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Adams & Madison - June 11, 2005

A very humid hike up one of the biggest elevation gains in the East: Mt Adams from the appalachia trailhead.
With a bonus side hike up Mt Madison.
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you should see an image here It's so hot and humid, the rocks on the trail are steaming.
you should see an image here We hit treeline on Durand Ridge to find clouds all around.
you should see an image here I'm snapping photos every time the clouds part enough to give a glimpse of something. That's Gordon Ridge on Mt Madison.
you should see an image here Here the clouds are lifting enough to give a view toward the summit of Mt Adams.
you should see an image here Can you spot the two picnicking hikers? (about two pixels high each)
you should see an image here From our trail up on the ridge, we can see into King's Ravine through breaks in the clouds.
you should see an image here First view of the summit of Mt Madison.
you should see an image here This trail is called Air Line because it follows this ridge on the edge of the ravine.
you should see an image here View back and down into the ravine.
you should see an image here Some flowers. (Azaleas? Mountain laurel?)
you should see an image here View down the headwall of King's Ravine.
you should see an image here Second view of the summit of Madison. In the lower right you can see solar panels and other outlying structures of the Madison Springs Hut.
you should see an image here A strange congregation of insects on the summit of Adams. Many different species were present, all trying to perch on the highest surface they could find.
you should see an image here Stand on the summit, and guess what the highest surface is? After a minute or two I felt like I was in an episode of Fear Factor.
you should see an image here Meanwhile we waited for the clouds to lift enough to give a view toward Quincy Adams Peak and Star Lake.
you should see an image here When the clouds finally lifted, the insects got more active; the noise was eerie. Notice the cluster on the top of the summit sign. Mt Madison in the background.
you should see an image here A view down toward Durand Ridge as another group of hikers heads up towards us.
you should see an image here Another view of Madison as we start our descent to the hut.
you should see an image here The top of Durand Ridge (the route of the Air Line trail) from above.
you should see an image here Madison seen from just above the col.
you should see an image here This shot taken just a few feet further; now you can see the hut.
you should see an image here Close-up of the hut and the summit.
you should see an image here One more, from closer, as the weather shows some improvement.
you should see an image here An unusual quartz boulder beside Star Lake.
you should see an image here Close-up of the quartz.
you should see an image here Star Lake seen from the quartz boulder.
you should see an image here Osgood Ridge from the summit of Madison.
you should see an image here View toward Sam Adams Peak from the summit of Madison.
you should see an image here The clouds never lifted enough for a good view of Mt Washington. Here you can faintly see the auto road climbing Chandler's Ridge below Nelson Crag.
you should see an image here Just below the summit of Madison, along Watson Path, I found granite rocks with some weird ripples.
you should see an image here More ripples. This one reminded me of cooling lava.
you should see an image here faint ripples, and general pitting of a more typical type.
you should see an image here More azaleas - this time I had good light to shoot by.
you should see an image here The top of Gordon Ridge. Watson path passes just to the left of those rocks.
you should see an image here A sun-dappled spot along Watson path. Note most of the trail was not nearly this smooth or flat.
you should see an image here The first of several waterfalls along the descent: close-up of the top half.
you should see an image here The bottom half.
you should see an image here Another waterfall a little later.
you should see an image here Close-up of the second waterfall.
you should see an image here Close-up of the top of the second waterfall.
you should see an image here Some white fungus on a dark tree trunk. (The auto flash ruined the contrast.)
you should see an image here More fungus.
you should see an image here Evening sunlight on a paper birch.
you should see an image here Last fungus shot of this trip.
you should see an image here The light was failing as we reached the next waterfall. I enhanced the color on this shot, but the best I could do with the next two was to convert them to black & white.
you should see an image here Close-up of the falls.
you should see an image here Another cascade a bit further downstream.