Finally gathered enough strength to jot down what I can remember between each hut. Since that got pretty long, I’ll start with some thoughts about the two people I had the pleasure of sharing this journey with
Thank you Liza Oconnor for being my partner in crime through all these crazy adventures and sharing your love of the mountains with me throughout all these years! Your strength inspires me every day, on and off the mountain. I’m just as much in awe today as I was three years ago, when I couldn’t even comprehend the amazing feat that we now undertook together. Thank you for pushing me up the mountain, one step at a time.
Finally, I’ll dedicate this traverse to our amazing support crew, Rami رامي 拉美 ! Thank you for showing me that life becomes much more interesting when you continue climbing to find what’s lurking beyond “just one more hill” be it a bakery stop, lighthouse, or a damn good burrito. Along the way, I’ve also created memories I’ll cherish forever, forged friendships with incredible people, and met the love of my life. As we discussed on the way up to Carter Notch hut, I’m sure life would’ve turned out just fine had I not shown up to that first “beat the ferry” ride but I can say that so far what I’ve found since then is a hell of a lot better than “fine”
Carter Notch Hut (4:39): alarm goes off at 4AM and I spring into action, stumbling in the dark, to shut it off as quick as I can. I budgeted time for sleepy stupor; instead, I throw on my headlamp and head straight for the bathroom to start getting ready. Liza diligently packs up her bag outside while I get dressed and just throw everything onto my mattress — after all, Rami needs something to do in the morning while we’re climbing up Madison Gulf 😇. After wolfing a clif bar for breakfast we begin our brisk but easy effort down Nineteen Mill Brook, as we’ve got a long day ahead of us. Wave to the car as we cross Rt. 16 and make our way for Madison. We enjoy the gentle grade up Great Gulf before things get steep on Madison Gulf trail. Very steep indeed that capped off with a brutal and persistent headwall before spitting us out on a familiar Star Lake trail just a short walk from Madison hut…
Madison Spring Hut (08:30): we arrive to a large group of backpackers getting ready to start on what is shaping up to be a beautiful day. Breakfast has just wrapped up inside the hut with the Croo enjoying their portions and a friendly AMC volunteer manning the counter. We refill water, hit the bathrooms, and enjoy leftover pastries (brookie for me, earl grey cake for Liza). We skip the summit loops, but there was still plenty of boulder hopping and climbing to get across the Presidentials. It was pretty cool to cross under the Cog tracks on the Westside trail before linking up with the Crawford Path to descend towards Lakes, and the views down into the ravine never gets old…
Lakes of the Clouds Hut (11:47): Finally, we descend into Lakes just shy of noon. A trio of smiling AMC volunteers welcome us in and we’re able to snag some large slices of vegan chocolate cake. It’s a short way to Mitzpah next but we’ve still got the Southern Presis to get over. While we can skip Eisenhower (phew!), there’s still Pierce to clamber over before turning to Webster Cliff 😅 that steeply brings us down some more…
Mitzpah Springs Hut (13:33): now in the early afternoon there’s only crumbs left in the ‘coffee cake’ tub 😔 so a quick water refill and satellite ping to update our location was in order before moving on. The aptly named Mitzpah Cutoff trail takes us back onto familiar ground at the end of previous Presidential Traverses. Of course, the Highland Center was just a midway point this time round. Nonetheless, it’s a victorious milestone where we find a well rested and excited Rami just across the street ready with supplies for our extended break. Here, we plan for freeze dried pasta and Rami’s bread as dinner up at Galehead, refill bottles, enjoy chips, change into fresh pairs of socks, and (eventually) press on. Morale is high as we embark on Avalon trail. At this stage on the long climb up to A-Z, emotions start to flare a bit perhaps foreboding the fact that the true crux of the day is yet to come. However, it was easy to shift to a lighter tone; if only the next couple thousand feet to climb would come so easily. We’re motivated by the knowledge that the last bit of sun would be waiting for us up above the trees and manage to reach Zealand just before the busyness of 6PM dinner service…
Zealand Falls Hut (17:49): A grumpy volunteer asks if we need anything, mistaking us for overnight guests, then returns to setting plates while we quietly refill bottles. Fatigue is setting in, while guests trickle in, some dripping as they return from bathing in the falls. We quickly eat our sugary snacks, as couldn’t afford to rest for long if we were to make it over to Galehead before dark. As we set our sights towards Zeacliff, we cross paths with a few more guests rushing down for their dinner. While morale is starting to tank, we reminisce on the last time we’d been on that trail, going the opposite way on a loop that encompassed the Twins and Hale. That had been a long day I recalled out loud, subtly communicating worry for the climb ahead. One hut at a time was the mantra as we passed (and skipped) Zeacliff’s viewpoint on the way to Bondcliff trail. A theme of the day was turning the corner hoping to see the next landmark but instead finding yet another steep stack of granite to stumble over. I’d been on this trial just two weeks ago on my Pemi loop attempt, skipping along on legs almost 20 miles fresher. South Twin finally shows its rocky top as the foliage thins out and we hear murmurs of backpackers enjoying the sunset. We too admire the sunset colors, solemnly acknowledging that Galehead will await us in the dark. Especially worrisome is the steep descent ahead of us, with only an orange and increasingly dim orb to illuminate the damp slabs below our feet. A short but grueling final climb as the dark slowly settled in finally revealed the turn onto Frost trail…
Galehead Hut (20:51): Seeing the familiar structure of Galehead as we turned left onto Frost brought a sigh of relief. We’d made it, ten or so minutes before quiet hours! I’d been here at around this time three years ago, except this time I’d hiked all the way from Carter rather than from a trail head a few miles away. Good thing Rami is a much better crew than I am, bringing with him changes of clothes for each of us, the aforementioned dinner meal, and a bag full of pre-packed snacks! We don’t stay for long, but do take the time to snap a picture together by the sign. With a new set of milestones to aim for between here and Greenleaf, we stride off into the dark. I know there’s false summits even in between each of the minor peaks (Garfield East, Garfield West) before Mt. Garfield but that doesn’t stop me from being disappointed each time we head down just a bit too early before each of the actual climbs. “Surely, this’ll be it” I say to myself knowing full well we’re not there yet. Sure enough, we went past a familiar water crossing where I’d asked a grumpy backpacker if we were close to the water spout. I knew then we were approaching the steep and relentless way up to Mt. Garfield and close to get another milestone. The now soaked boulders become taller once we pass the spout until we pass the left turn signaling the final ascent. Only one more PUD before the ascent out of the treeline and towards Lafayette. It was right before the climb that I came across a trail runner two weeks ago also going for the Pemi (in the opposite direction) who had resorted to filtering pond water. We crossed paths with him twice earlier today — trail running is indeed a weird and small world! Breaking out of treeline, we catch our first sight of the orange-tinted crescent moon above and the surprisingly busy highway below. I knew that getting to Lafayette would signal the beginning of the end of this grueling journey, so I imagined every little stack of stones above treeline was the summit, which led to disappointment about 100 times 😭. When we did make it up there, it would be a short descent to Greenleaf, whose dimly lit windows would taunt us from half a mile away. Soon, we’d reach the familiar muddy approach…
Greenleaf Hut (01:13): here was the shortest stop of the day. Snap a picture by the sign, eat a snack, pee in the bushes, and contemplate life for 23 seconds. Then we charge onwards into the trees. I’ve gone down this section of Franconia notch loop so many times, often at a jogging pace. This time however was reminiscent of, but still somehow slightly faster than, my first time akin to a death march in the woods. When we start encountering stone steps I am so sure we were close to Lafayette campground. Having been burned before, Liza wasn’t so sure. As usual, Liza was right 😓 and the trail continued snaking along until, eventually, we could hear water. Then it kept going for a while after that, and we could hear some cars on the road. Then, finally, it kept going for another long while and finally the bridge towards Falling Waters appeared. We were within spitting distance of the road! After a very confident wrong turn left towards the bathrooms, we make it out onto Lafayette Place. Briefly wander around looking for the tunnel and cross i93 to where we find Rami who’s just woken up from his nap in the car! We are just under 2 miles from the final hut. Cannot get too comfortable and so we press on through Lafayette campground, a maze of parallel streets, to find the final trailhead of the day: Lonesome Lake trail. A gentle trail for about half a mile before becoming a steep mess of massive boulders and roots. Just what we were looking forward to after 45 odd miles 🥰 I did not remember these two eternal switchbacks from last time. I hallucinated a sign pointing to the hut at least 20 times. Eventually, we make it to the lake and are able to speed through the final flat section to the familiar sets of stairs up to the last little bit of rocks — of course there had to be a fucking steep set of rocks right in front of the hut.
Lonesome Lake Hut (03:36): we spend far too long trying to take a picture in front of the sign. You can see the unhinged result 🙂↔️. I blame rami for choosing to nap more over coming up with us to take the photo from below the stairs as he’d done last time. A quick rest at the tables, trying to process what it means to finish the traverse 2 miles up into the woods from our car, and we set back down on an even slower death march than we’d come up. Before we were motivated by an arbitrary cutoff of 24 hours but now it was simply a matter of choosing to sleep on the car ride home vs on the side of this trail. I contemplated the second option a few times…