.July 30, 2005
Brent from work would join me today. We would hike about eleven very rugged miles. We used two vehicles so we wouldn't have to retrace our steps. This hike would include three 5,000 foot mountains: Jefferson, Adams, and Madison.
We left from Jefferson Notch. This spot gave us a good starting point since the road itself reaches just past 3,000 feet in elevation.
We made it to the top of Jefferson where Brent took my picture by a cairn.
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Looking south to Mount Washington
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Looking north to Mount Adams
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Neither the summit of Jefferson or Adams is on the Appalachian Trail so this meant I would have a little more mileage to do than Brent. He continued on while I went down to where the A.T. is intersected by the Six Husbands Trail. Brent was nice enough to walk slowly so I caught back up to him in a half hour or so.
We headed up to Adams. The top was crowded today and it was tough to find a comfortable rock to sit on. We got a good view into the Great Gulf.
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I headed back .3 miles to where we left the Appalachian Trail. Brent waited a little bit and headed north. When I got back to the AT, I continued north passing a large cairn marking Thunderstorm Junction.
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I quickened my pace and caught up to Brent just as he was rejoining the A.T.
Together we headed down to the Madison Hut.
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After a break at the hut, we headed up Madison. We passed a couple coming down. I believe they were boyfriend and girlfriend. She was definitely the hiker and I think he possibly was 'brought against his will.'
"How far to Mount Madison?" the man asked.
Since he was coming down Madison and we were going up, this told me that the summit of Madison probably wasn't marked.
"Your coming down it," I said.
"Yes!" he exclaimed.
"How far to the hut?"
"About 5 to 10 minutes."
"Yes!"
I assumed this was their destination. I could tell he really didn't want to be there.
We made it to the top of Madison for another great view to the north.
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After hiking the three peaks we were pretty tired. We took Watson Path to Brookside Trail and then Valley Way to get down to the Appalachia Parking Lot.
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