A Presidential Traverse: 3

Part 3 of a Three Post Series.

I opened my eyes to the dim early light of day in the woods. I was warm, and did not want to move. Looking out of the log shelter, I could see heavy mist enshrouded us here on the side of the mountain.

I began to take stock of how my body felt. I was well rested, and actually felt revived following the previous day’s ordeal. John was already awake.

“You snored all night” he said.

I reminded him that i had offered him earplugs, but he had declined.

“How did you sleep?” I asked.

He answered in the negative. John is notorious for not being able to sleep well outdoors. He told me he was able to only a little more than three hours sleep.

We shuffled out of our sleeping bags and began to cook breakfast in the cold morning air. I hoped the mist would burn off with the rising sun. Sitting on the edge of the shelter, a mouse appeared. Alerted by the smell of food, he sat watching us, his whiskers twitching. I imagined that he probably had a home under our shelter. Many shelters have mice living about them. The fully enclosed cabins can be overrun with mice.

The mouse was fearless. he watched us eat, and only scampered away when we rose to break camp.

I told John I was feeling good and game to continue. He looked worse than I. I had turned in at 5pm and slept a full twelve hours. He was running on only three.

We left The Perch and began our hike to Mount Jefferson. The sun was shining as we cleared the treeline, making our way over the coarse rocks that lead to the summit cone. From here we could see Mount Washington. We didn’t stop on Jefferson but kept moving. Soon the temperatures were getting warm, and we sweated with the exertion of climbing to the highest peak in the Northeast.

John was exhausted as we made our way up the Gulfside to the buildings and tourists on the summit of Washington. He had to stop for a few breaks. John’s not a sun worshiper, and the heat was having an effect. Finally we reached the top. It was a busy day on the mountain. The loud steam whistle of the Cog Railway train that ferried tourists to the top filled our ears. The calories of breakfast long burned away, we dropped our packs and headed inside to refuel.

Unshaven and unwashed, we filled our plates with greasy pizza, sandwiches and cookies. That greasy cafeteria pizza might as well have been a gourmet meal at a high end restaurant. My body craved the oil and carbs. We ate like kings, and once satisfied, made our way out into the bright sunshine. We both felt much better. Shouldering our packs, we began the descent to Lake of The Clouds Hut.

On the descent, gravity is your friend. We didn’t stop at the hut, but continued on over Mount Monroe, Franklin and reached Eisenhower. There was minimal traffic on the Crawford Path, which lead us to our final required peak, Mount Pierce. John was running out of gas, and I could feel a few hot spots in one of my hiking shoes. We were almost out. We stopped at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Mizpah Spring Hut, for homemade fudge brownies to celebrate our victory before the final descent. Following the Mizpah Cutoff Trail, we soon linked back up with the Crawford Path and made our way down to the Highland Center in Crawford Notch. Back in the comfort of the car, we turned on the air conditioning and made the thirty minute drive back to Appalachia.

That thirty minute drive had taken us two days to accomplish over the mountains on foot! I was glad we’d accomplished the traverse almost according to plan, albeit with injuries and some grueling hiking.

In my head I recalled my earlier hike to Mount Adams and how much I disliked my nemesis mountain. I told John, “I’m glad we finished those mountains. “Now I never have to go back to Adams again.” As soon as I said it I heard a voice in my head whisper “Never say never.” As it turned out, although I was finished with Mount Adams, it was not done with me.