Out for a Stroll

Star Lake Frozen in the fog.

90/365

If you missed my first two days back at the hut you can find them here: Back to Madison and Mountains to Ourselves.

3/30/11

Thursday afternoon Garret, the caretaker at the RMC's Grayknob Cabin, hiked over to Madison for a visit. I hadn't seen Garret since he hosted myself and many others at Gray Knob on New Year's Eve. With an airlift already ruled out for the day, the three of us decided to hike. Put three hikers together on the best mountains in the Northeast and what else are they going to do? Back up the Gulfside trail. Matt and Garret wearing snowshoes while I went with crampons. This time we bypassed Mt. Adams and went straight for Thunderstorm Junction and beyond to Mt. Jefferson.

With all the hiking I did from the hut this fall, I never made the 8-mile roundtrip trek to Jefferson, the third highest peak in New Hampshire. Matt and I made one attempt at night, but the conditions just before Edmands Col became a mishmash of rock and ice where crampons and barebooting were equally difficult. We turned around.

This time the conditions were perfect. The clouds had lifted, leaving an unfamiliar blue sky, and the winds were nonexistent. We were out for a stroll, a cherished rarity in the White Mountains, especially this time of year.

We played in the snowfields south of Mt. Sam Adams. I detoured and hiked a trail-less ridge to Edmands Col. We chatted on the summit of Jefferson. And finally, we split up and I hiked back alone the way I came, back to the hut, with the sun setting at my back and my long shadow sprawled out in the snow in front of me. Matt got back 10 minutes behind me after leaving Garret near the summit of Abigal Adams on Lowes path, his route back to Gray Knob.

Matt and Garret along the Gulfside Trail north of Edmands Cold with
Mt. Washington and the Great Gulf in the background.

Matt looks on as Garret slides down the snowfields North of Sam Adams. 

Mt. Jefferson in the background. 

Me just North of Edmands Col with Mt. Jefferson in the background.

Matt and Garret (two black dots) chat below the summit of Mt. Abigail Adams.

Thursday morning had begun like the two days before, clouds, fog and wind. Initially, an airlift was out of the question, but the forecast was to improve throughout the day with winds subsiding and the fog lifting. So we waited. 

We tinkered with the hut most of the day prior to our hike, digging out more propane tanks and clearing newly drifted snow from the areas we had already dug out.  We tried to charge the electric starter on a generator to no avail, and bagged spoiled food to be flown out.  Finally, we cleared more doors preparing for a possible airlift. The helicopter made a fly over mid afternoon, but the winds had yet to die down and a lift was nixed for the day. 

A side note: Mt Abigail Adams was formally named Adams Four, but our crews cook, Bethany, petitioned for it to be renamed Abigail Adams.