Mount Adams

Completed all the peaks in the Presidential range.

July 4th, we climbed Mount Adams. Mount Adams is one of the peaks in the Presidential range in New Hampshire. 

Distance: 8.68 miles (14 km)

Elevation gain: 4206 feet (1282 meters)

Route:Lowe's path, Kings Ravine trail, Airline trail, then Lowe's path 

July 4th is a holiday in the United States. It is an independence day. So why not hiking?! 

trailhead

Because of holiday we chose the route that is not popular: the longer way to the summit. People in New England have tendency to hike up to the top via the shortest way.

Trailhead's sign is in the left picture. We hiked up via Lowe's path. Trailhead does not have a parking, but there is a large parking across the road at Lowe's store as you can see stated at the sign. This particular Lowe's store is not the large chain of Lowe's in many shopping malls, but it is a small gas station store.

According to the sign near the trailhead, Lowe's path was built by a man named Lowe (his last name) in 1875-76. 

After first 1.6 mile walking of Lowe's path, the loop portion starts. This is a "lollipop" hike, meaning first portion is out and back (stick of lollipop), then after that part is a loop (candy portion). 

Mossy Falls

On the trail there is a pretty falls: it is on the mossy rocks. Indeed the official name of the falls is Mossy Falls. When water flows on a soft fluffy green moss, the flow looks more smooth and water looks softer. Sun came into the forest between trees and shines the falls. It was a perfect reflection.

This is the trail

The loop portion is via Kings Ravine Trail. First it was gentle climb. The last 1 mile to the top is really butt kicker! 2000 feet climb in 1 mile. 

There was a party resting before the tough portion and they were saying that only 1 mile to the top. However, they looked tired and unhappy. We never saw them again (we took a loop and they might do out and back, but most likely they didn't finish the rocky portion). 

The trail is like off-trail (the above picture). You can see the trail mark on the rock (orange paint). Also a pile of rock are in the picture on the upper portion. This lasts for 2000 feet!

After 4.5 hours of hiking for 4.5 miles, finally we reached the top. 1 mile per hour. This is like off-trail pace: however, this was like off-trail on trail, so it was okay. In New England, I realized that California is a "nanny state" (Mr.N taugut me this term). CA has always switch-backs for climbing steep portion even at Mt.Whitney. Never in New England.

 Mount Washington was visible from Mt.Adams. There is an autoroad to the top at Mt.Washington. The road was visible from Mt.Adams. It was visible the teeny tiny cars driving up the mountain. It was funny. 

It seems like normal people take off July 4th and drive up mountain and eat pizza at the top. Then stay at hotel or cottage and go to nice restaurant. For us, we went to Chipotle, but it was closed due to 4th of July. Damn. We ate ramen at home, which was delicious. 

７月４日はアメリカでは祝日。独立記念日だ。とはいっても今年は木曜日が休み。金曜は普通に仕事があるので、４日にデイハイクへ出かけた。

この日はプレジデンシャル山脈のマウントアダムス。プレジデンシャル（大統領の）山脈は歴代大統領の名前のついた山々からなる山脈でニューハンプシャー州にある。マウントアダムスを登ると全ての プレジデンシャル山脈の山を登ったことになる。

ハイキングは以下の通り。

距離: 14 km

標高差: 1282メートル

ルート: Lowe's path, Kings Ravine trail, Airline trail, then Lowe's path 

ハイキングはLowe's pathからスタート。途中でモシィ滝（日本語訳すると苔の滝）を見た。すごく綺麗だ。苔の生えた岩を滝が流れていく。滝がソフトで滑らかに見える。木漏れ日があたって和やかな雰囲気を醸し出している。我々以外誰もおらず水の音だけが山の中に響いていた。美しい滝だ。

なだらかな登りからスタートだったが最後の1.5キロがやばかった。1.5キロで９００メートルの登り。ロッククライミング状態だ。３枚目の写真がその様子。岩についているオレンジ色のインクがトレイルを示すサイン。オフトレイルと変わらない。。。そして岩の上の方に岩がコーンのようになっているのが見える、それもトレイルを示すもの。ニューイングランドのトレイルは容赦ない。カリフォルニアだとスイッチバックでトレイルを作ってくれてあるのだが。。。ここではただ単にストレートに上に登っていくのだ。

そして５時間後にようやく頂上へ。７キロに５時間もかかった。ぎゃー。きつい。見渡しはパーフェクトではなかったが満足。やはりプレジデンシャル山脈は眺めがいい。

そして帰りにメキシコ料理のファーストフード店（ Chipotle）へ行ったが独立記念日で休み（とほほ）だったので家でラーメンを茹でて食べた。