Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Thursday, June 21, 2012
The Presi Traverse of 2012
Sometimes, I come up with crazy ideas.....
Like, hey, why not hike for 20 miles across the White Mountains, making sure to summit Mt. Washington and the other presidential mountains on my list of 4000 footers left to cross off? And do it in one day. Sure, that seems like a grand idea….
Actually, this is a well-travelled path and is called a Presidential Traverse. There are variations of it, but the minimum requirements for complete what is affectionately referred to as a “death march” include hitting the following 7 summits:
Mount Madison - named after James Madison
Mount Adams - named after John Adams
Mount Jefferson - named after Thomas Jefferson
Mount Washington - named after George Washington
Mount Monroe - named after James Monroe
Mount Eisenhower - named after Dwight Eisenhower
Mount Pierce - named after Franklin Pierce
The route I chose
started me off at the Appalachia Trail Head on Route 2 and then hike south to north to Crawford Notch. The original plan was to wait until the Summer Solstice (June 20th this year), under the theory that it is the longest day of the year. However, the weather forecasted a heat index approaching 100 degrees and exhaustion and dehydration were already going to be on the menu – I didn’t need to pre-order extra helpings; so I set off two days earlier at 4:30 AM. I hit the top of Mt. Washington around 1PM (after getting a little lost trying to find the right trail to summit Mt. Jefferson) and finished at the AMC Highland Center at 8:10 PM.
My hope is to write an extended piece about the trip, but for now, here are the shots from the seven summits.
Like, hey, why not hike for 20 miles across the White Mountains, making sure to summit Mt. Washington and the other presidential mountains on my list of 4000 footers left to cross off? And do it in one day. Sure, that seems like a grand idea….
Actually, this is a well-travelled path and is called a Presidential Traverse. There are variations of it, but the minimum requirements for complete what is affectionately referred to as a “death march” include hitting the following 7 summits:
Mount Madison - named after James Madison
Mount Adams - named after John Adams
Mount Jefferson - named after Thomas Jefferson
Mount Washington - named after George Washington
Mount Monroe - named after James Monroe
Mount Eisenhower - named after Dwight Eisenhower
Mount Pierce - named after Franklin Pierce
The route I chose
started me off at the Appalachia Trail Head on Route 2 and then hike south to north to Crawford Notch. The original plan was to wait until the Summer Solstice (June 20th this year), under the theory that it is the longest day of the year. However, the weather forecasted a heat index approaching 100 degrees and exhaustion and dehydration were already going to be on the menu – I didn’t need to pre-order extra helpings; so I set off two days earlier at 4:30 AM. I hit the top of Mt. Washington around 1PM (after getting a little lost trying to find the right trail to summit Mt. Jefferson) and finished at the AMC Highland Center at 8:10 PM.
My hope is to write an extended piece about the trip, but for now, here are the shots from the seven summits.
 |
| Mt. Madison |
 |
| Mt. Adams |
 |
| Mt. Jefferson |
 |
| Mt. Washington |
 |
| Mt. Monroe |
 |
| Mt. Eisenhower |
 |
| Mt. Pierce |
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Left Foot, Right Foot, Left Foot, Right Foot, Straight Ahead
Weather and work kept me from making my trip to Mt. Isolation as planned; I had to wait until April to get back north. This this time the target was Mt. Carrigain (4,700 feet), in the heart of the Whites and the entry way into the Pemigewasset Wilderness. As an added bonus, my ten year old son Dan “The Man” Crowley was going to tag along and make his first attempt at a 4,000 footer.
A pair of uncles owns some property in Lunenburg, Vermont I’ve started using as a base camp of sorts for my hikes. Luneburg is old fashioned small town Vermont complete with one building
down town area and wooden covered bridge. Camp is 6 miles into the woods with beautiful views of Franconia Notch and a ridge that the dawn crests over every morning. There is a trail through the woods that my uncle Larry calls “Mirkwood” after the forest in Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.”
Mt. Carrigain as a climb, along the Signal Ridge Trail, was relatively easy. Add in the extra 2 miles we had to hump from the parking lot to the actual trail head, turning a 10 mile hike into a 14 mile hike and by the end of the day Dan and I were exhausted. But it was well worth it.
The views atop the summit were just as promised; some of the most spectacular in the Whites. The old fire tower sitting on top of the summit gives you an unobstructed 360 degree view of the entire region. The wind was whipping a bit and the temperature probably dropped a good 20 degrees even from the top of the Signal Ridge Crest where we got great views of the rock slide of the face of Mt. Lowell; so lingering any longer than to rest up, re-hydrate, and get some much needed calories in us wasn’t in order for the day.
My new climbing partner, Dan the Man, was a trooper. He helped me figure out some very important things about hiking – left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot; walk straight ahead seems so simple until you have to do it for 9 solid hours in the heat, and then the cold, in mud, on rocks, up and down, on ice, over rivers, watching every step. The physical exertion is the easy part ( did I mention that my 10 year old son just did a 14 mile hike up a mountain almost 5,000 feet tall?) it is the mental part of this sport that is now even more curious to me.
This song is for Dan the Man, the new Mountain King:
A pair of uncles owns some property in Lunenburg, Vermont I’ve started using as a base camp of sorts for my hikes. Luneburg is old fashioned small town Vermont complete with one building
down town area and wooden covered bridge. Camp is 6 miles into the woods with beautiful views of Franconia Notch and a ridge that the dawn crests over every morning. There is a trail through the woods that my uncle Larry calls “Mirkwood” after the forest in Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.”
Mt. Carrigain as a climb, along the Signal Ridge Trail, was relatively easy. Add in the extra 2 miles we had to hump from the parking lot to the actual trail head, turning a 10 mile hike into a 14 mile hike and by the end of the day Dan and I were exhausted. But it was well worth it.
The views atop the summit were just as promised; some of the most spectacular in the Whites. The old fire tower sitting on top of the summit gives you an unobstructed 360 degree view of the entire region. The wind was whipping a bit and the temperature probably dropped a good 20 degrees even from the top of the Signal Ridge Crest where we got great views of the rock slide of the face of Mt. Lowell; so lingering any longer than to rest up, re-hydrate, and get some much needed calories in us wasn’t in order for the day.
My new climbing partner, Dan the Man, was a trooper. He helped me figure out some very important things about hiking – left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot; walk straight ahead seems so simple until you have to do it for 9 solid hours in the heat, and then the cold, in mud, on rocks, up and down, on ice, over rivers, watching every step. The physical exertion is the easy part ( did I mention that my 10 year old son just did a 14 mile hike up a mountain almost 5,000 feet tall?) it is the mental part of this sport that is now even more curious to me.
This song is for Dan the Man, the new Mountain King:
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Getting ready for the next climb - Mt. Isolation
Its getting time to prepare for the next climb. The target this time is Mt. Isolation in the Montalban Ridge section of the Whites. A winter hike on less traveled paths is going to take some prep work but it will get me that much closer to finishing. I was hoping to get Mt. Carrigain this winter but the road to the trailhead is closed.
Some climbing music:
Some climbing music:
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Year of the Moose
My 2011 climbing season was great for animal sightings. I don’t know what it was about this year over the others in the Whites, but the animals were out to be seen. I saw a Spruce Grouse on the ascent to Mt. Cabot and a fawn on my way down. I spooked a black bear on the trail up Mt. Waumbek (and it was most certainly the other way around. “Mr. Tough Guy” hiking with his whistle and his knife out the rest of the day). But the greatest sightings of the year where the MOOSE!
On a hike at the AMC’s Lonesome Lake Hut , my ten year old son Dan and I got to meet Angus, the fully racked bull moose on patrol. Dan got a cool video of that encounter here. Then in December, during a climb between Mt. Surprise and Mt. Moriah, I almost jumped into a pile of moose scat at about 3500 feet. I said to myself “that’s odd….those look awful fresh.” And then….well... here is the video:
Of course, the average moose stands about 7 feet tall at the shoulder and weighs about 1,400 pounds. Multiply that by 2 and there is quite a bit of startled animal in the woods with just me and my trusty hunter’s knife. But I figure, the best defense is a good offense, or, as Danton would say Il nous faut de l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace!
On a hike at the AMC’s Lonesome Lake Hut , my ten year old son Dan and I got to meet Angus, the fully racked bull moose on patrol. Dan got a cool video of that encounter here. Then in December, during a climb between Mt. Surprise and Mt. Moriah, I almost jumped into a pile of moose scat at about 3500 feet. I said to myself “that’s odd….those look awful fresh.” And then….well... here is the video:
Of course, the average moose stands about 7 feet tall at the shoulder and weighs about 1,400 pounds. Multiply that by 2 and there is quite a bit of startled animal in the woods with just me and my trusty hunter’s knife. But I figure, the best defense is a good offense, or, as Danton would say Il nous faut de l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
The Mountains Win Again
In 2001 I started an adventure. There are 48 mountains in the White Mountain National Forest over 4,000 feet high and way back then I set a goal of hiking all of them by the time I was forty years old. Well, I have a year to go to reach my goal, and I’ve set up this blog to help chronicle the last steps of the adventure.
The final stages of this journey are going to be arduous. The last leg of my adventure includes a Presidential Traverse and a Three Bond Traverse. I will also have to tackle two of the more difficult peaks to bag, Mt. Isolation and Owl’s Head. Throw in Mt. Carrigain for fun and it should make for an interesting year.
There are some great songs with mountain themes. Here is a great one from Blues Traveler.
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