Presidential Traverse NH – CLASSIC US Hikes – Day Hike Guide
Presidential Traverse NH – CLASSIC US Hikes – Day Hike Guide
The Presidential Traverse is a 21 mile one way hike located in the heart of the White Mountains in Northern New Hampshire. Starting at Mt Madison, hikers gain over 9,000ft of elevation gain and 10+ summits along this awesome trail. This was filmed in one day in late July.
Read a more detailed trail guide on this hike on my website: https://www.thevirtualsherpa.com/presidential-traverse-new-hampshire-hike-guide/
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Gear Used
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Segments
0:00-3:30 Start to Mt Madison
3:31-5:46 Madison to Adams
5:47-9:16 Adams to Jefferson
9:17-13:47 Jefferson to Washington
13:48 -16:00 Washington to Monroe
16:01-19:59 Monroe to Eisenhower
20:00 – 22:18 Eisenhower to Pierce
22:19 – 24:30 Pierce to Jackson
24:31- 28:36 Jackson to End
This is awesome
Great video!! Headed up this Saturday for a Presi Traverse attempt myself…looking at going up the Great Gulf Trail and hitting the Osgood Trail (AT) for Madison, then more or less the same route, except Crawford Path all the way out from Washington to the Highland Center.
It’s always a good day when virtual sherpa releases a video.
Such an awesome hike. I did most of it with friends a few years back. We hiked your same route, but took the trolley down at Mt. Washington, since we were running short on time and had no car at the south end.
23:16 last time I did this, we ran out of time and were climbing down Mount Pierce in the dead of night with headlamps. It was terrifyingly steep and slippery.
what day of the week?
Since when was Clay a president?
East coast hiking – straight up and down the fall lines. Thanks for posting and nice shirt and hat!
Great video. One nitpick, clay was not a president. He did run for President 3 times but unsuccessfully 🙂
That’s a quick pace to do 20 miles in a day
When is the best time to hike this as far as calm/bearable conditions? Is there a campsite along the way if you need to stay? Is this hike dangerous to do solo? I would like to try this in a 2 day span or 3 days.
Also before anyone corrects me, I know that Clay was not a president.
Did you go to DePaul? I noticed the shirt.
Nice to see you up here again! It’s a total stunner of a hike. I did it over two days a couple years ago taking the Howker Ridge trail up to Madison to avoid some crowds (and get better parking) and continuing past Jackson out to Webster and down the Webster Cliffs trail (would not recommend this descent option). You brought back the horrors of that wet stretch from Pierce to Jackson, haha. If you want another excellent traverse with slightly fewer crowds, the east half of the Pemi loop (i.e., starting from Lincoln Woods, tagging the Bonds and South Twin and then hiking out off North Twin) is definitely worth your time.
Thanks for including the East in your vids. We have some challenging hikes too.
Aww man 🌻💜 born and raised New Englander from NH thanks for inspiring me to get off my butt and just start safely hiking. Hope to someday see you on the trails! I have a dream to hike the AT someday.
This must be fake. How on earth do you have a clear day?
Sweet views 🙂
watched this while researching for my hike there next week. thanks
Mount Jackson wants not named after the President which is why some people skip it. It was named after someone from NH.
cool! I was just thinking about the northern presi loop today at work
It looks like you used a drone quite a bit. I’m planning a hike of the traverse and was going to take my drone but just to use down below. I just assumed it would be too windy for the drone on the mountains. Did you have any issues with it? I"m pretty cautious with my drone as it’s expensive and I let the insurance lapse. You got great shots! Now I"m reconsidering… though the thing is kind of heavy so there’s that.
Thanks for posting this. The reason why some do not recognize Jackson as part of the Presidential traverse is because the mountain is not named after Andrew Jackson. It was named after a NH Geographer with the last name of Jackson
I subscribed as this is how you do a walk-through. No unnecessary talking you avoid people (I hate crowds too lol).
16:51. People say the same thing about Dick Cheney.
Read a full guide on this hike here: https://www.thevirtualsherpa.com/presidential-traverse-new-hampshire-hike-guide/
How long did it take you with all the filming
It has been crazy with people hiking the whites since the virus hit. I never had trouble getting parking spots. Now I am parking a half mile down the road.
New series idea: new Hampshire’s 4000ers
Surprised you didn’t take the star lake route up Adams when leaving Madison hut. That’s and awesome steep section that goes into low class 3 territory. Probably the most technical, and most steep section of the entire traverse. Highly recommend!
at 7:05 that’s pretty much hiking in the northeast altogether lol. I am just over half way through the northeast 115 peaks over 4000ft, 68 down… and I’m sure I don’t have any cartilage left at this point XD
I love your videos! Hike safe and happy travels!
Quite a hike, 9000 ft of elevation gain would be a challenge for anyone on any kind of mountains, congratulations well done.
That was really nice,,, brought back some really nice memories. I live in Western PA, and made it to the Whites around six times, all but one in the winter. What a wonderful place!!!! Thanks
Pretty savage day. Great video
Bro, you seem as fresh at the end as at the beginning. Well done!
I am planning a trip down to Massachusetts this summer, and would like to hike the white mountains. My goal is to hike on the Appalachian trail section that goes through there. It looks like an absolute blast!
Really cool to see that you did The presi traverse. I moved out to Colorado recently from New England and have done the travers and climbed all 48. Love the Rockies but definitely miss the whites.
This was wonderful thk u
One of the best PT videos I have ever seen. Excellent work dude! It makes me want to plan a trip back soon. When I hiked it Sept 2020 while hiking the AT. It was pelting rain with 50 MPH gusts so I got no views and was praying I did not get hypothermia. You had a great day with no wind which makes for good audio and is extremely rare. Thank you! 😁
Another correction 4:30 , you don’t lose lots water because high humidity. It’s the opposite you sweat less and you get tired easily because your body can’t bring down the temperature.
Awesome video man! Quick tips for anyone attempting, if you can, I highly suggest a sunrise on Madison. We left at 2am and got to the summit 15 mins before a 459am sunrise! Best part was that we had the entire northern presidentials to ourselves until we finally saw people going up Washington! If you want to add some steep technical stuff, take the star lake route from Madison up to Adams. Thats 800ft of gain in 0.5miles and high class2/low class 3 scrambling to go with it! From clay to Washington do yourselves a favor and take the gulfside trail, you are on the edge of the headwall that descends into the great gulf wilderness that gives you the best views of the entire gulf and the norhtern presis! views are second to none!