Northen Presidential Loop Hike
This is a report of Northern Presidential Loop Hike in New Hampshire, USA.
Date: 2008-09-01
Total distance: 18.8 miles (30.2 km)
Total Time: 11 hours 44 minutes
Start elevation: 2032 ft (619 m)
End elevation: 2032 ft (619 m)
Total Ascent: 8450 ft (2576 m) (Per Garmin Forerunner 301 GPS watch)
| Time | Landmark | Elevation | Cumulative Distance | Following Trail | Distance Interval | |||
| (foot) | (m) | (mile) | (km) | (mile) | (km) | |||
| 07:14 | Joe Dodge | 2032 | 619.4 | 0 | 0.0 | Old Jackson Rd. | 1.9 | 3.1 |
| 07:52 | Mt. Washington Auto Rd | 2675 | 815.3 | 1.9 | 3.1 | Madison Gulf Trail | 2.1 | 3.4 |
| 08:40 | Great Gulf Trail | 2300 | 701.0 | 4 | 6.4 | Osgood Cutoff | 0.6 | 1.0 |
| 08:59 | Osgood Tent site | 2486 | 757.7 | 4.6 | 7.4 | Osgood Trail | 2 | 3.2 |
| 10:19 | Osgood Junction | 4822 | 1469.7 | 6.6 | 10.6 | Osgood Trail | 0.5 | 0.8 |
| 10:50 | Mt. Madison | 5366 | 1635.6 | 7.1 | 11.4 | Osgood Trail | 0.5 | 0.8 |
| 11:10 | Madison Hut | 4825 | 1470.7 | 7.6 | 12.2 | Gulfside Trail | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| 11:28 | Air Line | 5125 | 1562.1 | 7.9 | 12.7 | Air Line | 0.6 | 1.0 |
| 11:54 | Mt. Adams | 5799 | 1767.5 | 8.5 | 13.7 | Israel Ridge Path | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| 12:09 | Gulfside Trail | 5490 | 1673.4 | 8.8 | 14.2 | Gulfside Trail | 1.2 | 1.9 |
| 12:47 | Edmands Col | 4938 | 1505.1 | 10 | 16.1 | Gulfside Trail | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| 12:58 | Jefferson Loop Trail | 5125 | 1562.1 | 10.2 | 16.4 | Jefferson Loop Trail | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| 13:14 | Mt. Jefferson | 5716 | 1742.2 | 10.6 | 17.1 | Jefferson Loop Trail | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| 13:31 | Gulfside Trail | 5375 | 1638.3 | 10.9 | 17.5 | Gulfside Trail | 0.7 | 1.1 |
| 13:55 | Mt. Clay Loop | 5025 | 1531.6 | 11.6 | 18.7 | Mt. Clay Loop | 0.5 | 0.8 |
| 14:12 | Mt. Reagan | 5533 | 1686.5 | 12.1 | 19.5 | Mt. Clay Loop | 0.7 | 1.1 |
| 14:32 | Gulfside Trail | 5490 | 5400.0 | 12.8 | 20.6 | Gulfside Trail | 0.8 | 1.3 |
| 15:01 | Trinity Heights Conn | 6100 | 1859.3 | 13.6 | 21.9 | Trinity Heights Conn | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| 15:08 | Mt. Washington | 6288 | 1916.6 | 13.8 | 22.2 | Tuckerman Ravine Trail | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| 16:07 | Lion Head Trail | 5675 | 1729.7 | 14.2 | 22.8 | Tuckerman Ravine Trail | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| 16:17 | Tuckerman Junction | 5383 | 1640.7 | 14.4 | 23.2 | Lawn Cutoff | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| 16:30 | Davis Path | 5475 | 1668.8 | 14.8 | 23.8 | Davis Path | 0.6 | 1.0 |
| 16:47 | Boott Spur Trail | 5450 | 1661.2 | 15.4 | 24.8 | Boott Spur Trail | 0.7 | 1.1 |
| 17:24 | Boott Spur Link | 4650 | 1417.3 | 16.1 | 25.9 | Boott Spur Trail | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| 17:38 | Split Rock | 4337 | 1321.9 | 16.3 | 26.2 | Boott Spur Trail | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| 17:53 | Harvard Rock | 4046 | 1233.2 | 16.6 | 26.7 | Boott Spur Trail | 1.7 | 2.7 |
| 18:51 | Tuckerman Ravine Trail | 2275 | 693.4 | 18.3 | 29.4 | Tuckerman Ravine Trail | 0.5 | 0.8 |
| 18:58 | Joe Dodge | 2032 | 619.4 | 18.8 | 30.2 | |||
The following is a picture from Google Earth which does not reflect the weather condition of the hike. More pictures are at Picasa.
Prologue
The weather forecast for the Labor Day weekend looked terrific, I could not help going hiking in the mountains. I called AMC lodge reservation on Saturday morning but to my surprise that both Joe Dodge and the Highland Center were full for Saturday night. I did not bother to try again in the afternoon chasing cancellations. On Sunday, I made reservation for two nights at Joe Dodge, my favorite lodging place in the White Mountains. I left home at 14:20 and stopped at Rochester to refuel my car as usual then stopped by L.L. Beans outlet at North Conway and found it was the last day of the store at the location. Their new location is about 1 mile south. I bought quite a few items and the casher was so kind that she managed to redeem a coupon that L.L. Beans sent me but I lost.
Apparently lot of vacationers were leaving the White Mountains on Sunday. The south-bound Rt. 16 has vehicles lining for a mile long at North Conway. Even at the junction of Rt. 16 and Rt.302, the line was about half a mile long.
I reached Joe Dodge at 17:50, just in time for dinner. I sat with a physician’s family from Cooperstown, New York and had a very pleasant conversation with them. Later I found the gentleman sitting across me was Alan Stearne who would be the presenter of the 20:00 talk on Moose which is very interesting. After the hearty dinner, I drove to the Wildcat resort area walked around the empty building and parking lot, then came back to explore the Joe Dodge area for the first time. I noticed there is a trail that links the main parking lot to the parking lot on the other side of New River. At the 20:00 moose talk, I learnt pretty much all I needed to know about moose for the time being.
I went to bed at about 22:00 and noticed all four bunks are occupied. It has been a long time since last time I stayed in a room fully occupied. I got up at 5:30 and tried my best to be quiet in preparing for my hike. Mike, the veteran staff member of Joe Dodge at the visitor center told me the wind would be 60 to 70 miles and abate to 40 to 50 miles per hour on the ridge. As long as the wind abates, I feel safe because once I get on the ridge and feel I can handle the wind, then things will not get worse. However if wind picks up, there is no way to project the risk during the early part of the hike and if the risk increased dramatically and I got too deep into a hike far from escape route, it could be very dangerous.
The Journey
After taking a few pictures of Joe Dodge and Mount Wilt Cat across the road, the hike finally start at 7:14. I was wearing a pair of very low cut waterproof trail running shoes. This was the first time for me to wear low cut shoes for a long hike since my ankle was injured in March. I did running with this pair of shoes on Crane Beach on Saturday and hurt the recovering ankle. The right ankle pain was very similar to the pain I feel after a long hike. I tried to move as fast as I could. I passed quite a few hikers.
I crossed Mt. Washington auto road at 7:52 and saw a registration book asking hikers to register as a survey for the National Forest Service. I did my part. I reached Osgood Trail at 8:40. Once I was above the tree line, fight against the wind started immediately. I was slowed to a crawling speed and frequently had to tilt my body to balance the wind force or even lower my body to prevent me from being blown away. I reached Osgood Junction at 10:19 and could not help stopping taking a picture of the beautiful views even the wind was so strong that I was afraid that my camera would be blown away. I reached the summit of Madison at 10:50. I arrived at Madison Spring Hut at 11:00. I refilled two Gatorade bottles with the hut's lemonade. This time I did not eat any food because I still felt the hearty breakfast in my stomach yet to be completely digested. After a brief stay at the hut, I continued the march. I took the airline to Adams. The wind was still shaking me. I reached the summit of Adams at 11:54. I had been to the summit five times before and this was the first time I saw no one hanging around there. The reason is very simple - howling wind. I took the Israel Path to reach the Gulfside Trail at 12:09. I reached Edmands Col at 12:47 and Jefferson at 12:58. I saw quite a few kids at the summit seeming to enjoying the wind which has abated a bit. They were led by one adult.
I came down from Jefferson to Gulfside Trail at 13:31 after eating a packet of Trailmix and reached the Clay Loop at 13:55. This time I made sure I would know where Mt. Reagan is. Mount Clay seems to have multiple peaks and I had never figured out which is what. With GPS watch and elevation data of Mt. Reagan, I knew I was standing on it at 14:12. I did not waste any time before the last push to Mt. Washington. Soon I ran across the group of hikers whom I saw at Joe Dodge and were going to Madison Spring Hut in the opposite direction of mine. They had hiked about 5 miles while I had done about 12 miles. When I was just about to cross the cog railway, two trains with heavy smokes from burning coal was crawling up. Since the smoke was blown up toward the summit, I thought I would wait for them to pass but they were so slow and I lost patience in waiting them, so I crossed it as soon as I could and walked as fast I could in order to avoid the smoke. I took a short video of them. I reached the summit at 15:08. There were still a lot of people. Without thinking too much I ordered two bowls of broccoli cream soup and two chili dogs. It turned out to be a big mistake. Firstly I should always follow my taste and feeling. I was a bit thirsty and did not have very strong hunger for any food. I just thought I was supposed to refuel myself with rich and salty food. I had stomach problem when I did my last Presidential Traverse after eating chili there (another hike had even more serious problem). Out of caution, I used the bath room before I left the summit at 15:45. I thought I would have adequate time to reach Joe Dodge for the 18:00 dinner.
I took the Tuckerman Ravine Trail from the summit, then switched to the Davis Path via Lawn Cutoff which has almost a constant inclination of about 15 degrees. I saw quite some hikers on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail but no one after I left it. I reached Boott Spur Trail at 16:47. The wind was still so strong that my hat was blown off while I was trying to take a picture. I jumped to save my hat on a big rock and it hurt my knee cap bad. Somehow I believed the Boot Spur Trail was an easy trail, but the truth is exactly the opposite. It has many very steep sections (45 or greater degrees of slope) and the footing was very rough except the lower 1 mile. Soon after I got on the Boot Spur Trail, I started to have stomachache but I could not do anything above the tree line It was getting very bad after passing the Split Rock. Immediately after I went below the tree line I found a private spot to take care my irritating bowels. I reached Harvard Rock at 17:53. I saw one or two people were camping beneath the huge rock so I did not approach the rock to disturb them. Minutes after that, I saw two moose. Applying what I learned from the previous night's presentation, I stood still and quiet, the moose resumed their grazing after being on high alert due to my passing by. It was about 18:30 and the sun was on the other side of the mountain. Normally flashlight is required for taking photo under this condition. To avoid disturbing them, I turned off the flashlight and put my camera on a dead tree to stabilize it when taking the picture at 1/8 second speed. Suddenly I heard some noise from the other side of the trail and I saw a moose calf. It could well be the offspring of the two moose. I took a picture of it and tried to stand still. Suddenly the calf was walking toward the trail. Even though it was a calf, it probably still weighed more than 200 pounds. I did not want to take any chance and started distancing myself from the calf. It crossed the trail calmly and joined the two adult moose. I took a few more pictures and then continued my hiking down. By this time, the outsole of left shoe was peeling almost half off. I was praying it would hold till the end of this hike because bear footing was not an option on this kind of trail especially toward the end of a long hike. I was ready to use duct tape to hold it at any moment if needed. I reached Joe Dodge at 19:58.
Epilogue
After I entered the dinning hall, I noticed that people in the dinning hall were just about to enjoy their dessert. Scott, the staff member who was doing the final cleaning, kindly agreed without any hesitation to heat the entrees for me and a couple form Montreal. I skipped the chicken pie, bread and salad because my appetite was still messed up by the meal at the summit. The vegetable soup, steamed broccoli, especially the rice were very good. I had two servings of the rice and soup. I drank five or six mugs of tea and it really helped a lot to dehydrate me and straighten out my stomach. I felt much better after eating these light foods and liquid. The conversation with the couple was very pleasant. It was very strange that I did not feel sleepy after the meal and a shower. I kept reading and writing till 23:00. I had to force myself to fall asleep. I woke up at 3:00 the next morning and had to get out of bed at 4:00 to go to the reading room to do more reading. I finally realized it was the caffeine in the tea that kept me so alert.
I left Joe Dodge at about 9:00. I saw three hitch hikers when I was getting out of the parking lot. I stopped to take all of them and found they were from Colorado and working at AMC huts. They wanted to go to North Conway for shopping and a good meal. They are very amicable. I dropped them off at EMS before I went to the next door - the new location of L.L. Beans to walk around the store out of curiosity.
