Presidential Traverse

So, I've been wanting to do this hike with my son for a couple of years, and it just never seemed to happen. Remember the Harry Chapin song, Cats in the Cradle?...you know, the Dad is too busy to play with the son, then later in life, the son's too busy to 'play' with the Dad?

I'd been telling my son I wanted to do this for a couple of years after we went climbing in Chamonix back in 2010 (yeah, I know, it doesn't really compare, but the Presidentials are "our" mountains), and it seemed difficult for us to get together- he has 2 young kids, work, a wife (hence the song reference...). Anyway, I threatened to my wife that I was gonna do this alone, and being 62 with a recent history of coronary artery disease, she strongly hinted to my son that he 'had' to do this with me since she didn't want me out there alone.

I last did the traverse, over 3 days, in July of 1966 when I was 13. Hiked the Israel Ridge trail, slept at the Perch, hiked Madison/Adams/Jefferson/Clay/Mt. Washington then slept in the Lakes of the Clouds hut & out the following morning.

This time on September 18/19, 6 weeks shy of my 63 birthday, I wanted to go as light as possible and make the 23 mile/9000' elevation gain trip in under 24 hrs. We carried lightweight sleeping bags & bivy gear (which for me meant just a lightweight nylon poncho- my bivy bag was heavier than I wanted to carry!), 1 liter of water each, and no food other than granola bars & Clif Shot Bloks.

Starting at 6:20pm at the Appalachia parking lot on Friday night, we hiked up Valley Way & the Watson Path to the top of Mt. Madison; dropped down to the Madison hut to refill our water, and ascended Mt. Adams via the Star Lake trail. After the obligatory summit photos with digits raised to indicate the number of the peak climbed, we headed in the direction of Edmands Col to find a place to throw out our sleeping bags & ended up snoozing off the trail on the shoulder of Adams, above the col.

The following morning we ticked off Jefferson, Clay, and Mt. Washington by (early) lunchtime & had a filling meal at the Mt. Washington State Park cafeteria (which was the key to our 'no food' plan, meaning we didn't have to carry stove & fuel, etc.) and observed the hordes of tourists who had 'climbed' the peak either by cog railroad or car. Technically, we never hit the summit of Mt. Washington cuz it was mobbed by tourists who wanted to take pictures next to the summit sign...

Summit photo lineup & my son Ryan indicating our fifth summit

The remainder of the afternoon was spent on the gradually descending Crawford Trail, including a stop at the Lakes of the Clouds hut where I had stayed 49 years ago. I even found my name in the 1966 hut register which is archived in their library area- maybe I'll be able to do this again with my son AND grandson in a few years when he's old enough; jeez, I'll be 70! The remainder of the hike was a blur, hitting the remaining summits along the way at a quick pace, along with the throngs of late-starting hikers heading up to Mt. Washington. We finished at Crawford Notch 22 hrs after leaving the Appalachia parking lot, so, with 7 hrs. spent sleeping we did the actual hike in 15 hours. Very satisfying for me.

What's interesting is that whenever we manage to tick off an adventure, the next thought is what's next. According to my son, it's ice climbing all the gullies of Huntington Ravine on Mt. Washington in one day! Brr, that's gonna be cold, but... I'm in!

15 of hours of hiking time is pretty good for an old fart! Congrats!

Perfect time of the year to do it too

Hey... I resemble that remark! Yeah, I was pretty happy, especially when at the end, I had to teach my son how to hitchhike back to the car; he had never done it before!

I see you're in Monkton. My son lives in Williston & I go up there all the time to hike, climb, bike, etc. By the way, that's a nice picture of your pups!