28th Birthday & a Presidential Traverse

I have been waiting all summer to try out my annual Presidential Traverse. My birthday was coming up and the weather was looking quite beautiful here in the White Mountains. I had 2 options for this day. One was to finish my 48th mountain for the Four Thousand Footers, or a traverse. Josh had never attempted a traverse before and had been asking me to do one with him all summer. Our timing just always had been off. Well, he took the day off to spend with me and we both agreed to a traverse.

Appalachia Trailhead 5:00am

I am quite familiar with how my hiking pace is and over a long amount of miles with lots of elevation gain. I also was very familiar with what kind of challenge this is. Waking up super early in the morning after a horrible nights sleep because you're either too excited to sleep or nervous. Hiking in the dark for 4-5 miles and letting your body trying to wake up at the same time. Hitting almost 8000 vertical miles in the first half of your trek and then pushing through the final uphill battle towards Mount Washington. I was ready!

I set the alarm for 3:00am with hopes to be out the door by 4:00am and on trail by 5:00am. As an avid hiker and hiking being my thing, I have past the stages of not sleeping well the night before a big hike and now I sleep like a baby. Getting up that early in the morning has become almost routine for me now. Josh however, not so much. The alarm went off- I jumped out of bed in excitement to get the day started. I went down stairs to turn lights on and go to the bathroom. Josh was still not awake.. So I did the worst thing imaginable to wake him up. I turned the light on in the bedroom. I chuckled inside while he grunted at me.

Infamous STOP sign in the Whites

We made it in the car by 4:00am. Stopped for gas and coffee and headed towards Appalachia. In the past I had previously done the traverse starting at Pine Like and Hawker Ridge. I decided to skip torturing him his first time and chose to head up Valley Way. We were on trail by 5:00am. It was pitch black out and sun would not rise for another 2 hours. A little chilly to start (47 degrees) but we moved quickly to warm up. Before I knew it, I was dripping with sweat. I was familiar with the terrain on valley way and knew it would be easy footing in the dark.

We only stopped maybe 2 or 3 times just to eat something quick and drop layers as needed. Making it to Madison Spring Hut by 6:45. I'd say we made pretty good timing. We didn't really stop here. We kept pushing to the summit of Madison. It was a tad bit chilly by the time we started making our way up Madison with winds blowing somewhere in the 40's I'd guess. We got to the summit and I let Josh tag it first since he is starting to tag his 4k's for the first time now (even though he doesn't know it or wont admit to it).

Summit of Mount Madison

We got back to the hut and dropped a layer and started up towards Gulfside and Airline for Adams. At this point I think Josh had finally snapped out of the sleepy hiking coma is was previously in that was bringing him down. We bombed up to the summit stopping to look back at where we had just come from. I very much enjoy looking back as much as I do looking forward. It makes me realize how hard I just worked and how far I have come.

Headed up Adams pile of rocks.

We hit Adams by 7:49am. Still making great timing. We kept on moving until hitting Thunderstorm Junction. We stopped for a bite to eat here before making our trek over towards Jefferson. The sun was starting to get higher in the sky and the winds just about dropped off completely for the rest of the day. We made it to Jefferson and neither of us really needed that peak so we skirted around it instead of over it. Also, because we were on a time crunch. We both enjoyed all the views the Gulfside Trail had to offer. We past only 3 others on trail until hitting Mount Washington.

Josh on Mount Adams

This photo says it all

I had said at least a dozen time the worst part was going up Mount Washington. I think I mentally prepared Josh for the worst push of the entire day. We finally were wrapping around Mount Clay and the sun was just beaming down on us. Not a lick of wind and it was roughly about 64 degrees on Mount Washington. It's rare that I get to say this but that is way too damn hot for the higher summits.

We finally hit Mount Washington at 12:00pm exactly. We headed inside to eat and take a good rest. we spent probably about 45minutes inside enjoying a nice slice of Pizza. Totally worth it!  It gave us both the energy to keep pushing forward. From here I knew the trail would be a breeze.

Josh looking down at the Great Gulf

 

At roughly about 1:00pm we were on schedule to finish by 5:00pm. We packed up our stuff refilled our water and took a picture of the line at the summit sign and a photo of us standing in front of it. We hit Crawford Path and headed south. We kept moving passing Lakes of the Clouds Hut, we skirted around Munroe as well, and at exactly 12:58pm my alarm went off on my phone to remind Josh to take a photo of me at exactly the same time I was born 28 years ago.

Speaks for itself.

 

Halfway point; Mount Washington

We continued our trek onward with a few times looking back at where we came from and how far we had gone. Knowing we still had many more miles left under our feet. We came upon Eisenhower or Ike. As you approach Ike from this direction and after 15 some odd miles it looks quite daunting. We decided to hit the summit of Ike since Josh needed it for his 4k's. As usual the trail is actually very night going up. Finally, at the summit of Ike we felt some cool breeze brush past us. It was like relief from what felt like the desert sun!

 

Summit of Mount Eisenhower

We had all but one peak left. A couple more miles south and we would have our final Peak for the day. Mount Pierce. We finally reached the junction and I promised Josh it was worth just bagging it because it's not far. We headed up, he grabbed another summit and out of no where it dawned on him that I forgot to do headstands on my summits I needed. I at least grabbed a photo of me on Pierce doing one, but I will now have to go back to Jefferson, Eisenhower, and Munroe to get those.

 

Summit of Mount Pierce

That was it- Now it was time for our final decent back to the car. We pretty much both moved as quickly as possible down the wet, slick Crawford Path. Making it back to the car at exactly 4:00pm. We had packed our flip flops and a cooler with ice with 2 bottles of water and a bottle of Champagne for celebration of my 28th birthday and Josh's first Presidential Traverse! We quickly took the shoes off sucked back the ice cold refreshing waters and popped the bottle of Champagne!

It was an incredible day. I couldn't have asked for better company and better weather! (Well, maybe a little cooler temps.) Another year older and another Traverse down. My first one took me 14 hours in total, my second one took me 12 hours in total, and this one took about 11 hours in total. I am quite proud of the hiker I have become today!

From Mount Pierce looking back to the North.

 Hike Safe & Keep on Trekking