Hi All!
I and (probably) my sister are planning to make a one-push “moonlight” traverse of New Hampshire’s Presidential Range on the night of Saturday, September 5. If it’s particularly cloudy, or if the weather is otherwise sketchy, we would postpone and make a traditional traverse of the range starting very early Sunday morning.
For those who aren’t familiar with the traverse, the route we’re planning on is about 23 miles long with over 9,000 feet of elevation gain and a book time of approximately 16 hours. Because of the great distance above treeline, one can start the traverse in late afternoon, get above the trees by sunset, hike under the full moon and stars (it will be almost full on the 5th), then descend shortly after sunrise.
Here’s a site with detailed info on the traverse. Here’s a SummitPost trip report on one trek along the range.
The traverse is always a challenging hike with specific considerations being its long distance and elevation gain, very rocky trails, volatile weather, and a need for careful water management. Making the traverse at night means paying even more attention to the weather (lows can reach the 20s even at this time of year), packing a robust lighting system, and additional challenges with navigation and foot placement.
I would only recommend this hike for those with experience in both long distance, high elevation gain hikes and night hiking, but if you have that experience and would like to join us we’d love the company!
If anyone is interested, please PM me and we can go over more details and logistics.
Thanks!
Devin
