Presi Traverse?

[Arden]

Hi;
I was surprised to find that people hike the entire Presidential (NH) range in one day!
If you do all of the peaks, that's over 23 miles with a 9,000+ elev gain.
Not only is this one hell of a hike, but try to find a day when the weather will hold for you. I think they say that only one out of three days are suitable for such a hike, and that's in summer. Forget the shorter days of spring/fall/winter.

When I do a hike like the Presis, I would like to enjoy the views from the peaks, and spend a couple of nights up there. I take it you're not allowed to tent above tree line (except during the winter when there's a certain amount of snow on the ground), so does that mean one has to descend some distance each night, then re-climb to continue the traverse? This is assuming that you're not "hutting" (as opposed to tenting, or lean-to-ing).

I have been on the Presidentials, a total of four times. Three were from Pinkham to Mt. Washington (1x via Bott Spur up, Lion's Head down, 1x Lion's head up and down, and 1x Tuckerman's up and down), and one was just from Crawford Notch to Mt. Eisenhower and return. All were single day treks.

I wouldn't have the luxury of more than one car, so I would probably have to park at Pinkham Notch, then get a shuttle back when I'm done. Or, I could turn around and do the traverse in reverse; a reverse-traverse

I'm interested to hear from you who have done the Presis, either in one day, or multiple days.

Thanks

Arden

[peakbagger]

I have done two variations of the one day traverse and plan to do it again next weekend (if the weather holds out). Usually there are numerous folks doing it over the next two weekends. One year I gave out two bags of snickers in one afternoon to people doing the traverse.

If you want information on the one day event try this

http://home.earthlink.net/~ellozy/pr...-traverse.html

Note the presidential traverse tradtionally starts at Appalachia, although the option of starting at Dolley Copp campground and taking the Daniel Webster Scout trails is also done. Therefore getting from Pinkham to top of Madison is not included. The southern end of the traverse is also debatable. The last presidential is Mt Pierce (as Mt Jackson is actually named after a geologist). Some folks included Mt Webster and the cliffs down to RT 302 versus Crawford Path. (this would follow the AT but adds several miles).

The two variations I have done is Applachia to Crawford notch via the Valley way, Gulfside, Westside and Crawford path. This is occasionally referred to as the "light" version as it skips all the summits and cuts a loo of elevation out. The other variation is Valley way to Madison Summit, then backtrack to the Hut then Gulfside to Crawford path with some side trips to hit the summits. Note that the AT skips Adams, Jefferson, Monroe and Eisenhower. By the way most do it North to south as it gets the major elevation out of the way in the morning. Other folks like the south to north hike as the sun is behind their backs for most of the hot part of the day although they are the minority.

Either hike is doable if someone is in shape and is used to rock hopping as most of the route is above treeline. Extensive southern ridgewalking isnt a subsitute for rockhopping, although the PA rocks and the northern Nj and western NY rocks are good training. Most folks start real early in the morning (before sunrise) and try to pace themselves (which is tough in the morning). Water is availlable along the ridge at the AMC huts and the summit as well as a couple of springs. There is food available at the Mt Washington summit and usually at Lakes of the Clouds hut. By doing it near the summer solstice, you have plenty of daylight (5 AM to 9 PM). The length of the hike is 10 to 14 hours. Organized groups usually park a car at the Cog railroad for a bail out point as there are a couple of trails off the ridgeline that end up there.

If the weather conditions arent great, this can turn dangerous as most folks who do the trip run underequipped to keep theri pack weight down. The majority of the route is exposed to the west and if there is a thundershower within a 100 miles it will probably find its way to the ridge.

For unsupported one car options, the most convienient one is to drop a car off at Appalachia the day before, catch the AMC shuttle to the Highland center, stay in the Highland center or the adjacent Shapleigh house and in the morning walk across to the street to the Crawford path and head north and end up at your car (you will need to bring breakfast as you will be leaving to early to catch the one at the Highland) . I am not sure of the AMC shuttle schedule but you may have an afternoon to kill at the Highland center.

[Peeper]

If you're really ambitious you could try the hut traverse. Lonesome Lake Hut to Carter Notch Hut, 52 miles. One of the best days of my life .