July 14–15, 2012
With Clement Wagner, Thomas Dixcy, Verna Larson, and Steve Dill
#1 Jackson (4,052 ft.)
#2 Pierce (4,310 ft.)
#3 Washington (6,288 ft.)
#4 Monroe (5,384 ft.)
This was my first hike in the White Mountains: a would-be Presi traverse that taught as a lot about what not to do and how not to do it. An exceptionally hot Bastille Day weekend set the stage for our merry band of five.
Wearing my traditional red "summit" long-sleeve tech shirt, I quickly began to feel the glasses of white wine consumed at the Highland Center the night before as we ascended Webster-Jackson.
I separated early from Clem and Steve, who went on ahead, but also from Thomas and Verna, who lagged behind. I was hot, I had only processed energy foods with me, and I had gone through all my water by the time I reached Mizpah.
Although I had the good sense to buy and eat a cookie at the hut, I somehow forgot to refill my reservoir! I nearly passed out on Pierce, exhausted from the heat (and not being in great hiking shape), to the extent that a southbound group felt compelled to check on me (and give me water).
I eventually made it to Lakes at dinnertime, red in the face from heat exhaustion and with blood oozing down my face from multiple black fly bites. At dinner and before bed I drank so much water that I had to get up several times during the night: not an easy feat when you’re experiencing the middle bunks at Lakes for the first time.
The next morning I got up before breakfast to climb Washington so that I could leave earlier than the group and catch the hiker’s shuttle from the Ammo trailhead: our Presi traverse had come to an end.
Before doing that, however, Steve and I hoofed up Monroe to check it off. I had stupidly carried up four mini bottles of booze (Scotch and gin), which I gave to the Croo as a much loved and appreciated tip. This hike would live on in lore as the "Great Death March I."
September 14–16, 2012
#5 Madison (5,367 ft.)
#6 Eisenhower (4,780 ft.)
With Clement Wagner
I recall the hike up Air Line to Madison Hut as one of the hardest single-day elevation gains I had ever attempted up to that time. To this day it is the only time I’ve hiked to Madison hut from Appalachia.
The next morning we tried to go up Adams but turned around because of very high winds (one almost knocked us down) and then decided to skip the summits and head straight to Lakes. We arrived amid deteriorating weather conditions (mist, fog, rain, wind) and dropping temperatures. It was below freezing that night. The next morning, which was clear but cold, we headed down the Crawford Path, stopping only at Eisenhower because I hadn't summited it on the previous trip. By the time we hit the valley it was in the 70s.
After dropping our gear at the hut, we carried water bottles up to the summit of Madison.
August 26, 2013
With Thomas Dixcy (Jefferson only) and Clement Wagner
We had hiked up Boott Spur to Lakes of the Clouds the previous day in perfect weather, if a little hot. I was tired and stayed at the hut while Clem and Thomas hiked to the summit of Washington.
#10 Jefferson (5,712 ft.)
#11 Adams (5,774 ft.)
The next morning the conditions were terrible, with blowing fog and misting rain and almost no visibility. Clem, Thomas, and I summited Jefferson together, but Thomas opted to skip Adams. He followed a group of thru hikers around but accidentally took Great Gully after missing a cairn in the fog and had to climb back up; he broke a pole, and his thumb, on the way after a fatigue-driven misstep. Clem and I made it to the summit of Adams, but we took the wrong trail on the descent in the thick of the fog and ended up going down Star Lake. The ghostly lake, when we finally reached it, was serenely metallic in the haze. We all met again at Madison Hut. Thomas iced his broken thumb with a bag of frozen corn provided by the Croo, and Clem made a makeshift splint. We hiked down Valley Way to Appalachia, where we had spotted a car.
Balmy on Adams
This short clip of me picking my way over the last dozen or so feet to the summit of Adams is the footage I show would-be hikers who are new to the Whites and may doubt the stories they hear about the possible conditions.