Mt. Madison, Mt. Adams and Mt. Jefferson

We left the campsite yesterday afternoon, hiked through forest for a few miles, and made the very steep 3,500-foot climb up the side of Mt. Madison, out of the treeline and across the rocky ridgeline. By the time we reached the summit and passed the AMC Madison Springs Hut, it became evident that the rock scramble we were facing from Mt. Madison to Mt. Adams was just too risky to continue for the night. We decided to camp at the Valley Way Campsite and push forward toward Mt. Washington tomorrow night. I was beat and finally crashed at about 3:45 a.m.

We slept as late as we could this morning, anticipating another late afternoon into night hike. Part of the reason we are trying to hike the major summits at night is that the Trail is still loaded with day hikers trying to get in a few peaks while the weather is good. The Trail is narrow and the alpine environment is fragile (so leaving the Trail even by a few feet is discouraged);  add in lots of folks going both north and south and trying to pass each other, and it makes it harder to stay on course and navigate the path safely.

On mornings when I'm tired, it's always harder to get motivated and push on. Forest helps me through those moments.

We headed out before sunset to get across the worst of the rock scramble before dark and headed toward Mt. Adams and Mt. Jefferson.

By 8:30 p.m., we were approaching Mt. Clay, which was the last mountain before Mt. Washington, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River and north of North Carolina. Unfortunately, Mt. Washington is known as the "Home of the World's Worst Weather," and by 10 p.m. the temperature unexpectedly dropped below freezing. We detoured down the blue blaze trail to Mt. Clay to camp below treeline for the rest of the night. We'll be warm in our hammocks, as my wife sent all of our cold weather gear back to me right before we entered the White Mountains.