10.4 miles, 7:24 hrs, 4541′ elevation, Pace 42:43/mi, Moving pace 26:53/mi

I was supposed to go halfway with a group doing the Presidential Traverse and get picked up on Mt Washington by my coaches wife, Leslie; however, plans went awry when the clouds/wind rolled in while we were on Mt Madison.

As usual, I was the slowest one and the main group went ahead to Mt Madison hut. I would have been alone on the ridge in the fog, cold, wind and decided to try Mt. Adams and then head back to car. It was crazy how fast the clouds came in.

You can see the Mt. Madison hut and then moments later the cloud cover. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to navigate back and see the cairns. What a pile of rocks – slow going and you can see how clear it got by the time I turned around and came down!

LL: Bring compass and note direction on top of these mountains. Also had this fear on Mt Washington as clouds can be thick.

Mt Adams is just next door and after some attempt, the rock pile won (See Mt Adams below)…. This was a good day for me with a pretty good distance and some major elevation I hadn’t done yet. Longest flat run was 13 miles former week where I had to walk the last hour and only other real mountain ascent had been 5/29 Cannon at 4.3 miles, 2283′. Happy with a good step up in training!

On the way down, I was passed 3 times by folks from the Hut with heavy loads on their back. I don’t know how they go so fast! Was a little depressing. Started on trail at 4am and ended up around 11am so headed over to Littleton to Schillings for the best pizza in the world!

Other lessons learned:

• Bring more substantial food if hike is >5 hours
• Bring compass
• Always have wind jacket, rain jacket, extra clothes in NH. I was OK with a light smartwool and wind jacket , temps ground level around 70F and had expected to possibly get to high 40s at top so had extra midweight smartwool if needed. BRING EXTRA PACK