Hiking the Presidential Range; We Were Not Prepared for This!

Today we're heading into the heart of New Hampshire's White Mountains towards one of the most rugged summits in the presidential range, Mount Madison. The trail rises through a landscape shaped by rock, wind, and relentless weather. Every step takes us higher, closer to the exposed ridgeline, and ultimately the summit at nearly 5,400 feet. This is more than a hike to a mountaintop. This is Mount Madison. So morning of day one. We're back in the White Mountains to finish up. We're heading up to Madison Hut. Three years ago we came down this same trail after getting beat up and we bailed out at the end. So this is kind of the redemption tour here. We're heading back up to Madison, the scene of the crime, and then we're gonna head north from there and if all goes well we'll end up in Rangeley about 94 miles and that'll finish up the northern part of the AT from Katahdin all the way through the White Mountains. So beautiful morning, good wind breeze blowing, and nice and cool, sunny, perfect hiking weather. So we're gonna head on down the trail and I'll check in with the with the views and the cool stuff and we're gonna get this day started and we're gonna hike it out. Super windy here. The wind had been blowing hard all night long, shaking the windows and keeping us awake. We knew we were in for a tough ascent in 50 mile per hour winds. I was a bit nervous to leave the comfort of the hut, but we suited up and began the rocky climb. Like a hurricane up here. So just got over the top of Madison. Out of the wind a little bit, but wow was it windy on the other side. Crazy. Blow you over, get down a hand on the ground just so you didn't fall over. So morning of day two. I had a steep uphill and downhill climbing over Mount Madison and it was blowing hard. I mean 50-60 mile an hour steady winds, which made it very difficult because the wind wanted to blow you over. It kept making you lose your balance. So in a lot of places it was, you know, you had to use your hands to keep your balance during the descent. So yeah, long, long up and down through boulder fields in a really, really strong wind. So happy that's over and now we're on the downhill through the woods here and we got about six miles or so left and then we're gonna make it to Pinkham Notch and we're gonna stay there the night and then next day up the Wildcats, which is one of the toughest climbs on the whole entire AT. Some folks say it is, but it looks brutally steep and long. So we're gonna have a good breakfast that morning and head up the hill. But it's been beautiful. Today's beautiful even though it was windy up there. It was still amazing. The sun's out now and I'm in the tree line so the wind's not an issue now. So we'll continue down the trail and enjoy this beautiful day and check back in with some of the cool stuff and we're just gonna spend the morning hiking it out. So we're a little further down in the trees and now we're in a hardwood forest. Just about done with the descent and then there's a little, actually a little up and then down again till we get to Pinkham Notch. It was a pretty day and welcome that the trail doesn't have any rocks. It's pretty, pretty smooth. So enjoying that part of it. Dreams, my hopes, my view. For you, what more could I ever do? Finishing Mount Madison was redemption for us as the mountains chased us away last time. We were happy to complete the Presidential Traverse, but we had many more AT challenges ahead in this section hike. Subscribe and like so you can hike along with us.