New Hampshire's White mountains in Septe mber

“OK Dude... we can coordinate as the time gets closer. But, if nobody else raises any new ideas, in the next few days, lets settle on the North - South hike with one or more cars with supplies left at Crawford.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“m$m, I will be headin south for a month on the ninth(see "loose bear" thread) but will meet you in the whites!
Ped- lookin forward to meetin you too!
Gang, I will be absent for awhile after the ninth and will return to homebase for a week between hikes, so ifin it works out lets knock out the starting point so as I know where to go! Yo bear!”

“M&M I'm glad your coming!
Basically you have the list down. My son ("Express" for now) is planning on coming with me. Other people have expressed interest, but except for Mad who could only start out with us, I can't think of anyone who has affirmed their interest recently.
Amy is now unsure about coming on the trip. She is going to the Dominican Republic to work/intern for six weeks and is not sure what her schedule will be like when she gets back. I figure she'll be posting or starting a thread on that before she packs her computer away.”

“AmyG away in the Dominican Republic? Pedxing and Social Klimber are sharing a loft? Sirpete likes to pick up men like walkindude? What other horrors will be revealed in the Whites????!!! AAAAAAAAAAACKKKKK!!!”

“Liz. I assume this means you will be joining us. Kewl!!!”

“Or maybe I'll just wait for the novel...... errrrrrrrr... trip report. ;-)”

“Awww Liz, you know the posted report is always the cleaned up version!”

“We need a little spy then!!

Say, I just wandered across this site (how timely) in the rec.photo.digital newsgroup. You guys just might be interested, you Whitesters, you!

Wander about and see what you might find!!

Some info and photos on hiking in the Whites”

“(and all I wanted to do was to find out how to get that dang Nikon Coolpix 880 software to work on my PC running Windows ME....... looks like a call to Nikon Tech might be in order. Even IF......ahem.... it's NOT my camera!!! hehehehee)”

“OK..... here is some thinking/ worrying about our plan. I've been following Mad's most excellent link and searching discussions of the presidentials:

1) The crucial link in a presidential traverse is the middle (the second day of a 3-day traverse). Between Nauman tent site and a cluster of sites/shelters in the area of Madison Huts there is really no place to stay without hiking a good ways down from the ridge, which means you gotta hike back up the next day.

The only legal alternative is staying at the very expensive lake of the clouds hut (around 60$/person), or to make reservations to stay in the basement of the hut ("the dungeon" which costs about 8 dollars). The problem is that the hut reservations are gone well in advance, and the dungeon reservations are on a last minute basis (only in the last 48 hours). The other problem with the basement is that there is only room for six.

The shortest middle stretch would be between the Perch (a shelter on Randolph path south of Madison, near thunderstorm junction) to Nauman, but that is a pretty demanding 11 miles or so. If it was just I, this is what I would do.

2) Weekends are the worst time to try to get to popular tent sites... of these Saturday night is supposed to be particularly bad. Nauman is one of the popular ones (as are other places along our route). Lake of the clouds may already be full for Labor Day weekend.

If we are starting with the Presidential traverse I think the plan Dude and Pete suggested, starting from Crawford and hiking North, makes more sense based on what I know at this point. Someone else might know more. The reason is that if we are headed south, we will hit Nauman late in the day and it is likely to be full already. If we are going North, we will hit Nauman at the end of a short hike where we have a very good chance of claiming space and will hit the Perch the next day on a Sunday. The Perch is not as popular and Sunday isn?t as bad a day to be getting in late to a shelter.

Once again, what do you guys think? Maybe I?ll post this question on the AMC board or email it to Telemark. The fact that there may be a bunch of us makes the space issue more essential.

Again, what do you think Pete, Dude, Jer, M&M, Amy (even though yer sounding less likely to come), and anyone else?

1) Do we still want to plan on starting off with the traverse?
2) Are we better off heading North if we start the traverse on Labor Day weekend?
3) Anyone wanna try for reservations at Lake of the Clouds (the rest of us could try for last minute reservations in the basement/dungeon)?

No matter what happens, we need to be flexible as conditions might force us to wait before going above treeline. The traverse is going to be arduous and we are going to be exposed to the risk of severe weather. Even if we break up the middle into two days, it will be a lot of work because of the additional ups and downs. I think its useful that people who come know about these considerations, as we may need to re-evaluate plans at the last minute.


This brings up a few issues:

a) Should we try to make reservations at the Lake of the Clouds hut (I say no, but I'm not adamant about this)
b) Should we try to make reservations for the dungeon, even though this may involve some last minute re-arranging? (I think its worth trying)
c) If we can't stop at Lake of the Clouds/dungeon, should we do the Nauman to Perch hike in one day? (I say we should try for it, weather permitting)”

“I'd rather hike down to a tentsite and back up the next day myself than try to make a reservation and have to pay a buncha money.
Maybe we should try to start the traverse at the tail end of the weekend. How would Lake of the Clouds dungeon be Monday night?
Ped, How many days will you be with us on this trip?

My dream would be to do the traverse but I realize that on this trip we'll have to remain flexable. As long as I do some peak bagging, meet new friends & see old ones, I'll have a great time.

Let's plan to meet at Crawford Saturday Morning and see what kind of group we have.”

“WD: I'm planning on heading back on Wednesday, I should be able to get back to my car from wherever we are on the trail if I head out Wednesday AM. So that gives me four full days.

I'm all for the traverse and think we ought to be able to do it in three days, weather permitting. I think anyone in decent shape who takes the hike seriously can do it. Everyone needs to pack carefully and be prepared to push on the second day. Its probably a good idea for everyone who is coming to go to the link MadMan suggested, search "presidential traverse" and read up - just to get some sense of the thing.”

“I'm up for it.”

“Yo bear, I will do what ever is necesary to complete this hike. Good shape, well I am ok in that area, I just smell roses and mosey. Again please refresh me as to the route we will be taking,I have a map and guide book THANKS DUDE! Ifin we want to get the hut I will send $ Up to the ridge again what type of extra milage and elevation are we talkin about? Yo bear”

“I have no imput right now - waiting for my maps and guidebook to arrive.

Hanging out and reading until then.
I will be away for the next couple of days - until friday - then leav ing sunday for a week.”

“Since Monday September 3rd is Labor day, I might be up for a two night trek rather than just the overnighter I had originally planned. I will have to check with my activity director before confirming, however.”

“Mad: I'm hoping you'll come along. While you are consulting, give her a hug from all of us. Please tell her that we will promise to take good care of you. Iif there is anything we need to repeatedly reinforce for you (unenlightened souls might say "nag") she can email me directly.”

“yeah what Ped said.....”

“Yeah, What sirpete said about what Ped said.”

“I got my maps/guide - and off for vacation essenially until the 16th. I'll keep checking when I can. Ped has my email that I can get to anywhere.
When you guys get a clear plan - can you email me it???

As for the huts - I've never been - so the dungeon or hut $$ is fine for me. I hate uphill - so I would be happy to avoid coming in and out of the tent site(s). But don't make a decision on me - I can do it.”

“Thanks for the update M&M. Enjoy your vacation!”

“You hate hills! Boy are you gonna be pissed!!”

“Walkingdude -

Here's a daytrip for you found it on the leixcomm trail reports:

Trail: The Pemi Loop, 10 4K'ers, see below
Date Hiked: 7/3/01

Conditions: Climbed Mts. Flume, Liberty, Lincoln, Lafayette, Garfield, Galehead, South Twin, West Bond, Bond and Bondcliff via Osseo, Franc. Ridge, Garf. Ridge, Frost, Twinway, Bondcliff and Wilderness Trails on long daytrip. All trails in super condition, much trailwork has paid off. Crossings and bugs not a problem. Very little mud. Water available only at Garfield Ridge, Galehead Hut and low on Bondcliff Trail.

Special Required Equipment: Enough water to get between sources. Very comfortable boots.

Comments: Perfect day for this, high overcast and cool. Started at 4:45am and finished at 5:50pm, 13:05 total. ~34 miles, ~10K altitude gain. Requires discipline to manage pace, water intake, food intake, etc. over this distance.”

“Now that's HIKING!!!!”

“whew!”

“OK, I can see I got my work cut out for me. Sirpete. Are ya with me?”

“Well, there is another feat I will never accomplish.”

“ya got that right! I better start pedeling if I'm gunna even keep up with yas!


on a side note I was just in a auto acident. slide into a guy who was hit head on. fortunately no one was hurt. My truck is going to need a little work though on the front end.”

“D@mn!!!
Don't go getting yaself busted up before the trip!
Glad your OK man.”

“Since the plan is to meet at Crawford Notch early on Saturday, I'm thinking of making reservations at Dry River Campground for Friday night. The campground is just a few miles south of the trail head and is about the only legal option we have in the area. Reserving a site costs 16 dollars (13 for the site and 3 to reserve it) and covers two adults, two kids and two cars. Maximums are 2 cars per site, and five adults (extra adults are 6.50 each).

I think it would be great if some of us assembled there on Friday. We could reserve a few sites and then share them with other people who come along. Having the car minimum might motivate us to pre-position some cars the night before.

If interested, please check out the information: Campground info Note the link to the reservations site on the upper right.

Maybe we can reserve a few sites together so that we can be nearby. Some campgrounds are already booked for Labor Day Weekend, so we should prolly move quickly.”

“PedXing, scroll down to the article "The Beaten Path". Now this is an adventure that might be interesting to try sometime---Not!


http://www.courier-littletonnh.com./CourierSports2001.html">article”

“Wow!

Hey I could do that itinerary in twice the time!”

“BTW: Madman... I saw your posts on Liberty Springs on the other site... it brought back good memories.

Are you going to be able to join us???”

“I'm not sure. Wifey is talking about having friends join us for that weekend, which would preclude doing an overnighter. Once you get your itinerary finalized, I will see if I can join you for an overnighter or at least a day hike. Either way, I will be there in spirit.”

“All right just 6 weeks there boys and girls whose in?”

“I'm there!!”

“I'm coming... did you see my post about the campsite a few days back?

M&M was sounding likely, I think she is still away. AmyG tells me she probably can't come.”

“My friend Jerry is likely in for at least 4 days and I have another thats still iffy. No I didn't see your post about the campsite.”

“now I did”

“My son is likely to come along again... we will be leaving on Wed, since I have to teach class on Thursday.”

“M&M emailed me to say that she can't come, her son starts back to school early and needs her. Its great to see that she's got her priotities in good order, but I wish she were coming.

So.. it may just be Dude, Pete, myself and the non-TT'ers we drag along (Pete's friend and my son). I think the 10 mile day across the Presi's has made put some people off. I think the traverse is really worth doing and its reassuring that people are treating it with some caution.

I booked reservations for the dry river campground for myself at Crawford notch. The link I made, above, wasn't working this time.. so here it is again: campground info”

“Don't forget Jerbear.”

“Ooops sorry Jerbear... was mistakenly counting you among the dissappeared... Glad you are coming.

thanks WD.

Jer... lemme know if I can help with any arrangements up at the New England end.”

“I may very well have 2 guys coming from around here. Both of them can kick my little hiking a$$. SOOOoooo I have finally got my butt back on my road bike and I'm doing about 20 miles a day just so I will be able to keep up with them and the other hiking machines like dude, Ped and Kidxing . As long as bearman is still smoking I wont be last!”

“Is there a place to hang a tarp at the tent sites? I'm thinking of using a small one over my bivy.”

“most of the tent sites that we will incure are basically small decks (like one you would see off the back of ones house) about 10 x 10 a few feet off the ground and no railings, just flat. the ground around them is pretty inhospitable. You and Ped can tie your things together and hold each other up. Watch out for the knife though........snip snip. LOL”

“I'm sure you could rig up a tarp. I'm not sure how weather worthy it would be.

I'll ask at a web site where people really know the whites.”

“I got a confirmation on that. Just bring plenty of rope.

hiker journal”

“Cool! Thanks Ped.”