BIGEarl
Well-known member
October 20, 2012: Madison & Adams
Trails: Valley Way, Osgood Trail, Gulfside Trail, Air Line Trail
Summits: Madison, Adams
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
We’re back on the Grid. Our October list is a very short one; we’ll need two hike days to clean it up. This week’s targets were Madison and Adams. The forecast for the day wasn’t great but it was good enough. We started with a very light shower but the forecast was for all precipitation to stop within an hour and gradually improved conditions. The predicted high temperature at the upper elevations was ~45 - 50 degrees with a south wind of 30 – 40 mph, gusts to 50 mph. All of this is well within our comfort zone.
Within an hour the light precipitation had stopped but we had wet, plenty of wet. Valley Way was a running stream in many areas. I’ve never seen as much water on this particular trail and we’ve been on it quite a few times. We had a very sloppy hike all the way to the Madison Springs Hut. Other than the wet conditions and a couple blow-downs the trail was in good shape. Watch out for the surprises hiding underneath all of the leaves that have fallen in recent days.
As we approached the treeline below the hut we started to feel the south wind. Based on wind direction and terrain I was pretty sure the conditions wouldn’t be too difficult. In fact, I was pretty sure we would only be hit with strong wind on the final couple hundred feet of the climb to Madison and the top of Adams.
At the hut we stopped to add a layer before starting up Madison. Both Sue and I had a top layer with a hood. That worked out well because roughly half-way up Madison we both put the hoods up not for warmth but to hold our hats in place. The wind was coming through at a pretty good clip. We had no problems with stability, just our hats – the hoods did the job. While climbing Madison we met others descending from the summit (a solo with a dog, a pair, and a trio). Some of the others hiked up via Howker Ridge Trail. We made our way to the summit, got the usual summit pictures, a few distance view shots, and made the u-turn to descend back to the hut and Gulfside Trail for our hike south to Adams.
The hike from the hut to Adams went generally as expected. We enjoyed sheltered conditions from the hut to the ridge near Air Line junction. Then, we started to get hit by a light wind. We also started to run into more hikers wandering the area. I believe the total hikers we met for the day was over twenty. We worked our way along Air Line to the north side of Adams and were again sheltered from the south wind for the duration of our climb to the summit. Once we reached the summit we were exposed to the full wind for the day, but it didn’t seem as significant as predicted. After checking the weather history for the day it looks like the actual was near the bottom of the range for predicted wind.
Again we went through the usual summit formalities but didn’t stop there for summit cookies; they waited until we climbed back down closer to Gulfside trail. We were able to find a suitable rock in a sunny, sheltered location overlooking King Ravine and sat to enjoy a couple cookies, and the view. We were expecting difficult winds, overcast, possibly some precipitation, and cool conditions. Instead, we enjoyed a mild wind, warm temperature, and lots of sun. These are pretty nice conditions for late October in the Northern Presidentials.
With the cookie break finished we continued our exit hike. We simply reversed our route; hiking back to the hut via Gulfside and then back to the trailhead via the super sloppy Valley Way. Along the way we managed a couple small slips on the wet leaves, roots, rocks, or something else but stayed upright each time. Generally on plan we stepped into the trailhead lot. It didn’t take long to get our things packed, change into traveling footwear, and hit the highway south.
It wasn’t a bad day; it was much better than the experts had predicted, much better than we expected.
Pictures will follow.
Trails: Valley Way, Osgood Trail, Gulfside Trail, Air Line Trail
Summits: Madison, Adams
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
We’re back on the Grid. Our October list is a very short one; we’ll need two hike days to clean it up. This week’s targets were Madison and Adams. The forecast for the day wasn’t great but it was good enough. We started with a very light shower but the forecast was for all precipitation to stop within an hour and gradually improved conditions. The predicted high temperature at the upper elevations was ~45 - 50 degrees with a south wind of 30 – 40 mph, gusts to 50 mph. All of this is well within our comfort zone.
Within an hour the light precipitation had stopped but we had wet, plenty of wet. Valley Way was a running stream in many areas. I’ve never seen as much water on this particular trail and we’ve been on it quite a few times. We had a very sloppy hike all the way to the Madison Springs Hut. Other than the wet conditions and a couple blow-downs the trail was in good shape. Watch out for the surprises hiding underneath all of the leaves that have fallen in recent days.
As we approached the treeline below the hut we started to feel the south wind. Based on wind direction and terrain I was pretty sure the conditions wouldn’t be too difficult. In fact, I was pretty sure we would only be hit with strong wind on the final couple hundred feet of the climb to Madison and the top of Adams.
At the hut we stopped to add a layer before starting up Madison. Both Sue and I had a top layer with a hood. That worked out well because roughly half-way up Madison we both put the hoods up not for warmth but to hold our hats in place. The wind was coming through at a pretty good clip. We had no problems with stability, just our hats – the hoods did the job. While climbing Madison we met others descending from the summit (a solo with a dog, a pair, and a trio). Some of the others hiked up via Howker Ridge Trail. We made our way to the summit, got the usual summit pictures, a few distance view shots, and made the u-turn to descend back to the hut and Gulfside Trail for our hike south to Adams.
The hike from the hut to Adams went generally as expected. We enjoyed sheltered conditions from the hut to the ridge near Air Line junction. Then, we started to get hit by a light wind. We also started to run into more hikers wandering the area. I believe the total hikers we met for the day was over twenty. We worked our way along Air Line to the north side of Adams and were again sheltered from the south wind for the duration of our climb to the summit. Once we reached the summit we were exposed to the full wind for the day, but it didn’t seem as significant as predicted. After checking the weather history for the day it looks like the actual was near the bottom of the range for predicted wind.
Again we went through the usual summit formalities but didn’t stop there for summit cookies; they waited until we climbed back down closer to Gulfside trail. We were able to find a suitable rock in a sunny, sheltered location overlooking King Ravine and sat to enjoy a couple cookies, and the view. We were expecting difficult winds, overcast, possibly some precipitation, and cool conditions. Instead, we enjoyed a mild wind, warm temperature, and lots of sun. These are pretty nice conditions for late October in the Northern Presidentials.
With the cookie break finished we continued our exit hike. We simply reversed our route; hiking back to the hut via Gulfside and then back to the trailhead via the super sloppy Valley Way. Along the way we managed a couple small slips on the wet leaves, roots, rocks, or something else but stayed upright each time. Generally on plan we stepped into the trailhead lot. It didn’t take long to get our things packed, change into traveling footwear, and hit the highway south.
It wasn’t a bad day; it was much better than the experts had predicted, much better than we expected.
Pictures will follow.