Hiking in the White Mountains: winter 48

Date of Hike: 1/27/18

Valley Way: 3.8 miles / Osgood Trail: 0.9 miles / Gulfside Trail: 0.4 miles / Airline: 4.9 miles
Total Miles: 10.0 miles (5,192 feet elevation gained) AMC White Mountain Guide Online

Trip Report:
- As the week was coming to an end I was eyeing the weather to hopefully catch a break for a comfortable weekend hike above treeline. Saturday's forecast was close to perfect, weather in the low 30's above 5,000 feet with winds around 30 MPH with some gusting. My friend Todd also was watching the weather and sent me a text early Saturday morning saying he was heading up to do Madison and Adams, so I joined him and we hit the trail just before 8AM.
- We took the safest and easiest route to treeline, the Valley Way, over mostly tame grades and excellent footing because of the packed down snow which has buried all the roots and rocks. It's not the most exciting trail in the Whites but we made quick work of it breaking above treeline in about one hour and forty minutes.
- Above treeline, conditions were closer to November than late January, mix of bare ground with minimal ice and patches of snow. I switched into my old beater spikes and Todd barebooted both Madison and Adams. The wind was whipping at times but it felt refreshing and actually made it easier to regulate our body temperature without heating up too much on the ascents.
- Views were great in every direction with clouds slowly creeping in and above from the west, along with a soft fading alpine glow to the east.
- With it being such a nice morning above treeline, there were other hikers out and about between Madison and Adams, a group of four with overnight gear, a happy duo, and a couple of solo hikers.
- On the descent we decided to stay above the trees a little longer and headed down the Airline along Durand Ridge. Once below treeline we snaked through the blowdown patches from the October 30th storm, followed by picking our way down some nice ice flows, and then booked it down the final two miles over packed snow making it back to Appalachia around 12:30PM.
- I had not been on the Northern Presi's since October, so it was great to get back up with favorable weather and fast conditions, making for one of the easier winter ascents I have had for these peaks, and it was my 40th time on Madison!

Weather Warning sign at treeline

Views from Mount Madison

Mount Madison's summit

Carter and Wildcat Range

Crescent Range

A frozen Star Lake with JQ Adams and Mount adams

Sun shining through the clouds

Heading up to Mount Adams and the view of Washington from the summit

JQ Adams, Star Lake and Mount Madison

Mount Jefferson, Clay, and Washington

Halo Boulder!

Mount Jefferson

Mount Madison's summit cone. The lack of snow above treeline is amazing...and sad :(

Ice flows on the Airline

Meanwhile, Sarge went for a quick morning hike up Mount Crescent with Whitney. Here he is at Castle View saying to mommy, "I think I see daddy up there!" :)

Date of Hike: 2/18/17

Sawyer River Road: 2.0 miles / Signal Ridge Trail: 10 miles / Sawyer River Road: 2.0 miles
Total Miles: 14.0 (4,500 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- I wanted to break some trail on Saturday, and boy did I get my wish! When I arrived at the parking lot at the end of Sawyer River Road there was only one car there, I thought surely there would be other people hiking Mount Carrigain as it was such a beautiful day, and there was, exactly one other!
- I ran into him along the flats of the Signal Ridge Trail just past the old Carrigain Notch Trail junction on the abandoned Pre-Irene stretch. I thanked him for breaking out the first section and scooted on ahead.
- From here the trail starts to gain elevation and eventually becomes steep as it traverses along a side hill that gets drifted in. This stretch was very slow, one to two feet of snow with drifts up to four feet deep, needless to say it was very tiring. After this the steepness levels off but the snow depth kept increasing, every step was now through two feet of heavy wet snow with higher drifts. With temperatures in the high thirties I got what is called a free car wash from the pine branches that are usually above the trail but now chest and face high because of the significant snow depths, I was drenched!
- Signal Ridge Trail is known for its switchbacks before popping out on Signal Ridge, having been on this trail over a dozen times I usually know how many there are but today I forgot the last one, and it felt like a punch in the gut as I was exhausted, it was demoralizing.
- Eventually I made it to Signal Ridge and was pumped, from here on out I figured it would be easier hiking once dropping back into the woods and circling on up to the summit tower, well I couldn't have been more wrong. The last half mile was beyond brutal, every step felt like sinking into freshly mixed concrete, and to make things worse my knee injury from MMD 50K came back out of nowhere, what usually takes ten minutes took forty...but I made it!
- I wobbled up the tower snapped a few pics and started back down, my knee hurt but wasn't getting any worse so I made good time getting back below the free car wash section where I was finally able to put dry layers on without getting drenched again. The hike out was relatively uneventful and went much better than expected, with the exception of sinking in a little bit with each step since it was so warm out and the snow was too soft, it still felt like a mini trail break, luckily it was flat and slightly downhill.
- Once I hit Sawyer River Road I enjoyed the packed out two miles of snow from the snowmobiles and shuffled my way back to the car.
- It had been a few years since I experienced a hike in snow depths like this and I loved every second of it!