On Sunday, September 7th, just 48 hours after the end of an exciting trip out west to climb Mt. Rainier, I set out to celebrate with a full Presidential Range Traverse. I enjoy returning "home" and celebrating with a good adventure, taking those good feelings from a successful trip and bringing them back to savor on the peaks that got it all started. I had eight Presidential Traverses under my belt, including four already in 2014, this would be my 5th. I've done times of 20hrs, 15hrs, 13hrs, 10:50, 10:45, and my best previous time was 10:20. Most of those times didn't include Jackson, or they were at night, or in winter or I was trying to do a Double Presidential Traverse. However, the 10:20 best time was a north-bound full, including Jackson, so I found myself in Crawford Notch, with a goal to see if I could get under 10hrs. I also just could not pass up a Presi Day, because that is what the forecast called for.
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| Walking from the shuttle to the Jackson-Webster Trailhead |
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| Jackson-Webster Trail |
So then started the theme of the day, I passed some hikers on the way up. I prefer the northbound presi traverse, as the route to the ridge and Mt. Jackson is pretty short and easy compared to the Valley Way. From my previous traverses, I've been able to get great starts starting this way because its a lot easier when you get to the ridge faster. When I got to the summit of Jackson, it was cool and in some clouds. I noticed that I was at about an hour or a few minutes over that, so I was about 20 minutes behind what I've done before up to Jackson. In true peak-bagger fashion, I was off to Pierce after a quick summit snapshot and a look around. There were some folks enjoying the now crystal clear views from Mt. Pierce, as the clouds disappeared mostly for good.
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| Mt. Jackson |
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| Coming right up.....a beautiful and lucky September day on the Presi's |
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| Mt. Pierce summit (1hr49min) |
Even though I was cruising along, as I started to ascend Eisenhower the views and magnitude of this beautiful day started to take full effect. It was just so fun to be up there taking it all in on such a nice day, yet at the same time I was enjoying kicking my own ass as much as possible with this workout. Eisenhower was busy, and it was nice to see some friends Michael and Monica again (albeit quickly), who I've bumped into all over New England. I basically left Eisenhower in a good run. I felt like I was certainly making up for the few minutes I was disappointed about back on Jackson. The next section over Franklin to Mt. Monroe is almost always pretty peaceful and quiet.
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| Mt. Eisenhower (in 2hrs 23min) |
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| Leaving Mt. Eisenhower |
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| Jefferson, Washington, and Monroe, and Oakes Gulf, and the Montalban Ridge behind it (I think) |
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| Mt. Monroe (3hrs 20min with only 10 minutes of stopped time) |
As you can see, I'm on par with my plans, making great time at the beginning of a northbound traverse. In 3hrs 20min, I was on Mt. Monroe, a little over seven miles and 4,700 feet of gain from the start. It was my 14th summit of Mt. Monroe, and its always nice to think back to that morning I finished my 48 here. After a quick pause, I ran to Lake of the Clouds Hut where I stopped only to switch out my t-shirt for my long-sleeved shirt with hood. A quick check of the weather informed me that the wind chill was about 31 degrees up on Washington. I was looking forward to it, as this was my 20th summit push for Mt. Washington.
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| Lake of the Clouds |
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| Final push up the summit cone |
I passed the always spectacular Lake of the Clouds, and pushed my legs up the highest peak in New England. It took me about 45 minutes to reach the summit from LOC. While that is a pretty solid section I was happy about, this is where it starts to get tough and I've always watched my pace start to diminish from this point on. When I got the summit, I immediately walked past the sign and touched it. The wind was definitely making it feel like 31 degrees which is pretty cold, especially with shorts and no windbreaker. There, of course, was a line at the summit. I quickly stepped in line, but after about 45 seconds, I said screw this, this is going to come back to haunt me and my goal of breaking my previous time. I walked forward and snapped a quick summit selfie and a couple of shots of the views.
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| What its like to wait in line |
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| 20th Mt. Washington summit |
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| On to the Northern Presidentials... |
I remember taking about a 5-10 minute break on the Gulfside Trail overlooking the ravine. Much better to take a break over here where its nice and peaceful. After that, I continued onto Clay. I bumped into another acquaintance from VFTT, Tim, along this section, enjoying a northern presi hike on this day. Next was the long stretch of ascent on the approach to Mt. Jefferson. This is where it sometimes really starts to slow you. Trying to overcome that adversity which I was aware of, I kept pushing. I arrived at the summit of Mt. Jefferson in six hours, just a few minutes before 3:00pm.
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| Mt. Jefferson, my 100th White Mountain 4000-footer in 2014 |
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| Mt. Adams as seen from Mt. Jefferson |
Certainly, I was doing well on this traverse, but I was thinking about the next four hours and the remaining 7 miles or so which puts up a beating every time. Would I get the two remaining peaks and all the way down the 4 mile Valley Way in those four hours or was I going to fall off the pace? After a couple minutes of pondering, the mind snaps and reminds me that if its going to happen, I have keep going and not think.
The section coming down Jefferson into Edmands col can be tiring on the legs, but without stopping, I descended and then head back up about 900 feet to the summit of Mt. Adams. It took me an hour from Mt. Jefferson.
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| Looking back from Mt. Adams |
It was really windy, as usual, with some clouds building over Washington. After a quick stop, I labored on using all 4 limbs to quickly make my way down the Airline Trail to Madison Hut. Without stopping for anything, not even a pack drop, I continued up the Osgood Trail a half mile to Mt. Madison.
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| Mt. Madison summit (8hrs from the start) |
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| View from Mt. Madison |
Standing atop Mt. Madison, I now had just under two hours to make it down within 10 hours, and a little more to just match my best time of 10hrs 20min. I knew I could do it, but it was going to be close. The race was on. I had such an incredible time above treeline on this hike. You couldn't ask for a better gym. I was seriously saddened to descend, but quickly my goal came back to mind, so I busted out my hiking poles, and I started my skipping, running, and jogging effort to get to my car. Thankfully it was not as painful as it was descending here during my double presi. I arrived at Appalachia, just a few minutes before sunset. I finished in 9 hours and 50 minutes, beating my best time by a half hour, and getting under 10 hours. After all, those minutes I didn't wait in line on Washington came into effect. I was pretty darn happy about my effort, and its amazing how much you can still surprise yourself at what your capable of by always challenging yourself. After this hike, where I pretty much didn't stop, I can say that I don't think I could do a northbound presi traverse any faster without shedding gear and the pack and running it. I will have to try a "fast" southbound traverse someday, but for now I'm feeling good on this one, and looking forward to my next big traverse this week, the Mahoosuc Range, which I'm doing with some adventurous friends.
Hike Stats
Trails: Jackson-Webster Trail, Webster Cliff Trail, Crawford Path, Eisenhower Loop, Monroe Loop, Trinity Heights Connector, Gulfside Trail, Clay Loop, Jefferson Loop, Israel Ridge Path, Airline Trail, Osgood Trail, Valley Way Trail.
Distance: 19 miles
Elevation Gain: 8,503 ft.
