Trip Report:
August 95 South Presidentials, NH. This was a very exciting trip. Originally planned as a south-to-north traverse of the Presidential range, (Webster, Jackson, Pierce/Clinton, Eisenhower, "Middle Sasquatch", Franklin, Monroe, Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison) we had to call it off after the second day because of life-threatening weather. See the exciting photos in the scrapbook. I would like to redo/finish this trip at some future date.
Day 1: The day dawned bright and clear. Spirits were high and no one was, as of yet, suffering. Molly Jacobs, myself, Jenn Koermer and James Solodar embarked on our abortive, but chock-full of adventure, backpacking epic. (Summer 95)
Photo Credit: Hildy Danforth
Sunsets like this were not seen during our trip. This is from another hike entirely but I thought you might appreciate seeing it here. (Summer 93)
Day 2: Somewhat more haggard, but with spirits still high, we traversed the Southern Presidential range (including the lovely but under-appreciated Middle Sasquatch Mountain pictured here) on our way to Mt. Monroe, Lake of the Clouds storm shelter (in which we were allowed to huddle for $6 per person). Rising winds and falling temperatures, not to mention a whole variety of joint injuries, were harbingers to our sound thumping by Mother Nature.
Day 3: We awoke to howling 80mph winds (at least, no joke) and dense fog which limitted visibility to a few yards. Trapped above treeline with an 8-mile hike along exposed ridge to our next campsite, things looked pretty grim, especially for the middle of August. We decided to flee for our lives and decend Tuckerman's Ravine trail to take refuge in home cooking and warm valley weather. In this photo, Lakes of the Clouds Hut is about 50' straight ahead (notice you can't see it). One of the lakes is on the right.
Photo Credit: Molly Jacobs
In the early afternoon we reached the Pinkham Notch basecamp of the AMC and cooked our dinner while waiting for pickup. The rest of the trip was spent in canoes on the Androscoggin River where we saw two moose and got very lost in a bayou.
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