Wanderlust: September 2013

Mount Madison, Mount Adams, Mount Jefferson (8/26/13)

Mt. Madison
--5,367'--
--#5--

Mt. Adams
--5,774'--
--#2--

Mt. Jefferson
--5,712'--
--#3--

--22.2 mi--

(the trail we used up Madison is cut off at the top)

We began our hike at 4:30 AM, parked at Appalachia parking off of Route 2 in Randolph. We took Valley Way up to Watson Path. This trail was extremely steep!! We had crappy weather the whole day. Winds were extremely strong on most of the summits!

Wild at heart

::Mt. Madison::

up, up, up on Watson Path

I didn't take any pictures on Madison because of the wind and rain.

::Mt. Adams::

My poncho didn't last long in the wind!

Princess

::Mt. Jefferson::

Our original plan was to complete the whole Presidential Range, Madison to Jackson, but the weather was just too much and we were making poor timing. We decided to head down Caps Ridge Trail from Jefferson.

At 1.4 miles, there's an intersection where we thought we were still continuing onto Caps Ridge Trail but we ended up hitting up The Link trail............HORRIBLE MISTAKE! This trail is 1.6 miles, all boulders, and it was extremely difficult to find the next cairn because of the fog. So instead of ending up on Base Rd in Bretton woods, we took the Castle Trail back down to Route 2. Once we reached the road, it was 3 miles back to the car. Making that little mistake caused us to add 5 plus miles onto our trip and we ended up doing just about the same miles as it would have been to do the whole presidential range.

We will meet again!

MY LIST!

I have hiked 19 out of the 48 4,000 Footers in NH. I still need to hike one more mountain to complete the top 10 (Moosilauke).

N. Twin, S. Twin, West Bond, Mt. Bond, Bondcliff, Guyot, Zealand Mountain (8/12/13)

North Twin
--4,761'--
--#12--

South Twin

--4,902'--
--#8--

West Bond
--4,540'--
--#16--

Mt. Bond
--4,698'--
--#14--

Bondcliff
--4,265'--
--#30--

Guyot
--4,580'--

Zealand Mt.
--4,260'--
--#31--

--20.7 mi--

We started this hike at 5 AM. We parked one car at the Zealand Trailhead ($3) and drove to the trailhead to North Twin Trail (free). The first part of the N. Twin Trail was very hard to follow. The actual trail crosses the river several times but I have read before hand that its best to follow the river on the left side. You cross the river where the fallen tree is. This part took us awhile to get across.

This was both mine and my friend's longest hike ever! It was mentally and physically exhausting but we did it and can now cross it off our lists! I'm just going to let the pictures speak for this 7 mountain hike...

::North Twin::

::South Twin::

I've hiked all those mountains! :D

Summit of S. Twin...and the junction to the AT!

::West Bond::

::Mt. Bond::

::Bondcliff::

::Zealand Mountain::

No View at this summit...just this sign!

The hike down Zealand was very tiring! We followed the Twinway (AT) down to Zealand Falls Hut. This trail felt like it would never be flat! We met a really nice AT hiker who gave us encouragement to finish our hike!

Mount Hight & Carter Dome (8/7/13)

Mt. Hight
--4,675'--

Carter Dome
--4,832'--
--#9--

--10.2 mi RT--

The trailhead to the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail is located off of Route 16 in Carter Notch. Parking is $3.

The first 1.9 miles on the Nineteen Mile Brook Trail was fairly easy. At the intersection, we took a left and went up Carter Dome Trail to be able to bag Mt. Hight and then Carter Dome. Unfortunately Hight is not part of the NH 48, but the 360 view is spectacular!!

This sign made me laugh, the AMC spelled the mountain name wrong.

::Mt. Hight::

Looking towards Maine

Carter Dome

Mt. Washington

It was really windy at the top of this one so we didn't stay long. We took the Carter-Moriah Trail (AT) to Carter Dome.

::Carter Dome::

The summit of this mountain wasn't that great. There's no view except for the patch where trees have been cut down.

People on Mt. Hight

From the summit of Carter Dome, it was 1.2 miles from the Carter Notch Hut. We stopped at a look-out point (its a little off the trail but WORTH IT!) I had also stopped to talk to some North to South AT hikers! Young guys my age, I loved hearing how and why they started!