Mount Madison

"A pretty good winter day for a strenuous high peaks hike. Although the sun wasn't shining brightly, we had some and that kept temps mostly in the 20s all day. There was a good wind a top Adams, blowing in from the NW. Still got great views as everything seems to be covered in beautifully patterned rime ice. Not enough snow up there, all the way up Airline, on the peaks and down Valley, ice was prevalent. The microspike on my left foot broke 1 mile down Valley. Did some slip/sliding the rest of the way down." — Alohabuffy • Dec 29, 2019

"Single-day Presidential Traverse to finish off 3 days of peakbagging and Appalachian Trail redlining in White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire. The Traverse, spanning Pinkham Notch to Crawford Notch, covered 25 miles and 8,300 feet of elevation gain in 14 hours moving. Popped above tree line shortly after sunrise, and climbed the talus ridge up Mount Madison in the clouds. " — wacbravo • Sep 9, 2019

"Last week we were all set to go camping ... a nice long weekend of relaxing. At the last minute our friends talked us into joining them to complete one of the Northeast Ultra 8's - the Presidential Traverse - 24 miles and 9200 feet of gain over some tough terrain. It was not my best day, I wasn't feeling it and I was slower - thankfully these guys were not worried about pace and instead they were all about enjoying the day, working together to get it done and keeping it fun - so thankful for a great crew!" — deb-and-rob • Aug 31, 2019

"Took on Madison and Adams today in our quest to complete all the Presential Range. Couldn't ask for better weather. The hike was challenging but well worth the effort. The views were outstanding." — hbotc • Jul 24, 2019

"Madison and Adams kind of day. Juel was with me for both peaks. Ashely and another guy for just Madison. Madison wasn't bad. Kind of windy on Adams, so Juel and I did not stay long. Great getting another couple of Presi peaks." — newenglandwarrior • Feb 12, 2019

"Juel and I teamed up for a Madison and Adams hike. Had a tough time keeping up with her. Coming off of Adams, we decided to quickly tag JQA. Got some good butt sledding in coming off that peak. Great picking up two Presis for my Grid." — newenglandwarrior • Dec 20, 2018

"Hiked with Bob. Weather was good. Some occasional clouds but the summits remained clear. Temps in the 30s wind 20 or so. Met quite a few through hikers going in both directions. Tough climb but the views were incredible!" — kevin-kilpatrick • Sep 30, 2018

"Began the Presidential Traverse on 08/22 but the weather was too bad to attempt the summit. Stayed overnight at the Madison Springs Hut and made the summit the next morning. It was much nicer then but very windy." — dmcosker • Aug 23, 2018

"My first peaks above treeline for November and also helps a lot for my 6th loop. Encountered a bunch of redliners on the way up Valley Way. Some blowdown damage from the Oct 29-30 storm but not bad. Beautiful day to be up. No ice encountered. " — newenglandwarrior • Nov 8, 2017

"Beautiful day for a hike! Up the Valley Way Trail to the Madison Springs Hut, dropped a few non-essentials on my bunk, and headed the .5 miles to the summit. Afterwards, walked up to Star Lake for the beautiful views, had a great dinner, then did a little star gazing before settling in. Up in the morning to almost catch the sunrise - clear views to Mt. Washington and undercast clouds in the valley. I love staying in the huts when I can afford them, you can experience more of the mountains when there's no rush to get back to the car." — PJSelmer • Sep 18, 2017

"Hiked up Valley Way to the Madison Spring Hut. The chocolate chip cornbread was an amazing welcome! We started with Adams, but we were in the clouds the entire way. After a brief stop back at the hut, we proceeded to climb Madison, where the views were no better. No views, but we finished the day feeling great! " — ne4kclimber • Sep 10, 2017

"Valley Way to Osgood, the whole way up and down. Trail is in good shape, we snowshoed it. But used spikes on Osgood. Brilliant blue skies. Hardly a breeze. Sat at the hut and basked in the sun for quite a while." — Alohabuffy • Mar 26, 2017

"AWESOME day with beautiful skies, temps in the 40's and sun. Couldn't have asked for a better day in February in the presidentials! This was a meetup group hike with the AMC. We got a late start and slower travels so I had hoped to bag Adams too but it wasn't in the cards....another day! " — shay-shay • Feb 22, 2017

"Solo. First peak of my northern presidential traverse. Took Valley Way from Appalachia and then Watson Path to the summit. Winds were 60-70 mph at the summit and visibility was non-existent. Luckily, the conditions would get a little bit better for the rest of the day. " — LGH-Tom • Oct 19, 2016

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again. Last week we got blown off of Madison before we could summit. This week we did a last minute change of plans as the weather looked favorable for a traverse. Temps were at least 30 degrees warmer (more if you include the lack of windchill). Just under 20 miles over the highest peaks in NH." — markst-john • Mar 26, 2016

"A chance to hike with other people despite already having Madison and Adams in the winter. Went up Valley Way and did Madison. Marielle was struggling on the way up. After Madison, both her and Denise headed back down while myself, Sarah, and Frank did Adams. Great day to be up there." — newenglandwarrior • Mar 6, 2016

"Despite the current weather conditions being pretty tolerable, especially for late November, just enough rain/snow had fallen overnight to coat the boulders going over the Northern Presidentials in a thin layer of ice, which slowed us to a crawl. But regardless we made a great day of it, hiking for over 15 hours! And bagged 4 more 4ks! " — matt-beard • Nov 28, 2015

"We started out thinking we were going to hike a full Presidental Traverse (~20 miles) but the conditions slowed us down. They refer to it as the 'tweener' season where there is ice, but not enough for spikes. By the time we got to Washington we decided to bail on the full traverse and hike down to Joe Dodge Lodge. We hit four of the five highest peaks in NH along the way - hiking just under 15 miles in a whopping 16 hours - a very long day. http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/3135049" — markst-john • Nov 28, 2015

"Second trip up Madison as part of a stellar Northern Presi loop. Clouds started to roll in during my climb down from Adams to Madison, but they were plenty high enough to still get the ridiculous views. " — npweeks • Nov 21, 2015

"Enjoyed a great hike through the Presidential range - our first time in the Whites. We started at 6:00 am from the Applachia TH and made our way to Madison via the Valley Way and Watson Trails (beautiful trails) - arriving on summit ~ 9:30am. From Madison we descended the AT to the Madison Hut where we spent an hour checking out the hut. From here half of our group took the Star Lake trail and half took the National Scenic trail to the summit of Adams (11:45 am) where we enjoyed the summit for about 30 minutes (very busy summit). From here we would make our way down to Edmunds col and enjoy some time with other hikers and then around 1:30 head up to Jefferson (summit ~ 2:30) and then again stop for a quick break at the coll where the trail splits where half of us took the detour on the Clay Loop trail to see the summit of Clay ( quick hike up, well worth the additional elevation gain) and the other half continuing on the Gulf side Trail towards the summit of Mt. Washington. Ultimately we all met up at Mt. Washington ( ~5 pm) where we spent an hour or so before descending via the Cog Rail maintenance trail which is about 3.2 miles. We arrived back at parking at 8:30 PM - total..." — deb-and-rob • Aug 22, 2015