Presidential Traverse in a single day

One of the most scenic and intense hikes in New Hampshire is known as "Presidential Traverse" It is called that way since it goes through peaks of Presidential range. It is 22 miles with 8891 feet elevation gain. This covers Mt. Madison, Mt.Adams, Mt.Jefferson, Mt.Clay, Mt.Washington, Mt.Monroe, Mt.Franklin, Mt.Eisenhower, Mt.Pierce, Mt.Jackson. (Jackson is optional). Nearly entire route is rocky as East Coast standard. The terrain makes the journey slow down. It took me almost 15 hours including 1.5 hour break. 

First, I left the Boston area 2 a.m., then drove 3.5 hours. I started hiking at 6 a.m. Traditionally the starting point is Appalachia trailhead, and go south bound. The reason is because in this way the hardest part is the first half. First 3.7 mile is Valley Way trail and climbs up 3600 feet. There is a hut at the junction (Madison Spring hut). The hut provides potable water for hikers. This is great. The only spur of the Presidential Traverse is from here to Mt.Madison. 0.5 mile to the summit, so 1 mile spur. I summited Mt.Madison at 8:17 a.m. After I came back from Mt.Madison, I ate a rice ball at the hut and refilled my bottle with water. Then I headed for Mt.Adams. This is the most rocky area of the hike and usually you follow small paint on the rock. I missed somehow the paint and I went to Mt.Quincy Adams (this is not included in Presidential range). This is just a small mountain on the way to Mt.Adams. I used my extra energy. I went back to the trail and summited Mt.Adams at 9:41 a.m. Another 2 miles, I summited Mt.Jefferson at 11:12 a.m. I was getting tired and got slowed down. Another 1.5 mile, I summited Mt.Clay at 12:20 a.m. Another 1.5 mile, I summited Mt.Washington at 1:25 p.m. Because there is an auto road to Mt.Washington summit, there were tons of people there. There is a food court but it was crowded like Walmart. I didn't want to stay there, so I didn't take a break and continued. Hiking down 1.5 miles, I reached Lake of the Clouds hut. I was able to take a break in not so many clouds there. From here I stopped recording what time I summited each mountain. Too tired to record.

Then I summited Mt.Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower, and Pierce. At the Mt.Pierce, there was a choice to go back straight to the trailhead, or detour to add Mt.Jackson. I got my second wind and decided to add Jackson. Around 9 p.m., finally I finished! I got a crown! 

To celebrate I ate at Burger King at 10:30 p.m. and got chocolate shake. Finally went back home around midnight. It was a long day. By doing this, I beat my record. Now my personal record of elevation gain in 1 day is 8881 feet. (It was Mt.Shasta with around 7700 feet).

Mount Washington from Mount Monroe

Franconia Ridge-#1 rated New Hampshire Hike

Franconia ridge hike is the most popular hike in New Hampshire.

Hikers who know both West and East, you know how many trees in the New England. In addition, altitude is not very high in the East compared to West. Thus, a lot of hikes are below treeline, in the forest. Usually only the small portion of a hike is rocky above tree line with view, and many hikes never get out of forest without open views. Based on that, Franconia ridge hike is categorized unusual in New England in a good way. The biggest reason is one third of the hike of 8 miles is on the ridge with quite open view. I totally understand why this is so popular. As you can see in the picture, ridge walk has a good view. 

Due to this popularity, the parking lot is insane. The lot is large, at least 40 cars can be parked, but it will be full by 8 a.m. On this hike we left the Boston area at 4 a.m., and arrived at the parking by 7 a.m. Already 2/3 is full by then. People used to park along the highway because of the situation. The parking along highway was over 1 mile. So.Many.Cars were parked. Yes, you can imagine it is not safe to park along highway. State of New Hampshire thought so too (phew, good), and one day they put a red cone along the highway. Each cone is tied with rope with next cone so that car can't park. The rope-tied corns continues more than 1 mile to north and south. 

In addition to the ridge portion, Franconia falls on the way is pretty. This is another plus for this hike. In contrast to West, East is much more wet, meaning more lakes, river, or falls. Franconia falls have a lot of water due to snow melt in May. This is nice to check it out. Your feet will be wet for river crossing, though. I used to wear waterproof hiking shoes, but some point I switched to non-waterproof. You can stay dry just going through small paddle with waterproof shoes, but if your feet have to go in the river many times? Waterproof shoes get wet and now never get dry. In contrast, non-waterproof shoes can get much quicker when they get wet. If you go for a real adventure, actually non-waterproof shoes work better. 

One more interesting thing about this hike: Greenleaf hut. New England has mountain hut system. You can stop by a hut and most of the time potable water is available. This is nice to take a rest. If you are interested, they sell coffee cake, tea (just tea packs), lemonade, brownies, chips etc. I don't like any of those, so I have never bought them, but if I was in a real hunger, I would. This Greenhut has hut dogs (2 doggies!) and they lay down on the floor. I pet them and they are calm and cute. I love hut pets. European huts usually have cats (probably for rodent hunt). I loved petting those cats during Tour du Mont Blanc.