After months of research, reading blogs, watching videos, and switching dates, our weekend to do the Presidential Traverse had finally arrived. With 23 miles to cover, 9000 feet of elevation, and 8 peaks to climb in one day, this hike was going to be our hardest ever. No matter how much reading I did, nothing could prepare me enough for the experience of a lifetime.
Before the hike
Because this hike starts and ends at different points, we had a few logistic items to figure out. The Presidential Traverse has 2 ends – the Randolph/Valley Way Trailhead (base of Mount Madison), and the Crawford Notch Trailhead. We started at Valley Way and ended at Crawford Notch.
We considered the following options before deciding to do the hike in one day.
Option 1
1 day – Park at the Valley Way trailhead. Start the hike really early, finish the same night, and spend the night at the AMC Highland Center (5 minute walk from Crawford Notch Trailhead). Take the 45 minute AMC Mountain shuttle the next morning back to the Valley Way trailhead.
Tip: We dropped off all our overnight items (change of clothes, toothbrushes etc) at AMC Highland center the day before to avoid lugging them on the hike
Option 2
2 days – Park at the Valley Way trailhead. Spend the first day hiking to the AMC Lake of the Clouds hut (LOTCH) and spend the night there. The next day, complete the remaining 4 peaks (easier than the first 4), and end at Crawford Notch. Take the shuttle from the Highland Center back to Valley Way.
Note: The last shuttle from Highland Center is at 1:25pm so you’d need to start really early on Day 2 since from LOTCH, there are still around 4-6 hours to go depending on speed/tiredness levels
Note: The AMC shuttle runs everyday only from June to mid-September and on weekends and holidays up to mid-October.
We chose the first option because
- We wanted to avoid extra weight and not carry our sleeping bags and overnight items
- We didn’t want to take the stress of missing the shuttle back to Valley Way on the second day
- It was tempting to spend the night under the stars in the middle of the mountains at LOTCH. However, we chose to spend the night at the AMC Highland Center since they provided bedding, heating, towels, and a lot of other conveniences compared to LOTCH.
Deciding the campground
We chose to stay at the Dolly Copp campground the 2 days before the hike. The campground is only 15 minutes from the Valley Way Trailhead. Our experience there was amazing – we were able to get a First Come First Serve site just by the river with a view of the mountains. They had showers and some toilets were proper flush toilets.
Things we carried (for 2)
- 4 1 liter Nalgenes. We didn’t carry more because there’s water at Madison Hut (~4 miles in), Mount Washington (~10 miles in), LOTCH (~12 miles in), Mizpah Springs Hut (~18 miles in).
- Thermal, fleece, wind/rain waterproof jacket – even though we did this hike in July, we needed our warm clothes at higher altitudes.
- 1 subway sandwich, snicker bar, sweet potato, bananas – The huts have food so we didn’t carry too much on us.
- Headlamps (We needed these at night).
- Hats and sunscreen – the hike is mostly exposed so we needed sun protection
Part 1: Valley Way to Madison
After waking up at 3:30 am, we were at the trailhead at 4:45am. The sun was just rising behind us as we started climbing.
As AllTrails shows, the climb starts right at the beginning but the terrain is a consistently gradual climb through forest. It’s not as hard on the feet as the giant boulders on the peaks so we felt strong getting to the hut even though it was a continuous climb. We started at 5am and reached madison hut at 7:25 am. Madison hut had eggs, pancakes and brownies and I wish we more time to spend there, the food looked delicious. Mount Madison looks intimidating from the hut but it took us 20 minutes of rock scrambling and we were at the top. It was too windy so we didn’t spend too long up there. We ate our packed subways and refilled our water bottles (only 3 this time) and made our way towards Mount Adams at 8:45 am.
Time spent going up and down Madison – 45 minutes
Part 2: Mount Madison to Mount Adams
This section was much rockier compared to the path up Madison. The elevation gain was similar but maybe a little more effort due to the tougher terrain. The views of star lake were gorgeous as we climbed higher and the trail clearly indicated following the star lake trail. It wasn’t as windy as Madison at the top so we had time to admire the beautiful views of Madison.
Time spent to get to Adams from Madison: 1 hour
Part 3: Mount Adams to Mount Jefferson
The slightly annoying part of this section was having to go all the way down only to know we would have to climb all the way back up again. The descent down Adams was extremely rocky and took more energy from us than the ascent to Adams.
Thankfully, there was a small section of flat walking before ascending again. This flat walking portion had beautiful views and we could see the remainder of the peaks left to ascend. The trail up Jefferson was less rocky than Madison and Adams.
Time taken from Adams to Jefferson: 1.5 hours
Part 4: Mount Jefferson to Mount Washington
After Jefferson we started to feel our legs. All that rock scrambling caught up to us and we still had the highest mountain in the Northeast left to conquer. Not to mention, around 15 miles left to walk. The path up Washington had gorgeous views, definitely better than the top. We could see the other side of the range – the peaks we just climbed. It’s a climb with easier terrain than the other peaks but the distance is a lot more.
Getting up to the highest peak in New Hampshire definitely felt anticlimactic since it was the only place that made us feel like we were away from nature. There was a huge crowd of tourists and a line of at least 50 people waiting to take a picture with the summit sign. The summit sign is on concrete and there are huge buildings around the summit.The peak is accessible by train and car so it was a lot more crowded than other places. We skipped the summit picture and made our way down to LOTCH as we were starving at this point.
Time taken from Jefferson to Washington: 2 hours
Part 5: Mount Washington to Lake of the Clouds Hut (LOTCH)
This section was physically hardest for me, specifically the downhill ascent. We decided to wait for LOTCH to get food (bad decision in hindsight). Descending to LOTCH involved maneuvering steep rocks and midway I realized how hungry and tired I was. My knee was hurting too and the food I imagined wolfing down at LOTCH was the only thing motivating me.
After the ~1 mile of steep descent, the path got flatter and we finally made it to LOTCH at 2:45 pm. LOTCH accepts cash and card, and the 1 hour of rest we got there was so welcome. Unfortunately, when we got there, they were out of all solid food. We got 2 soups each and had some fruit to fill us up, but realized we really should’ve had that pizza up on Washington.
Time taken from Washington to LOTCH: 1 hour 15 minutes
Time spent at LOTCH 1 hour
Part 6: LOTCH to Mount Monroe
The ascent up Monroe was a lot easier compared to the earlier peaks, both in terms of rockiness and steepness. Maybe the food we’d just eaten made it easier but the path felt like 25% of the difficulty of the other peaks. The views of Mount Washington and the lake at the base of LOTCH made the hike up so worth it, and was one of our favorites.
Time taken from LOTCH to Monroe: 30 mins
Part 7: Mount Eisenhower to Pierce to Jackson
Eisenhower
Each of these 3 peaks were such a different experience. Eisenhower was similar to Monroe, but less steep and a little longer to get to. At Eisenhower we were still feeling relatively mentally and physically strung.
Monroe to Eisenhower: 1 hour
Pierce
We almost walked off Pierce without realising we were on it – there was no climb to it. By the time we got to Pierce, it was 6pm. We had 1 more peak to go, and according to the map, 5 more miles. We knew the AMC highland center had some incredible food waiting for us and we were determined to make it before 8, since that’s when the buffet was open till. 2 hours for 5 miles, we were so sure we could do it! At first we really did put everything into it. Until the moment just before we reached Jackson.
Eisenhower to Pierce : 1 hour
Jackson
I was walking so fast, thinking about all that pasta at the end, when I slammed my knee into a branch jutting out onto the path. The moment was a tire getting punctured. I limped for a good 10 minutes, aware there was still one more peak to go, and some 4 miles.
After getting over the pain, there was no respite because we reached the path to Jackson. On the map Jackson looked like a small blip compared to everything else. But even climbing 200 feet at that point felt like a slog. We pushed through and finally completed all 8 peaks. We couldn’t rejoice just yet because we still had 3 miles to go and it was 7:15.
Pierce to Jackson: 1 hour 15 mins
Part 8: Jackson to the end
This last stretch was mentally the most difficult. Physically exhausting too, but definitely the bigger mental challenge. Our headlamps came out around 8, and seemed to be attracting every mosquito in the forest. The darker it got, the more scared we felt when we heard a rustling branch or a loud noise. It was just the 2 of us for as far as we could see in both directions. Every 5 minutes I would see a glimmer of the highway and mistake it for the end. We were nowhere close though, because after Jackson, there were almost 2000 feet to descend. The lack of flat walking paths made the last 3 miles feel endless. It was probably more than 3 miles, because that last section after Jackson took us 2.5 hours. At 9:45pm, we finally made it to the highland center.
