November 15, 2009
I wasn't sure what I would be hiking today. I hiked Carrigain with Larisa and Adam yesterday morning (no entry) followed by a solo hike of Jackson in the afternoon (no entry). The weather was quite "iffy" so we decided that we would meet at the Highland Center at 7:00 a.m. and decide from there. I had driven through North Conway and was just about to reach the small town of Glen when Larisa called. The weather forecast was decent enough for a Presi hike. She was on Base Road with Adam. The planned changed a bit. They were spotting Larisa's truck there and driving up to Appalachia. Sounded good to me. The call came just in time as I was able to turn right in Glen and head north on Route 16 rather than continue on Route 302.
I reached Appalachia a little after Larisa and Adam. By 7:10 we were on the trail. Larisa set a great pace on the way up. We reached Madison Hut in about an hour and 45 minutes. We were in for a real treat as the clouds around Madison started to open up. We hiked to the top of Madison where I took a few photos.
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Larisa on Madison
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We headed back down to the hut. The going was a little slow since the rocks were wet and slippery. We decided to take the more scenic Star Lake Trail to the top of Mount Adams.
Larisa in front of Mount Madison
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Star Lake
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Star Lake and Mount Madison
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As I looked into the swirling clouds in the Great Gulf, I thought of a couple of lines from Finding Nemo (and yes, I admit to seeing the movie).
Marlin:"Where? I don't see it."
Dory:"Right there! I see it! I see it!"
Marlin:"You mean the swirling vortex of terror?!"
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It was an unusually warm day for November.
I found myself in short sleeves for most of the day.
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Adam joked that the mountain shouldn't be named Mount Adam but rather Adam's Mountain.
Adam on Adams
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We were in the clouds for the majority of the day, but that was ok. We were happy to get these peaks for November and the stunning undercast we had earlier made it all worth while.
Heading over to Jefferson
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Larisa on Mount Jefferson
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Up and over Mount Clay (Mount Reagan) before the final big push to Mount Washington.
Here I am on Washington. It was a bit of a milestone, my 350th Grid peak.
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We then made our way down to the Lakes of the Clouds Hut before our final ascent of the day up to Monroe. As we began our descent of Monroe the weather quickly changed for the better. We would have loved to bag Eisenhower and Pierce making it a full Presi Traverse but we didn't have a vehicle parked at the Highland Center. That's was ok, getting five 4000 footers in a day was plenty. We really took our time coming down Monroe. It was cool to watch everything open up in a matter of just a few minutes.
Looking down to the hut
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There was another beautiful undercast.
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Larisa descending from Mount Monroe
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Eric descending from Mount Monroe
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Even Mount Washington broke free from the clouds.
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One last look at Washington
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Passing some waterfalls on the long, steep climb down
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One last look at the undercast
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The Gem Pool
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We reached the last trail junction where I was in for a bit of a surprise. I had thought Larisa had parked at Marshfield station but she had done the right thing and parked where they really want hikers to park, a bit further down the road. We took a left at the junction and had one more mile to go. We almost made it without headlamps but had to take them out for that last mile. We reached Larisa's truck about 5:10.
This was my first weekend hiking with Adam. It was nice to meet and hike with you Adam. Larisa and I were both able to put a good dent in our November Grid. Despite not having the best weather, we were both able to get 7 peaks. What a great weekend!
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