This trip almost did not happen when I nearly gave up trying to find the Enterprise car rental shop in Saint-Jean late in the day on 3 June 2016.  As it turns out, the shop is a tiny one located in a rather obscure part of a strip mall, and at the time, it was partially hidden by some nearby construction work.  Once I found the shop though, the rental process was really fast and easy, and I even got a nice upgrade (2016 Buick Verano).  I was all set until I got corralled into going out for drinks later that evening with my co-workers.  I had a good time that night, but I got back to my accommodations much later than I would have liked and got only about three or four hours of sleep.

I got up early on the morning of 4 June 2016 and made the long drive to Highland Center Lodge, the southern terminus of the Presidential Traverse.  Although the AMC strongly recommends calling ahead to book a spot on the shuttle bus, they will allow walk-ons if space permits.  As it was still early in the hiking season, I had no problems getting a spot on the bus ($23 USD flat fee for non-AMC members).  It took about an hour for the shuttle bus to drop me off at Appalachia trailhead, the northern terminus of the Presidential Traverse.  The day was already quite warm when I began hiking at 10:09 AM.

Shortly after starting up the trail, I noticed that I had forgotten to load maps of the area into my GPS.  In my haste to plan this trip, I had also neglected to acquire maps of any sort, but I was not overly concerned as I knew that there would be plenty of signage along the traverse.  What I failed to realize was that there are more trails than one, and many of these side trails also lead to the summits albeit in more roundabout ways.  The potential for confusion is great especially without a map.

From the Appalachia trailhead, the Valley Way trail rises gently but steadily through forest along the west bank of Snyder Brook.  The warmth and humidity had me sweating profusely, and I felt weary already at this early stage.  At the junction with Watson Path, I was a bit confused by a sign pointing the way to Mount Madison along the side trail.  I was uncertain about where this side trail went, but taking a chance, I followed it anyway.  As it turns out, Watson Path is a more direct route to the summit of Mount Madison than the Valley Way trail, but it is also very rough and relentlessly steep.  I gained an enormous amount of elevation over a short distance, but the hike from tree line to the summit of Mount Madison still seemed to take forever.  I eventually topped out at 1:23 PM, and although it was nice to finally tag my first summit of the day, a quick glance southward brought home the sobering reality that I had a lot of walking left ahead of me.

	A couple of hikers wait to board the shuttle bus.
	After all the logistics just to get to the northern terminus of the Presidential Traverse, Sonny is happy to be finally hiking.
	A short waterfall cascades over some rocks along Snyder Brook.
	The Watson Path is the most direct route to the summit of Mount Madison, but it is rough and relentlessly steep.
	A sign at tree line serves as fair warning to hikers venturing into the "alpine zone".
	The rounded summit of Mount Madison is visible ahead.
	Sonny reaches the summit of Mount Madison (1634 metres).
	Mount Washington is visible to the southwest.  A toll road which runs to the summit is also visible.
	Mount Adams is the next objective along the Presidential Traverse.

After a brief stop on top of Mount Madison, I quickly dropped down the southwest ridge and picked up another rugged trail which climbs up the northeast face of Mount Adams.  A few spots along the way require hands-on scrambling, but otherwise, the route is fairly straightforward.  I reached the summit of Mount Adams at 3:11 PM, and while it would have been nice to linger and socialize with the crowd of people up there, I felt some urgency to keep moving and perhaps even pick up my pace.

	Madison Spring Hut is operated by the AMC and is located near the saddle between Mount Madison and Mount Adams.
	A very large quartz outcrop sits near Star Lake below Mount Adams.
	This is looking back at Star Lake and Mount Madison from partway up the trail to Mount Adams.
	A couple of hikers are about to scramble up a steep rocky gully just below the summit of Mount Adams.
	Sonny stands near the summit of Mount Adams (1765 metres) with Mount Madison behind him.
	Southwest from the summit of Mount Adams is Mount Jefferson.

Dropping down the west ridge of Mount Adams, I quickly picked up the Gulfside Trail which is the name for this particular section of the AT leading up to Mount Jefferson.  As I was making the long, gentle descent to Edmands Col, I had a chance to take notice of the rugged nature of the AT, at least as it pertains to the Presidential Traverse.  The AT is marked by numerous cairns and is easy to follow, but the trail itself is eminently rocky which can be taxing on the feet, especially over long distances.  Furthermore, the trail constantly demands a certain degree of concentration with respect to foot placement in order to avoid energy-sapping stumbles or potential ankle sprains.  As far as I can remember, I do not recall ever being able to "relax" while on the move throughout the Presidential Traverse.

As I bottomed out at Edmands Col and began the stiff climb up Mount Jefferson, a group of hikers that I had just passed going in the opposite direction suddenly called out to me.  They had apparently heard someone call for help somewhere in the vicinity.  I honestly did not hear anything, but another group of hikers far above me had also apparently heard a plea for help.  The two separate groups of hikers began calling out to try and ascertain the location of the person in distress, and quite frankly, I thought it was rather counter-productive as their voices reverberated throughout the area making it virtually impossible to pinpoint anything.  After a lot of fruitless calling back and forth between the two groups, I climbed higher to meet up with the hikers above me and to get a better vantage point to survey the area.  The vicinity of Edmands Col is largely comprised of sub-alpine vegetation with very little cover to hide in.  Still, I could spot nothing out of the ordinary.  The hikers above me apparently tasked another hiker to hurry to the top of Mount Washington to notify the authorities there, but it was uncertain when or if they would even respond with a rescue party, especially without a missing person report or confirmation of an injury.  I eventually did hear a voice that was seemingly acknowledging the need for assistance, and there was even a pathetic-sounding toot from a whistle.  We tried to ask the person their exact whereabouts in relation to Edmands Col, but there were no coherent responses.  Why the person did not keep whistling is a mystery, and after awhile, I was beginning to wonder if we were just hearing the distant voices of the group of hikers I had previously passed.  We all eventually agreed that there was not much else for us to do.  The distressed person, if there was one, had stopped responding, and trying to find someone in that vast amphitheatre was akin to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.  We all moved on in hopes that, if a person was reported missing, the authorities would know roughly where to look (to date, a Google search has yet to turn up any reports of a person going missing in the White Mountains on 4 June 2016).

After the ordeal at Edmands Col, I continued on to the top of Mount Jefferson and reached the summit at 5:48 PM.  Even this late in the day, there was still a small crowd of people here, and I half-wondered about where they were all planning to spend the night.  In fact, I was starting to wonder about where I would be spending the night.

	Many of the cairns along the Presidential Traverse are topped with a block of quartz which make them stand out from the stark landscape.
	This is looking up the northeast face of Mount Jefferson from Edmands Col.
	This plaque commemorates a founding member of the AMC.
	Sonny manages a weak smile on the summit of Mount Jefferson (1740 metres).
	Much of the southern half of the Presidential Traverse is visible to the south from the summit of Mount Jefferson.  At left is Mount Washington.

By the time I left the summit of Mount Jefferson, the whole exercise of hiking and bagging peaks was verging on pointlessness.  I was exhausted and my feet were aching.  I began envisioning eating a greasy hamburger and drinking a cold soda at the restaurant on top of Mount Washington.  Thus I deluded myself into thinking there would be a nice reward if only I could reach the highest point of New Hampshire.  In the meantime, I still had to hike over a minor intervening bump known as Mount Clay whose summit I reached at 7:19 PM.

Incidentally, Mount Clay is named after a US senator and not a US President, but the state of New Hampshire passed a law in 2003 to have the name changed to Mount Reagan.  Apparently, the new name has not gained much support from the US Board of Geographic Names or the AMC who continue to refer to this bump as Mount Clay.  It is rare when an obscure US senator can upstage a famous US President!

	This is looking back at Mount Jefferson (left) and Mount Adams (right) from the slopes below Mount Clay.
	Sonny exhibits a rare burst of energy on the summit of Mount Clay (1684 metres).
	Here is another look back at Mount Jefferson, Mount Adams, and Mount Madison from the summit of Mount Clay.

I found a bit of a second wind as I climbed the last few hundred metres of elevation to the summit of Mount Washington.  The promise of a burger and soda at the summit restaurant was a good motivator, and so was the excitement of arriving at the apex of the Presidential Traverse.  I even entertained unrealistic thoughts about sleeping somewhere on the summit for the night.

It was eerily quiet when I finally arrived at the summit of Mount Washington at 8:42 PM.  Normally teeming with tourists and hikers, the summit area was mostly deserted except for a few workers from the nearby weather observatory.  On most days, there is normally a line-up to take photos beside the summit sign, but I had it all to myself on this evening.  Unfortunately, all the tourist amenities, including the restaurant, were closed and locked up by the time I arrived.  I was crushed with disappointment, but faced with no other options other than to continue hiking well into the night, I took about a 15-minute break to re-hydrate and put on some warm clothes.  Thankfully, I was able to fill my water bottle under an outdoor tap, and once that was done, I set off down the south side of the mountain along Crawford Path which is the name for this section of the AT.

The Mount Washington Observatory sits atop its namesake mountain.  Also visible is the Mount Washington Cog Railway.

 

The sun begins to set on the western horizon.

 

	The Mount Washington Cog Railway is the second steepest of its kind in the world.
	Sonny reaches the summit of Mount Washington (1917 metres) just after sunset.

Despite the growing darkness, I descended for a considerable distance without having to use my headlamp.  The numerous cairns topped with a hunk of quartz were very helpful for navigating in the dark.  I eventually switched on my headlamp for good as I approached the Lakes of the Clouds Hut.  I ran into three guys who were loitering just outside the hut and asked them which way I should go to continue along the Crawford Path.  They were surprisingly unaware of what the Crawford Path was, but to their credit, they suggested that I should hunker down for the night at the hut and figure things out in the morning.  I was tempted to take their offer, but I was feeling pretty good and wanted to keep going despite my sore feet.

I guess it was inevitable that Murphy's law would take effect just when things were going good because I proceeded to turn down the wrong trail just behind the hut.  Map details in my GPS would have made a huge difference here, but because I had no reference points, I was going strictly by trail signs which I had misread in the dark.  Fatigue may have also played a part in my poor decision making.  It took quite awhile before I realized something was amiss as I happily scrambled down a steep watercourse which was rougher than would be expected for the Crawford Path.  When I had dropped about 175 metres or so, I spotted a trail sign with a small map which confirmed that I had taken a wrong turn back at the hut.  I had, in fact, partially descended the Ammonosuc Ravine trail.  The prospect of climbing back up to the hut was disheartening, but the alternative of descending to another trailhead far from my car was seemingly more unappealing.  Actually, had I done my homework and studied the Ammonosuc Ravine trail more closely, I might have considered continuing my descent as the walk back to Highland Center from the trailhead is not unreasonably far (about 8 kilometres on a paved road).  Undoubtedly, it would have added extra distance, but at the same time, walking on smooth pavement would have felt like heaven compared to the rocky hell of the Crawford Path.  In the end, I opted to climb back up to the hut, and my wrong turn ended up costing me about an hour.

The peaks of the southern half of the Presidential Traverse are not nearly as high or as rugged as those in the northern half, and since it was the middle of the night, I did not see any point in tagging any of the southern summits even though most of them would have required only minimal extra effort.  In fact, I may have even walked over one of the summits in the dark without knowing it!  As I continued trudging along the Crawford Path, I still got the sense that this was probably a marvelous ridge walk on a clear day, and I regretted not being able to enjoy what surely would have been some amazing vistas.  That might be incentive enough to perhaps return in the future to hike this part of the traverse again.

Besides the occasional trail junction sign, my only other point of reference during my hike out was the odometer in my GPS.  I knew that the Presidential Traverse, as I was hiking it, was somewhere between 30 and 32 kilometres long, and I kept checking my GPS periodically to monitor how far I had already walked.  My progress was exasperatingly slow, and although I like to think that an eight-hour walk alone in the dark would be a spiritual experience with plenty of time to reflect on life and family and friends, the reality was that I was really f**king tired!  During the night, I sat down a couple of times to have a catnap, but fortunately, I was always able to rouse myself and limit my stops to only a few minutes at most.  The sky began to brighten up as I descended along the south bank of Gibbs Brook near the end of the traverse, and my rental car was a sight for sore eyes (and sore feet) when I finally arrived at Highland Center Lodge at 4:50 AM on the morning of 5 June 2016.

After changing into some fresh clothes, I drove for a bit until I found a convenience store that was open.  I bought a huge cup of fountain Diet Pepsi and downed a third of it before going to a nearby rest area to nap for about an hour or so.  When I woke up, I felt refreshed enough to drive the rest of the way back to Saint-Jean without incident.

Total Distance:  31.2 kilometres Total Time:  18 hours 43 minutes* Total Elevation Gain:  2674 metres* GPX Data * Includes about 1 hour and 175 metres added for wrong turn