TDawg
Well-known member
Last week I spent 3 1/2 days and 3 nights roaming around the Northern Presidential Range. My friend, Ryan, was caretaking at Gray Knob and after a weather day on Wednesday, we were a blessed with beautiful weather and took advantage. Ended up tagging the summits of Jefferson, Clay, Washington, Adams, 3 subpeaks of Adams, and Madison.
HIGHLIGHTS
Day 1. Hiked the 3.2 miles to Gray Knob with a 50+ lb pack full of goodies, ie, 6 pack Budwieser, 750ml of shiraz-cab blend, 1 Liter of Manhattan, pre-cooked chicken and fixins for quesadillas, 1 lb. Marinated Steak tips with dehydrated mashies among other things. It was gonna be a good few days, and we weren't going hungry! I paid for the 50+ lb pack though. I showed up at sunset feeling pretty good but soon began to feel nauseous, tried to eat, took a couple tums, nothing really worked. I was feeling cold, tried to take a sip of green tea and that's what did it. I ran for the door and out it came. I immediately felt better and ended up having a good night playing cribbage and having a little red wine. Not sure why the nausea, I drank and ate well coming up. Maybe not enough, maybe I was chilled? I ended up being the only visitor that night.
Day 2: We had some weather come through. It was blowing real hard with rain, temps in the 40's. Going above treeline was out of the question so we hiked the .4 over to Crag Camp, filling up water en route at the spring. We brought the ax because there were 3 or 4 blowdowns we were gonna take care of on the Spur Trail. After clearing the blowdowns, I picked up an old logbook at Crag and began thumbing through. I ended up finding two entries from prior stays my father had written in Aug. '95 and Aug. '96, it was pretty cool and funny to read those. It was Mexican night at Gray Knob, chicken quesadillas! And the beers tasted real good!! Had another night where nobody else showed at Gray Knob, I had the loft all to myself again.
Day 3: Dawned sunny with increasing winds forecast. Our plan was an out and back to Washington, hitting all the summits en route and skipping them on the return. It was a fantastic day on the peaks. On the way back the winds were really whipping, peak gust for Washington that day was 70mph. We got buzzed by a helicopter on the Jefferson summit, it was stocking Lakes hut, close enough to see the pilot, pretty cool.
First time for me to Clay summit, what a spot! On Washington summit, the Auto Road had opened so it was kinda amusing seeing people in t-shirts and street clothes getting battered by the wind while we ate lunch in the lee of the Tip-Top House. People hangin' onto each other trying to get a summit shot, hats getting blown off heads. One girlfriend looked miserable and cold as her boyfriend poked around the summit rocks. We fielded many questions inquiring as to if we had hiked up.
"All the way?!?!"
"Yes, ma'am! From way over there" (pointing to Mt. Adams)
"Wow."
Descending Washington, the wind really picked up and was right in our faces going down Trinity Heights and Gulfside. Looks like the ski gullies in the Gulf have melted out mostly, nobody out skiing. Good views down to Spaulding Lake from the Gulfside, which is still holding a ton of snow. Monticello Lawn was another cool place I had never passed through. The snowfield on Gulfside is still pretty good sized, as is a second one just above Edmands Col, which was a little sketchy going down. Stopped at one of my favorite picture spots, this rock above Edmands on the Gulfside trail provides a great shot of Mt. Adams, we were calling it, "The Diving Board."
Got back to Gray Knob to find we had company for the night, a couple from Pennsylvania that were "surprised" to find snow at higher elevations. They ended up being pretty cool and we had a nice night chatting. Teriyaki steak tips and mashed potatoes for dinner! After 11.9 miles 5700 feet it tasted delicious.
Day 4: Friday dawned just as beautiful and sunny as Thursday, but was forecast for less wind and slightly higher temps. Our itinerary was also much less ambitious than that of the prior day. It was to be a day for lounging around summits, the kind of day you can only hope to have on the grand peaks of Adams and Madison, it was perfect. I'll provide a few more details, but if I had one picture to describe last Friday in the Norther Pressies it would be this one.
We hit the trail after a relaxed breakfast and head up Lowes. After a few minutes we reached a spot where the Diapensia and Alpine Azalea were beginning to bloom. Worked up Lowes to Adams 4 where we took in the views of our future objectives, Sam Adams, the main summit, JQ Adams, and Madison. From Thunderstorm junction we went south on the Gulfside for a minute before setting off rockhopping to the top of Sam Adams. Interesting views here of the pyramidal Adams summit, Madison, and out to Jeff and George.
Hung out for a long time here taking it all in, we had all day and were in no hurry. Rockhopped back to the Gulfside where we took the last bit of Israel Ridge Tr. to Lowes for the Adams summit. There was little to no wind here, awesome. Hung out in the lee of the wind, snacking on cheese, crackers, with pepperoni for a while before setting out down the Airline. About 1/2 way we began contouring over and hit the top of the ridge just above the col between Adams and JQ. Further rockhopping took us to the John Quincy Adams summit, our 4th Adams summit of the day. Great views down into Madison Gulf and down to Star Lake from this lofty perch.
On down to Madison Springs and up Madison via the Osgood. Madison, being our last, would turn out to be our most relaxed and longest summit visit. I found a nice rounded rock for laying down, lost my boots and shirt, and we had our lunch. It was downright warm by now, no wind on the leeward side of the summit. I'd say we hung here for at least an hour.
It was tough but finally we threw the boots back on, I regained my shirt, and set off down Osgood. Instead of back up the Gulfside (boring,) I suggested maybe we take Airline Cut-Off to Airline so we could get some looks down into King Ravine. It was a small detour but ended up being worth it I think.
Hit the Gulfside and took that to Lowes then down Spur Tr. Ryan needed to check on Crag Camp and I wanted to check out Knights Castle. I remember this spot from my last visit to Crag in '96 when I was 13, what a sweet view of King Ravine.
Spur Tr. was still holding a bunch of snow starting at tree-line, postholing was a small pain but not too bad. Reached Crag which was empty and headed back over to Gray Knob, I watered up at the spring for my trip down the mountain. Got to Gray Knob and more visitors had arrived, I packed up my gear and ate a tuna/white rice/hot sauce medley Ryan whipped up and I was off. Lowes Path had lost a lot of snow since my trip up, no need for any traction really. I wouldn't be surprised if it is snow free by the end of this week, it was quite wet though. I made it to my car from the cabin in 1.5 hours. All told for day 4, I trekked 9.5 miles. It was a great return trip to Gray Knob cabin and Crag Camp, where I first visited 15 years ago when I was 12!!
Slideshow
Full Picture Album
HIGHLIGHTS
Day 1. Hiked the 3.2 miles to Gray Knob with a 50+ lb pack full of goodies, ie, 6 pack Budwieser, 750ml of shiraz-cab blend, 1 Liter of Manhattan, pre-cooked chicken and fixins for quesadillas, 1 lb. Marinated Steak tips with dehydrated mashies among other things. It was gonna be a good few days, and we weren't going hungry! I paid for the 50+ lb pack though. I showed up at sunset feeling pretty good but soon began to feel nauseous, tried to eat, took a couple tums, nothing really worked. I was feeling cold, tried to take a sip of green tea and that's what did it. I ran for the door and out it came. I immediately felt better and ended up having a good night playing cribbage and having a little red wine. Not sure why the nausea, I drank and ate well coming up. Maybe not enough, maybe I was chilled? I ended up being the only visitor that night.
Day 2: We had some weather come through. It was blowing real hard with rain, temps in the 40's. Going above treeline was out of the question so we hiked the .4 over to Crag Camp, filling up water en route at the spring. We brought the ax because there were 3 or 4 blowdowns we were gonna take care of on the Spur Trail. After clearing the blowdowns, I picked up an old logbook at Crag and began thumbing through. I ended up finding two entries from prior stays my father had written in Aug. '95 and Aug. '96, it was pretty cool and funny to read those. It was Mexican night at Gray Knob, chicken quesadillas! And the beers tasted real good!! Had another night where nobody else showed at Gray Knob, I had the loft all to myself again.
Day 3: Dawned sunny with increasing winds forecast. Our plan was an out and back to Washington, hitting all the summits en route and skipping them on the return. It was a fantastic day on the peaks. On the way back the winds were really whipping, peak gust for Washington that day was 70mph. We got buzzed by a helicopter on the Jefferson summit, it was stocking Lakes hut, close enough to see the pilot, pretty cool.
First time for me to Clay summit, what a spot! On Washington summit, the Auto Road had opened so it was kinda amusing seeing people in t-shirts and street clothes getting battered by the wind while we ate lunch in the lee of the Tip-Top House. People hangin' onto each other trying to get a summit shot, hats getting blown off heads. One girlfriend looked miserable and cold as her boyfriend poked around the summit rocks. We fielded many questions inquiring as to if we had hiked up.
"All the way?!?!"
"Yes, ma'am! From way over there" (pointing to Mt. Adams)
"Wow."
Descending Washington, the wind really picked up and was right in our faces going down Trinity Heights and Gulfside. Looks like the ski gullies in the Gulf have melted out mostly, nobody out skiing. Good views down to Spaulding Lake from the Gulfside, which is still holding a ton of snow. Monticello Lawn was another cool place I had never passed through. The snowfield on Gulfside is still pretty good sized, as is a second one just above Edmands Col, which was a little sketchy going down. Stopped at one of my favorite picture spots, this rock above Edmands on the Gulfside trail provides a great shot of Mt. Adams, we were calling it, "The Diving Board."
Got back to Gray Knob to find we had company for the night, a couple from Pennsylvania that were "surprised" to find snow at higher elevations. They ended up being pretty cool and we had a nice night chatting. Teriyaki steak tips and mashed potatoes for dinner! After 11.9 miles 5700 feet it tasted delicious.
Day 4: Friday dawned just as beautiful and sunny as Thursday, but was forecast for less wind and slightly higher temps. Our itinerary was also much less ambitious than that of the prior day. It was to be a day for lounging around summits, the kind of day you can only hope to have on the grand peaks of Adams and Madison, it was perfect. I'll provide a few more details, but if I had one picture to describe last Friday in the Norther Pressies it would be this one.
We hit the trail after a relaxed breakfast and head up Lowes. After a few minutes we reached a spot where the Diapensia and Alpine Azalea were beginning to bloom. Worked up Lowes to Adams 4 where we took in the views of our future objectives, Sam Adams, the main summit, JQ Adams, and Madison. From Thunderstorm junction we went south on the Gulfside for a minute before setting off rockhopping to the top of Sam Adams. Interesting views here of the pyramidal Adams summit, Madison, and out to Jeff and George.
Hung out for a long time here taking it all in, we had all day and were in no hurry. Rockhopped back to the Gulfside where we took the last bit of Israel Ridge Tr. to Lowes for the Adams summit. There was little to no wind here, awesome. Hung out in the lee of the wind, snacking on cheese, crackers, with pepperoni for a while before setting out down the Airline. About 1/2 way we began contouring over and hit the top of the ridge just above the col between Adams and JQ. Further rockhopping took us to the John Quincy Adams summit, our 4th Adams summit of the day. Great views down into Madison Gulf and down to Star Lake from this lofty perch.
On down to Madison Springs and up Madison via the Osgood. Madison, being our last, would turn out to be our most relaxed and longest summit visit. I found a nice rounded rock for laying down, lost my boots and shirt, and we had our lunch. It was downright warm by now, no wind on the leeward side of the summit. I'd say we hung here for at least an hour.
It was tough but finally we threw the boots back on, I regained my shirt, and set off down Osgood. Instead of back up the Gulfside (boring,) I suggested maybe we take Airline Cut-Off to Airline so we could get some looks down into King Ravine. It was a small detour but ended up being worth it I think.
Hit the Gulfside and took that to Lowes then down Spur Tr. Ryan needed to check on Crag Camp and I wanted to check out Knights Castle. I remember this spot from my last visit to Crag in '96 when I was 13, what a sweet view of King Ravine.
Spur Tr. was still holding a bunch of snow starting at tree-line, postholing was a small pain but not too bad. Reached Crag which was empty and headed back over to Gray Knob, I watered up at the spring for my trip down the mountain. Got to Gray Knob and more visitors had arrived, I packed up my gear and ate a tuna/white rice/hot sauce medley Ryan whipped up and I was off. Lowes Path had lost a lot of snow since my trip up, no need for any traction really. I wouldn't be surprised if it is snow free by the end of this week, it was quite wet though. I made it to my car from the cabin in 1.5 hours. All told for day 4, I trekked 9.5 miles. It was a great return trip to Gray Knob cabin and Crag Camp, where I first visited 15 years ago when I was 12!!
Slideshow
Full Picture Album
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