Mt. Adams 5774' - Mt. Madison 5367' - (48/48) - The Finish!

Well folks, that’s a wrap!  Paloma and I officially finished the 48 New Hampshire 4000+ footers list after completing Mt. Adams and Mt. Madison on Sunday, September 24^th.  I am going to split this post into two.  This post will be about the hike, the next post will be a “reflection” on the past several years of our pursuit.

Appalachia Trail-head

We had plans on Saturday, so decided to finish our quest on Sunday.  Bonus – the weather was looking absolutely gorgeous, unseasonably warm for the time of year, so we were excited to take advantage of it and get on the trails.  Weather this time of year in the Presidential Range can be tricky so we absolutely lucked out.  70+ degrees and sun in the forecast.  Paloma and I set off for the Appalachia trail-head at approximately 6:15AM, and after making a quick stop for a coffee, arrived at the trail-head at 8:45AM.  It was a bit later of a start than we had wanted but that was ok.  There was an AMC worker and Park Ranger at the trail-head – we talked to them a bit about our plan for the day and the ranger was kind enough to take our pre-hike photo.  They both congratulated us on our upcoming completion of the 48.

Airline Trail

We officially hit the trail at 8:55AM.  Our route for the day was to take the Airline trail to the summit of Mt. Adams, then descend to the Madison Hut via the Airline and Gulfside trail.  From the Hut we would the climb the Osgood trail to the summit of Mt. Madison, and descend via Watson Path and Valley way back to the trail-head.  A total distance of just shy of 10 miles.  We knew this wasn't going to be an easy hike as the elevation gain is pretty significant but we were excited to finish our final two mountains.

Steep Trail!

After crossing some power lines, the Airline trail immediately begins to climb.  I wasn't feeling that great at the start of the hike - I think it was a combination of the warmth/humidity, the multivitamin I had just taken on an empty stomach, oh and the 15lbs of Chipotle I had consumed at a birthday party the day before.  Yep, definitely the Chipotle.  To cool myself down I decided to hike without a shirt on for a bit (don't worry, I won't post any shirtless photos) - this seemed to do the trick and I started to feel better about a mile or so in.  I quietly apologized to the hundreds of chipmunks that seemed to be in this area as they had to witness me topless.

Gorgeous Ridge

Once we passed the intersection with the Randolph Path the trail became steeper.  We were hiking now!  The Airline Trail doesn't mess around.  It is basically a straight shot to the top of Mt. Adams, meaning that it is decently steep the entire way.  We passed the Scar Trail intersection at 10:30AM and then finally broke tree-line at a few minutes past 11.  Wow - once you break tree-line you are treated to the most amazing, yet intimidating views I have ever encountered.  At this point the Airline Trail crosses a ridge, in front of you looms Mt. Madison to the left and Mt. Quincy Adams and Mt. Adams to the right.  Off to the far right you can see Mt. Jefferson.  The ridge is flanked by King Ravine. Amazing views all around.

Rock Pile Leading to Mt. Adams

The terrain across the ridge is quite rocky and requires a bit of scrambling at different points.  The sun was beating down on us which felt great but induced some serious sweating.  We plodded along the ridge until we met up with the Gulfside trail and continued on Airline.  Yikes - ahead of us was nearly a mile-long, steep rock pile. Thankfully the trail skirts along the side of Mt. Quincy Adams instead of going over it, which saves you some in the elevation department.  We decided to stop and have our sandwiches before summiting Mt. Adams, as we could tell we would need as much energy as possible.  We soaked in the views for a few minutes before proceeding.

Summit of Mt. Adams

The final half mile or so to Adams is brutal.  Very steep and very rocky.  We took our time climbing
up as we knew we still had to summit Mt. Madison after and didn't want to completely run out of energy.  We officially reached the summit of Mt. Adams at 12:40PM.  We sat down for a quick breather and took a few photos at the top.  The views over to Mt. Washington were nothing short of amazing.  I could have spent hours on the summit, especially considering the weather was remarkably calm for this elevation - only a little bit of wind.  The view over to Mt. Madison was absolutely gorgeous as well, and it was extra special given that we were able to look at our final peak!

View from Mt. Adams to Mt. Madison

We started our descent at 12:48PM.  The going down was much easier but we still weren't able to go too fast, as you literally have to jump from boulder to boulder.  We reached the intersection with the Gulfside trail at 1:25PM and proceeded down the short path toward the Madison Hut, reaching it at 1:40PM.  We stopped in to check out the Madison Hut and fill up with some water.  Much like the other huts throughout the White Mountains, this one was set in  gorgeous spot between Adams and Madison, with a small pond a few hundred yards behind it.  The AMC caretaker generously offered us a free meal of leftover roasted turkey and mashed potatoes - it took all of our might to pass it up but we figured we still had a ways to go and a big meal might weigh us down.

We left the hut a 1:48PM and began our climb to the summit of Madison via the Osgood trail. 

Madison Hut & Mt. Madison

Similar to the ascent to Adams, the Osgood Trail is rocky and steep but relatively short at only a half of a mile.  About halfway to the summit the trail turns a bit to the right and flattens out somewhat.  When we finally caught a glimpse of the summit we were both filled with joy - not only were we reaching our final summit but we were also done gaining any serious elevation for the day (though little did we know that the descent would be tough as well).  We held hands as we "crossed the finish line," officially reaching the summit at 2:25PM (aww, how cute).

Summit of Mt. Madison - we did it! 48/48!

We quickly threw down our packs and began to celebrate.  Thankfully there was only one other group on the summit and they were hunkered down behind some boulders so we basically had the place to ourselves.  I had brought two mini bottles of champagne in my pack to drink at the top and we enjoyed them with some goldfish crackers (how classy)!  We took a bunch of photos with a sign Paloma had made marking our final peak.  It felt as though we were meant to finish on this day as the weather was absolutely perfect.  We spent 20 minutes or so at the top, soaking in the views and the sense of accomplishment we had.

We had originally planned on descending back to the hut the way we came up to meet up with the Valley Way trail, but in looking at the map it appeared we could cut off some mileage by taking the

Champagne to Celebrate

Watson Path down and meeting up with Valley Way further down the mountain.  We started down the Watson Path at 2:45PM.  We quickly realized that maybe we hadn't made the best choice.  The top part of the Watson Path was incredibly rocky and fairly steep, making our descent quite slow.  When we finally got into the trees the trail was quite rough and seemed to stretch on for an eternity.  The trail was also deserted - which normally I would enjoy but to me it indicated that this wasn't a very popular path - I wonder why!  As we approached the river I could tell that we finally nearing the intersection with the Valley Way trail, officially meeting the trail at 4:38PM. 

Watson Path

By this point we were both pretty exhausted - that descent was rough!  Thankfully the remaining hike out via Valley Way was incredibly easy - so much so that we were able to break out into a slow jog for most of it.  We passed numerous trail intersections and had to look at the map a couple of times to ensure we were going the right way, thankfully we didn't get lost.  I'd love to return to this trail as there are a number of paths leading to different waterfall viewing points that seem like they would be neat.

We reached the parking lot at 5:30PM.  We were both wiped out.  This was easily one of the, if not the, more challenging hikes we have done on our journey.  We shed our sweaty boots and hopped in the car and began the drive back home, reflecting on all of the great hikes we have done.  We finally reached our commitment of hiking them all!

Hike Stats

Trails: Airline, Gulfside, Osgood, Watson Path, Valley Way

Total Time (Including Breaks): 8:35

Distance: 9.7 Miles
Elevation Gain: 5000'