Moonlight Presidential Traverse

On Labor Day weekend my friends George and Mckean and I traveled up to New Hampshire to make a moonlight traverse of the Presidential Range. It was cold, dark and windy, but the mountains were beautiful under the full moon. It was a stunning way to experience such rugged terrain. It was also a chance to learn that telling a prospective hiking partner that "It's going to suck" is still an insufficient disclaimer for a 19-mile hike with 9,000 feet of elevation gain in freezing weather and the dead of night.

The moon above appropriately-named Star Lake between mounts Madison and John Quincy Adams

Video: Taken just below the summit of Mount Madison, the first peak of a North-South traverse of the range.

Mckean is in black, George is in green. You can't hear what George is saying because of the wind, but you can assume it's all cursing. He had a pretty rough hike from the beginning.

Gallery:
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Full Report: For a full report on the hike, see the trip report I wrote for SummitPost.