In October of 2013, myself, 7 friends and Rufus (Cameron’s dog) headed to the woods of the White Mountains to attempt the Presidential Traverse.
The crew that assembled for the Presidential Traverse was very diverse but certainly qualified, however, easily distracted (myself included).
I have hiked all over the Presidential Mountain range over the years. I’m not sure how many times I have stood Mount Washington but I am sure that it is no less than 10. The avid New Hampshire hiker has bagged New England’s highest peak several times more than that but I haven’t even lived in New Hampshire since I started hiking there. Oddly enough, I grew up in New Hampshire but didn’t find an affinity for the White Mountains until I moved away to go to college and was no longer surrounded by their beauty.
Two things looked to be disastrous to our attempt right off the bat and really one of them didn’t help the other. That is, unfortunately we timed our trip to fall directly on the first terrible stretch of winter weather of 2013. Seeing the forecast didn’t help our beverage purchasing at all. It really led to a downright absurd purchase party.
We left the Lowes store parking lot off of 302 around dusk with plans to head to the log cabin. The crew trickled in before dark but not without getting a little damp from the start of the storm. The first part of the storm came in that evening in more ways than one. In an effort to lighten our load and try and make good on the crew assembled we drank. The next morning started off a bit slowly but we did manage to get on our way and head up the King Ravine trail. That day, we summited Mount Adams. It was absolutely beautiful up there. We had the place all to ourselves.
We were all so pumped to be together but it was definitely frustrating looking at the weather. This was not going to be a fall hike. This was an early winter hike. If you have ever hiked in the White Mountains then you know that winter is no joke up there. It’s cold and windy… miserably cold and windy.
With great company and dedication only to not returning to civilization we played in the White Mountains for the next few days. We weren’t able to summit anything else but we did have an absolutely amazing time all hanging out together. All said and done we spend 4 days and 4 nights in the woods. It was a trip I’ll never forget but hopefully never repeat again. Next time, a weather window for the start date.
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Tamara Enjoying the Beautiful Weather
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Playing with the early afternoon light
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Mayo Sending
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Fun in the Subway
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Danny on one
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Just messing around with the lowlight capabilities of the GoPro
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Lunch Spot. Heck yes!
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Pretty cool headed up into the first major storm of the fall
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Mayo Sending... Again
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Tamara bringing in the back of the pack.
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Summit of Mt. Adams
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Our crew on top of Mt. Adams
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Crew fun shot
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Danny rocking the fig bar
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Headed back down
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For the homies
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A beautiful look down into the ravine we just hiked up
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Tom.
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Mayo getting some G love
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Danny on the fig bar again
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Seemed like a good idea at the time
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I love New Hampshire
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Our home for the afternoon. Crag Camp.
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Woke up to an more or less at the snow line
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Tamara always smiling
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Before we headed out for the day
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Crazy facets in the snow in the Whites. Really cool stuff
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Look at what happened overnight
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Tom.
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Tom again.
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Look at that crazy snow
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Danny always loving a good day outdoors
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Tamara all bundled up
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You just never know what you are going to get in the White Mountains
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GoPro throw success!
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Running down to get to home!
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Finally. Victory. Mount Adams!