Two Days in the Presidential Range

Date of Hikes: 11/7/09 & 11/8/09

Saturday Nov. 7th
Mount Madison, Adams, & Jefferson

Valley Way: 3.8 miles
Osgood Trail: 1.0 miles
Gulfside Trail: .3 miles
Air Line: .6 miles
Lowe's Path: .3 miles
Gulfside Trail: 1.4 miles
Jefferson Loop: .8 miles
Randolph Path: 1.2 miles
Perch Path: .2 miles
Randolph Path: 3.0 miles
Short Line: .5 miles
Air Line: .8 miles
Total Miles: 13.9 miles (6,500 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- On trail at 6am, finished around 2:45pm.  Temps in the low 20's, wind chills on summit cones around zero, winds up to 50 mph out of the NW, visibility 100 miles
- All trails had a few inches of snow above 3000 feet. Rime ice was consistant on rocks and there were  snow drifts up to a foot in places around Edmands Col
- Removed gloves on Jefferson summit and my fingers went numb within 50 seconds, took about 20 minutes to warm them back up before I could start hiking down
- First time on Randolph Path, trail wasn't broken past Gray Knob trail junction.  Great views into the Castle Ravine and the Castellated Ridge
- Checked out the RMC's (Randolph Mountain Club) The Perch, which has a pretty cool looking old lean-to and a couple of tent platforms.  It's near treeline and feels like it's out in the middle of nowhere even with all the RMC trails running near by

Pictures: Click here for all pics

Treeline on Valley Valley looking up to JQ Adams Summit

Mount Jefferson from Mount Adams Summit

Great Gulf Wilderness and Mount Washington

Mount Washinton from Mount Adams Summit

South on Gulfside Trail to Mount Jefferson

View from Mount Jefferson Summit


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Sunday Nov. 8th
Mount Monroe & Mount Washington

Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail: 3.1 miles
Mount Monroe Loop: .6 miles
Crawford Path: 1.5 miles
Gulfside Trail:  1.5 miles
Jewell Trail: 3.7 miles
Total Miles: 10.4 miles (4150 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- On Trail at 8:15am, finished 2:45pm. Temps in the upper 20's to low 30's above treeline with winds up to 70 MPH out of the NW, wind chill around 0-10 on Washington Summit.  Snow above 3,500 feet, drifts up to a foot near Monroe Loop.  Below treeline on Jewell trail temps rose to around 50 degrees. Cloud cover above 5,000 feet until about 11:30 then clear skies and 75 miles visibility
- Used micro spikes on last mile of Ammonoosuc Ravine trail, ice blanketed majority of ledges.  Kept spikes on until Washington summit, although they weren't needed past Lakes of the Clouds hut.
- Checked out the "Dungeon" at Lakes hut, a couple was in there waiting for the clouds to blow over before they hiked up Camel Trail over to the Boot Spur down to PNVC
- On way up to Monroe summit ran into a guy who had blown out one of his micro spikes coming down Monroe Loop, he was heading down Ammo Ravine Trail, he seemed a little bit worried about how he was going to manage the icy ledges
- Ran into a few people on Washington summit, a couple with their very friendly and fun dog who were doing the opposite hike of me.  After they left three guys arrived coming from Lion Head after over-nighting at Hermit Lake Shelter.  Two of them were hiking down the Auto Road while the other was heading back down Lion Head to get their gear
- First mile down Washington was directly into the extreme wind, had to hold my hood pulled over my head so it would stay on protecting my hat from blowing off. I also could not walk up-right or I'd get blown backwords, it was pretty fun!  Once I got to Westside trail junction winds calmed down and it got warmer very fast.
- Majority of the snow on the northern peaks from Saturday had melted away from boulders
- Contemplated hiking along tracks back down to base station but don't know if I'd get in trouble
- Back at the Parking lot I noticed somone had stolen the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trailhead sign that was there in the morning


Gem Pool

Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail

Iced over ledges

Mount Monroe from Crawford Path

It was her 42 - 4,000 Footer!

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