North Presidential Range New Hampshire

Having camped in the parking lot of Mount Washington, I awoke after sunrise and packed up before anyone arrived. I now had to wait a few hours before the staff opened up the shops and restaurant. Lucky, there were some nice lounger chairs near an outside outlet where I could charge my phone. In time, the employees arrived, and then some auto road tourists, and finally the cog railway brought many tourists up to the summit. I ordered some food, bought some snacks and waited for the morning clouds to burn off. After getting some good views, it was time to leave. As I continued north on the AT, I deviated off the trail to climb Mount Clay, Mount Jefferson and Mount Adams. As usual, I stopped in the AMC hut to buy all their snickers bars. Climbing up to Mount Madison went quick and I took a much longer break than usual talking with people on the summit and being thankful I was able to traverse the presidential range in great weather. Next was trying to decide where to camp for the night. I wanted to keep a view above tree line but in the end, I dropped down into the trees and found the Osgood Tentsites had plenty of space available. I was looking forward to dropping down in the morning to the Pinkham Notch Visitors Center and grabbing a burger.

This is another location were you learn that the Appalachian Trail is more focused on hiking the best scenery instead of getting from Georgia to Maine. From Mount Washington, instead of a direct route toward Maine, the trail does a horseshoe, adding many miles to the journey. But, it would be a sin not to take the trail across the northern presidentials, for they are spectacular. In this section, the Appalachian Trail uncharacteristically passes underneath three major mountains, Clay, Jefferson and Adams. If you have the energy, take the side trails. Mount Adams is the second highest in New Hampshire and is more of a boulder hop than a trail. The route passes the Madison Hut, a good place to relax before the Appalachian Trail climbs up and over Mount Madison. I have made a separate page for Mount Madison at: