CrazyDave
New member
I had this crazy idea to Climb to the Summit of all (7) of NH's Official Mountains with an elevation of 5,000 feet or greater in a single day. But I want to do even more than that. I wanted it to be a multi-day event. So what I finailly decided on. Was to Climb all the official 5,000 foot Mountains in New Hampshires - White Mountains, and the (2) official 5,000 footers New Yorks - Adirondack Mountains, as well as Vermonts High point all to be done on the 4th of July weekend. So I wrote up my plans and emailed the plans to all the stronger Hikers that I know in CT, as well as posting my plans on veiwsfromthetop.com so I can find someone to do this with me. If I didn't find anyone, I wasn't going to do it.
So I got a email from someone about 3 weeks ago that goes by the Trail Name; MountainGirl. And she says, I think this is a really great idea that you have. I want to do it with you. I emailed her back, this is very extreme Hiking. What have you done in the Mountains already. And she says; I climbed this one, and that one, and did this, and did that. So I said, okay you have plenty of experience in the Mountains. So now we have a guy and a girl that have never met each other, spending the 4th of July weekend together to climb all the biggest Mountains in 3 different Sates.
Here's how it went:
Day one; Saturday, July 2nd to climb to the Summit of all the official 5,000 footers in NH. So I meet up with this girl on Friday. And we follow each other to the White Mountains. We spot her car on Rte 2, a Trail Head called; Appalachia. Then we drive to the Lafayette Campground and set up Camp. We go to sleep at 8:00 PM since we will be getting up at Midnight to begin our big day. The alarm on my wrist watch goes off at 12:00 Midnight and I wake up MountainGirl. It's a very light rain, and a very dark night. We get dressed, gear up, and by 12:30 AM we begin our trek up the Falling Waters Trail. We reach the Franconia Ridge at 3:15 AM. The fog is so thick you can cut it with a knife, and there's a very cold wind. Even with our Headlamps we can only see 2 feet infront of us. So we head several hundred feet down the Falling Waters Trail, to get protection from the wind. We stay in this safe spot until 4:30 AM. Now the daylight has broke, and we can do the ridge. When we reach the Summit of Mt Lincoln. We notice there are 2 Hikers laying under a large rock. They got cought on the ridge in this dense fog on the previous night, and slept under the rock until day break. They were okay-it's 5:28 AM and we bagged our first 5,000 footer of the day. We continue onward and we reach the Summit of Mt Lafayette at 6:25 AM. We now have our second 5,000 footer in the bag. But there's a 2 man tent set up at the Summit. We thought that this was odd, but pressed onward. Now we're about 1/4 mile down the Old Bridle Path Trail, and there's a Hiker sleeping on the Trail. We ask are you alright? He says: "no I'm not! We got cought in the dense fog up on the ridge last night. I left my 2 Hiking partners on the ridge to set up the tent, and get protect from the cold wild. While I was suppose to make it to the Greenleaf Hut to get help. But I fell somewhere a little ways back, and lost my glasses, and broke my GPS. What trail am I on, is the Greenleaf Hut anywhere around here. "We said, " yes you are close, your on the OBP. We walked him down to the Hut, and carried some of his gear for him. We told him that his 2 friends were in a tent at the Lafayette Summit. Some Hikers heading up the OBP were going to let the 2 in the tent know that their friend is in the Greenleaf Hut. We head all the way down the Mountain. At 8:20 the Franconia Ridge Loop Hike is done. We Broke Camp loaded up my car and drove to the Trail Head on Base Road. We begin at 10:00 AM Hiking up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail to bag the other (5) 5,000 foot Mountains. This Trail is beautiful with lots of Waterfalls. We reach the end of the Trail and take the Monroe Loop Trail to the Summit of Monroe. The winds were very stronge at the Summit, about 45 MPH. It's 1:45 PM and we bagged our third 5,000 footer. Now we Hike down to "lake in the Clouds" for a break, and refill our water. And it's off to the Summit of Washington. We reach the Summit of Mt Washington at 3:10 PM. Our forth 5,000 footer in the bag. We use the restrooms take a break and we're off again. As we're heading down the Summit of Washington along the Gulfside Trail. MountainGirl is complaining about all the pollution that the COG is putting out. She says what's wronge with them, don't they know that we have to breed this air. So I take some pictures showing all the smoke that the COG puts out. It seemed like it was taken forever to reach the Summit of Mt Jefferson, but at 5:50 PM we reached the Summit. 5,000 footer # 5 is in the bag. We ran into 2 Hikers at the Summit that were very run down. They wanted to know how to get to the closest Hut, or off the Mountain. Whichever would be easier. We told them to go Northbound on the Gulfside Trail and they will eventually reach the Madison Hut. We continued onward. As we got close to Mt Adams some really bad weather came it. A slue of Black Clouds, and winds of 55 to 60 MPH. We made the Adams summit in these conditions but, made an agreement that if the wind dosen't setting down, we will have to not do Madison. We continued Hiking and the weather was clearing up. The Madison Hut is right in front of us. It's about 8:00 PM and I said to MountainGirl. Do you think we will be able to do Madison. She said, yes we can bag Madison. I was only 200 feet from the Summit and the sun we setting. So I turned around and got a great photo of Sunset. We reached the 7th and final official 5,000 footer at 8:45 PM, and the winds at the Summit were really stronge. We have been Hiking for 21 hours so far. We took a quick Photo and headed down to the Madison Hut for a long break. They gave us Hot Cocoa and Hot Soup. And BOY was that good. We stayed at the Hut until 10:00 PM. While we were at the Hut we asked if 2 young Hikers came here pretty run down. We told them about the couple we meet at the Summit of Jefferson. Then we Hiked the Valley Way Trail down the Mountain. It was a long trek, we didn't reach MountainGirls car until 1:30 AM. We stayed in Gorham for the night. This was the toughest one day Hike I had ever done. And there is still 2 days of Hiking to go.
So I got a email from someone about 3 weeks ago that goes by the Trail Name; MountainGirl. And she says, I think this is a really great idea that you have. I want to do it with you. I emailed her back, this is very extreme Hiking. What have you done in the Mountains already. And she says; I climbed this one, and that one, and did this, and did that. So I said, okay you have plenty of experience in the Mountains. So now we have a guy and a girl that have never met each other, spending the 4th of July weekend together to climb all the biggest Mountains in 3 different Sates.
Here's how it went:
Day one; Saturday, July 2nd to climb to the Summit of all the official 5,000 footers in NH. So I meet up with this girl on Friday. And we follow each other to the White Mountains. We spot her car on Rte 2, a Trail Head called; Appalachia. Then we drive to the Lafayette Campground and set up Camp. We go to sleep at 8:00 PM since we will be getting up at Midnight to begin our big day. The alarm on my wrist watch goes off at 12:00 Midnight and I wake up MountainGirl. It's a very light rain, and a very dark night. We get dressed, gear up, and by 12:30 AM we begin our trek up the Falling Waters Trail. We reach the Franconia Ridge at 3:15 AM. The fog is so thick you can cut it with a knife, and there's a very cold wind. Even with our Headlamps we can only see 2 feet infront of us. So we head several hundred feet down the Falling Waters Trail, to get protection from the wind. We stay in this safe spot until 4:30 AM. Now the daylight has broke, and we can do the ridge. When we reach the Summit of Mt Lincoln. We notice there are 2 Hikers laying under a large rock. They got cought on the ridge in this dense fog on the previous night, and slept under the rock until day break. They were okay-it's 5:28 AM and we bagged our first 5,000 footer of the day. We continue onward and we reach the Summit of Mt Lafayette at 6:25 AM. We now have our second 5,000 footer in the bag. But there's a 2 man tent set up at the Summit. We thought that this was odd, but pressed onward. Now we're about 1/4 mile down the Old Bridle Path Trail, and there's a Hiker sleeping on the Trail. We ask are you alright? He says: "no I'm not! We got cought in the dense fog up on the ridge last night. I left my 2 Hiking partners on the ridge to set up the tent, and get protect from the cold wild. While I was suppose to make it to the Greenleaf Hut to get help. But I fell somewhere a little ways back, and lost my glasses, and broke my GPS. What trail am I on, is the Greenleaf Hut anywhere around here. "We said, " yes you are close, your on the OBP. We walked him down to the Hut, and carried some of his gear for him. We told him that his 2 friends were in a tent at the Lafayette Summit. Some Hikers heading up the OBP were going to let the 2 in the tent know that their friend is in the Greenleaf Hut. We head all the way down the Mountain. At 8:20 the Franconia Ridge Loop Hike is done. We Broke Camp loaded up my car and drove to the Trail Head on Base Road. We begin at 10:00 AM Hiking up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail to bag the other (5) 5,000 foot Mountains. This Trail is beautiful with lots of Waterfalls. We reach the end of the Trail and take the Monroe Loop Trail to the Summit of Monroe. The winds were very stronge at the Summit, about 45 MPH. It's 1:45 PM and we bagged our third 5,000 footer. Now we Hike down to "lake in the Clouds" for a break, and refill our water. And it's off to the Summit of Washington. We reach the Summit of Mt Washington at 3:10 PM. Our forth 5,000 footer in the bag. We use the restrooms take a break and we're off again. As we're heading down the Summit of Washington along the Gulfside Trail. MountainGirl is complaining about all the pollution that the COG is putting out. She says what's wronge with them, don't they know that we have to breed this air. So I take some pictures showing all the smoke that the COG puts out. It seemed like it was taken forever to reach the Summit of Mt Jefferson, but at 5:50 PM we reached the Summit. 5,000 footer # 5 is in the bag. We ran into 2 Hikers at the Summit that were very run down. They wanted to know how to get to the closest Hut, or off the Mountain. Whichever would be easier. We told them to go Northbound on the Gulfside Trail and they will eventually reach the Madison Hut. We continued onward. As we got close to Mt Adams some really bad weather came it. A slue of Black Clouds, and winds of 55 to 60 MPH. We made the Adams summit in these conditions but, made an agreement that if the wind dosen't setting down, we will have to not do Madison. We continued Hiking and the weather was clearing up. The Madison Hut is right in front of us. It's about 8:00 PM and I said to MountainGirl. Do you think we will be able to do Madison. She said, yes we can bag Madison. I was only 200 feet from the Summit and the sun we setting. So I turned around and got a great photo of Sunset. We reached the 7th and final official 5,000 footer at 8:45 PM, and the winds at the Summit were really stronge. We have been Hiking for 21 hours so far. We took a quick Photo and headed down to the Madison Hut for a long break. They gave us Hot Cocoa and Hot Soup. And BOY was that good. We stayed at the Hut until 10:00 PM. While we were at the Hut we asked if 2 young Hikers came here pretty run down. We told them about the couple we meet at the Summit of Jefferson. Then we Hiked the Valley Way Trail down the Mountain. It was a long trek, we didn't reach MountainGirls car until 1:30 AM. We stayed in Gorham for the night. This was the toughest one day Hike I had ever done. And there is still 2 days of Hiking to go.
