I’ve been itching to get out on the Presidential Traverse since last fall. The last time I hiked the traverse was at least 7 years ago. To make it a full adventure; my colleague from Summit Achievement (Eric) and I started the trip at 7pm at night. We did the entire traverse in the dark with windy, slow conditions. (It was certainly an outing to remember; the clouds were gusting so intensely at the summit of Mt. Washington that we couldn’t see from one large rock cairn to the next.)

A panoramic paradise.

This trip would be better. It would be faster, more fun, and with perfect daytime conditions.

Going up…

Bridget, Joanna, and I set out at 6 am from Apalacia. We began hiking with two other teachers from the Littleton area, Erin and Liz.

Bridget, me, & Joanna.

For me, the day started a bit earlier than that. It was a true alpine start: up at 3:30 am and out the door just as the sun was rising. An early morning drive up highway 93 through Franconia Notch turned into a lucky opportunity for a moose sighting. Fortunately, my moose friend was safely off the road, on the other side of the median.

The traverse itself is about 20 miles long. It covers 8000+ feet of elevation and offers amazing views of the notches and valleys below.

My favorite smell.

Headed down.

We had sunshine, blue skis, and barely any wind. The company was terrific… and we finished the traverse in about 11 hours.

Really, we’re good with a map.

(We didn’t use the map until almost the end of the hike.)

Some people include Jackson in their traverse, as Eric and I had done.)  But we opted to end this hike with Pierce and hiked the Crawford Path back to our parked car (in the lot across from The Highland Center). We celebrated our awesome day with some strategically stashed recovery beers at the car. It was another great adventure with some amazing adventure ladies!

Love these!

Notice Mt Washington summit in the background.