Presidential Failure then Tecumseh for 25 6/30/13

This past winter, one of my hiking goals for the year was to complete a Presidential traverse near the summer solstice.  Because the summer solstice is the longest day of the year it's a common day for hikers to attempt this epic 16 hour, 23 mile trek over 9,000 feet of elevation.  After the Mt. Passaconway and Mt. Whiteface hike my personal schedule appeared to have time on the 29th, so I penciled in the date with Kyle.

At first, planning the logistics of the car spotting and camping arrangements seemed to make the trip more of a hassle than it was worth.  But after taking a couple of weeks to sort out the details, two nights were booked at the Dolly Copp Campground at a campsite which appeared to be right next to the Daniel Webster Scout Trail which would bring us up to the first peak Mt. Madison.  So logistically it seemed as though a plan had been put in place.

The weather during the week of the hike was hot and humid with afternoon thundershowers.  On Thursday, there was a major storm cell working it's way into the New England from the MidWest but the forecast predicted that the storm would blow through Thursday night into Friday morning.  In the storms wake it was supposed to leave a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. We thought these conditions would good enough to go through with the hike.

The plan was to leave at about 1:30 on Friday afternoon.  My parents were going to come up to watch my daughters (Kayla and Emma) until my wife (Leah) came home and I would meet up with Kyle in Hudson and we would follow each other to the Whites.  Well, at 9:00 my mother called saying that she wasn't be coming because it was raining in Acushnet.  My disappointment with that news was superseded by Kayla's who had been told that her VaVo (grandmother in Portuguese) would be coming up for two weeks.  She asked Vavo on Skype if VaVo "had a rain jacket?" and then began inconsolably crying on the couch.  I felt horrible for her, but she would get over it faster than I would.  Leah ended up saving the day by leaving work early and getting home at 2:30.  I finally ended up meeting up with Kyle at 3:00.

The ride up was horrible.  We hit traffic on 495 all the way from Lowell to 93.  Then we hit traffic in New Hampshire with what seemed from the border to past Concord.  We had lost an hour because of the traffic.  When we finally reached Crawford Notch to spot my car it was about 7:00.  We dropped off my car at a parking spot near Elephant Head just before Crawford Notch and then started our way to Dolly Copp.  We were starving and stopped at the Red Fox Pub for a beer and a burger.  When we left the pub it started raining and when we got to our campsite and it was pouring.  We couldn't set up our tents fast enough to keep them from getting soaked.  Once the tents were up and wiped down with a towel, we hit the hay...  And listened to the calming sound of raindrops hitting the tent and the not so calming sounds of a rowdy group that eventually quieted down at about 10:00.  So the night seemed to change until one of the most raucous and inconsiderate groups rolled into camp.  I thought they were speaking Spanish and Kyle thought they were speaking "Jihadi".  I could hear the cracking of sticks for their campfire all night and Kyle believed they even came on to our campsite and were shining their headlamps into our tents.  They were loud and were making what sounded like bird calls randomly during the night.  I shouldn't have to say that we didn't get much sleep.

When we finally got out of our tents at 3:50 the vagrants were still up and we weren't sure whether or not we should even go through with attempting a hike at all.   We checked the weather and it called for hail, rain and thundershowers on Washington.  We waited until 4:30 when the sky was brightening and we could get a look as to what was actually up there.  We decided to scratch the traverse and get up to Madison and see what happens from there.  We hit the trail just before 5:00 with our headlamps on.  The rain seemed to be holding up, but it might have been because we were under a thick tree canopy.  We were gaining good elevation and at about 6:30 the sky opened up.  A good portion of the trail we were hiking would turn to a boulder field with no tree cover and we knew we were getting close.  Hiking in the rain in that boulder field with no sleep did not seem like a good idea to either of us.  Because nothing had seemed to go smoothly the entire trip to this point we decided to turn around break down camp and go home.  When we got back to the campsite, the vagrants were up again making their bird calls.  I got a good look at them and thought they looked like Mayans, who knows?!

On the way back to my car I gave Leah a call and told her of our shortcomings.  I told her I would be home in time to help her out and pick up Emma so she could enjoy the rest of the night with Kayla at Davis Farmland.  So I started checking the map for a four hour hike I could squeeze in while Kyle was determined to get home.  The way the trip had gone thus far it was almost surprising that when we got back to my car it was just as I left it.  I had only taken one picture this entire time and it was at a waterfall off the road heading back to my car.

While driving south, Franconia Notch was socked in the clouds and I decided to head as far south in the Whites as I could and decided on attempting Mt. Tecumseh.  The AMC guide described the hike as being an hour and forty minute hike when started from the Waterville Valley end of the trail.  Perfect!  To get to the trailhead I took Tripoli Road off of 93 where there were plenty of campers on the side of the road.  The parking lot for the trail is inconspicuously marked and I had to pull it into reverse to get back to the lot to turn in.  There were 2 cars in the lot and 1 woman from Albany, NY pulled in while I was there.

My boots hit the trail at 10:00 and after 2 small river crossings the trail started elevating at a moderate grade on a rather easy trail.  With more elevation, the fog started getting a little thicker, the temperature starting dropping and the trail started getting a little rougher.  I was keeping a fast pace in hopes of keeping that four hour timeframe.
 

Clear smooth path at the beginning of the hike

Up the hill and into the fog

A rough foggy spot on the trail

After about 1:20 minutes, I reached a small spur trial which I thought was the summit.  I went up poked around a little for a rock to bring Kayla and took some photos. I was on my way back down the mountain when I ran into the woman from Albany again and she said to me "you couldn't have summited the mountain already?!"  I told her about the spur trail and scenic vista and then she told me that that must have been the west peak and I had to hike down and then up to the main peak.  She said at the peak there should be a cairn as big as me and views of a fire tower on another mountain.  So, I turned around and passed that spur trail.  The sun started breaking through  at this point.  The trail was definitely a little rougher and after another 40 minutes I reached the true summit.

View from the Western peak summit

Spur path to the Western summit

Sun working it's way through the clouds

A sunny foggy trail

The summit brought about some views of Waterville Valley underneath the clouds.  There was already a 63 year old man from Bellingham who had a piece of paper with a 1 on it to signify his 1st 4,000 footer.  Then came a couple from Salisbury and finally Albany came up.  We all stopped, chatted, took photos for each other and ate lunch.  We all left because the bugs were relentless.

View through the clouds from Tecumseh true summit

 I busted out the hiking poles and started flying down the mountain.  I ran into a couple of trail runners and a group of 4 young kids doing their first hike.  One had a backpack on, another a gallon of water and giant knife strapped to his hip.  They asked me how far to the top and told me this was their first hike in the White Mountains.  Good Luck with that!  Once I got down to the river crossings, I stopped to wash my face and wet my head.  I arrived back at the car at 2:00.  Perfect timing and a great hike which gave me a feeling of redemption for the epic fail that had occurred in the last 24 hours.

Strange moss growing on a tree which reminded me of Chewbaca

Chewbacca tree grove 

Whiteface / Passaconway 6/1/13

As the weather started warming up and all trip reports were reporting minimal to no snow in the White Mountains, it was time to get back up for a another hike.  After The North Hancock experience, there was no way I was heading up to hike a 4,000 footer until the majority if not all snow had melted from the mountains.  The Mountains of choice for this hike were Mt. Passaconway (4,043) and Mt. Whiteface (4,020) numbers 42 and 45 on the list of the 48 4,000 footers respectively.  This time the forecast was hot and humid with temperatures in the 90’s so Kyle and I solidified plans on Thursday.

Wwe left Hudson, MA just past 4:30 and got our first glimpse of Mt. Whiteface and it’s ledges while driving on 113A in North Sandwich.  One of the trails we had planned on our route was the Blueberry Ledge trail described in the AMC guidebook as potentially one of the most dangerous trails in the White Mountains and figured those were the ledges.  We arrived at the Ferncroft Road parking area at about 7:00 and there were only a few cars in the lot.

View of Whiteface from the Ferncroft parking area

We started our hike out at 7:20 along Ferncroft Road and the ledges of Mt. Whiteface were in clear view again.  After about 10 minutes on the road, we hit the junction for the Blueberry Ridge Trail.  We were on the trail for about 20 minutes when I heard Kyle yell moose.  I hurried up towards him and saw the moose gliding through the woods.  We stayed quiet and treaded lightly hoping to catch a glimpse of him again.  His tracks followed the trail for a few hundred feet until eventually they disappeared.  We started again on a speedy pace uphill and started working up a sweat in the hot humid conditions.  Blueberry bushes which were starting to grow berries were scattered throughout exposed ledge on the trail.  We reached a clearing which was the the junction of the Blueberry Ledge Cutoff and had to take a moment to find the trail because a fallen tree was somewhat hiding the trail.  Once we spotted the trail we resumed our pace and soon we found ourselves at the beginning of the steep ledges.  At the ledges we needed to use our hands to climb and pull ourselves up in a couple of spots, but at no time were we nervous about the height and getting by the ledges went a lot faster than expected.  On the ledges there were openings with hazy views to the south and west.  We reached the false summit of Mt. Whiteface at 9:50 and Kyle busted out the Jet Boil stove to cook himself some Backcountry pPantry chicken and mashed potatoes.  I sat and ate a protein bar while enjoying the views and watching the Jet Boil stove in action until the swarm of black flies around me made me  get up and keep moving around.  After about a ½ hour break, we started on the Rollins Trail.

The Rollins Trail led us by the true wooded summit of Mt. Whiteface and down the mountain.  The trail had been in great shape up to a point where dozens of trees had been blown down making us have to crawl under and squeeze between them.  It was amazing the damage the winds had caused.  After that area, the trail continued and it was a relaxing walk under the shady trees.  I kept getting whiffs of a strong urine smell along the trail and figured it must be a moose marking its territory.  On the side of the trail I found a thermometer and while I was checking it out, I heard something moving off the trail in the brush.  It could have been anything from a chipmunk to a bear but I wasn't about to stick around to find out.

At 11:40 we reached the Dicey’s Mill Trail junction which took us to the top of Mt. Passaconway via a steep switchback trail.  There was plenty of running water on and near the trail and I scouted out a couple of spots where I could use my water filter to restock my Camelback.  We reached the wooded peak of Mt. Passaconway at 12:20 and after we summited the peak, we took a break at a ledge we had passed.  As we were enjoying the expansive views a couple from Lebanon, NH who had moved there from Iowa joined us.  We talked about past and future hikes and soon we were off after about 20 minutes.  On the way down Mt. Passaconway, I stopped at the small stream to restock my water supply.  When we reached the only river crossing of the day at the Wonalancet River, there was a giant fallen birch tree which made for a perfect bridge to cross the river.  When we reached the end of Dicey’s Mill Trail, we were back on a dirt road which led us back to the truck for 3:00.Overall it was a great hike, we covered about 11 ½ miles in about 8 hours and enjoyed some great views while knocking off a couple more peaks off the list of 48 4,000 footers.   This hike gives me 24 total mountains and half way to the 48.