the best adventures I've had in a long time.

 

[uphillklimber]

What a trip you guys had! High peakin' it too. Great report and what a view!

 

[percious]

Nice report Artex. It was great to meet some board members for the first time at the height of such an adventure. My group (though split up by the summit of Washington) shared similar experiences with the clouds as we descended over boot spur and back into dry river.

-percious

 

[bobandgeri]

Hey Percious! Great to meet you on the summit, if only long enough to say hello. Even with the weather , it was a great day to be out in the mountains. Hope we cross paths again in the future!

 

[hockeycrew]

I still feel like a wimp for opting out at Pierce, but I'm still happy not to have had to do the trail down in the dark. I think it was smarter to opt out early and hike be able to hike again later though.

I just wish I didn't have to miss that last little bit. With the exhausion, the laughs must have been getting more and more hysterical

I'll be sure not to fall off rocks at Acadia next year, so my knee is 100% all summer

Thanks for the great time everyone. Pleasure to do my 39-41 on my first VFTT trip

 

[MEB]

Mir, you are not a wimp!! I would never entertain the thought of even doing a 12 mile hike the day before a presi traverse! Plus you made it all the way to Pierce with a recovering knee injury!

Way to Go on #39-#41

-MEB

 

[Puma concolor]

Congrats to all ... including drewski and hockeycrew. Perhaps the rest of the crew did the slightly more muscular version of the traverse, but yours counts nonetheless.

Kevin and I went into it with the idea that we'd see what time it was when we hit Pierce and make the decision from there. Thanks to a later than planned start and a 30 minute loss on Adams, it was pretty much a no-brainer. I know I certainly don't feel like I didn't complete a traverse and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise.

 

[king tut]

Nice pics. Good job to everyone that did that hike, must have been tiring. I was pooped just doing the presi's as a two day journey.

 

[Head]

Awesome TR Jamie!(as usual ) Sounds like yall had a blast. Looks like you had a great day for it as well, judging by the photos!

 

[adamiata]

There's nothing wimpy about going down after Pierce. Making it that far is quite an accomplishment. Going down the Webster-Jackson Trail in the dark was something of an ordeal. It could've easily been a knee buster. I consider you folks lucky, I didn't even make the halfway point on my first attempt.

Here's some of the pictures I took on the traverse: http://community.webshots.com/user/adamiata You'll find them under "Presi Traverse 2005" I know almost nothing about photography, so if any of them actually came out halfway decent, it was out of pure luck. Anyway, you may find them interesting.