Hiking the Presidential Traverse: The Complete Guide

The Presidential Traverse is a continuous ridge walk over the highest ground in the northeastern United States. Most of it sits above the treeline, and that exposure is the reason it is a serious day rather than just a long one. There is very little shelter between one end and the other.

People walk it in anything from one very long day to four unhurried ones. This guide gives the distance, the climb and the height of every summit, and for our own four-day version the gain and the loss for each separate day.

What the Presidential Traverse Is

The Presidential Range runs through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, inside a national forest of 750,000 acres. A presidential range traverse means starting at one end of that range and finishing at the other. Nothing in the definition names a particular trail, which is why two people who both walked it may have taken different lines.

What the definition insists on is the summits. A traverse crosses the peaks named after presidents, and there are seven of them: Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Washington, Monroe, Eisenhower and Pierce. Three others on the same ridge are not presidents at all. Mount Clay is named for a Kentucky senator, Mount Franklin for Benjamin Franklin, and Mount Jackson for a geologist rather than Andrew Jackson.

The Peaks, in Order

Walked from the northern end, the seven presidential traverse peaks come in a fixed order. Madison stands at 5,367 feet, Adams at 5,793 and Jefferson at 5,712. Adams is the second highest peak in the northeastern United States, so the hardest climbing is done in the first third.

Mount Washington is the high point and sits near the middle, at 6,288 feet. Everything after it steps down: Monroe at 5,372 feet, Eisenhower at 4,757 and Pierce at 4,310. Clay lacks the 200 feet of prominence a separate summit needs, and Franklin is a sub-peak of Monroe, so collecting both adds distance without adding presidents.

How Long It Is, and How Much You Climb

The presidential traverse hike is usually quoted at about 23 miles with 9,000 feet of elevation gain. That assumes you cross the summits, rather than contouring round them on the side trails. It is the version most hikers mean, and the one to plan against.

Quoted figures vary more than you would expect. A version staying on the through-trails comes in at 20.4 miles but skips the summits, collecting the sub-peaks pushes it to 22.8 miles and 10,041 feet, and a plotted line from one trailhead to the other can read as little as 18.5 miles with 8,130 feet of ascent. Where you start and which summits you tag move the total by several miles.

The climbing matters more than the mileage. Nine thousand feet over 23 miles is roughly 390 feet of ascent in every mile, held for the whole route, and almost none of it is on smooth ground. Take the climbing figure as the honest measure, because it varies far less than the distance does.

The Route, and Which Direction to Walk It

The presidential traverse route is not one trail but a chain of named paths. The Valley Way is the standard northern approach, leaving the Appalachia parking area on US Route 2 and climbing to Madison Spring Hut. The Gulfside Trail then carries the crest south-west over Adams, Jefferson and Clay to the summit cone of Mount Washington, skirting the rim of the Great Gulf the whole way.

The Crawford Path takes the southern half, and it is the oldest continuously maintained hiking trail in the United States. Ethan Allen Crawford and his father cut it in 1819. Its 8.5 miles run from Crawford Notch to the summit of Washington, and walked southbound it drops past Lakes of the Clouds and over Monroe, Eisenhower and Pierce to Mizpah Spring Hut, where the Webster Cliff Trail finishes the job.

Direction changes the shape of the walk rather than the total effort. North to south front-loads the work: the climb from Appalachia gains 4,040 feet in the first 3.9 miles and puts the three highest summits behind you while you are fresh. South to north gives an easier start and saves the steepest, rockiest ground for tired legs.

The Presidential Traverse Map

Seen from above, the traverse is one unbroken ridge line. It starts at Randolph on US Route 2, climbs straight onto the crest, and runs south-west over the summits before dropping into Crawford Notch at the far end. The three huts sit 4.6 to 7 miles apart along it. Both ends of the line are road passes, so you can be dropped at one and collected at the other.

On a topographic sheet the Great Gulf is the feature to find first. It is a deep bowl bitten out of the eastern side, with the contour lines packed hard against its rim. Find that and the rest of the range orients itself around it.

Read the contour spacing rather than the mileage. The bands sit tight on the northern climb and on the drop off Pierce, and they open out along the crest where the walking is level but slow. A flat-looking mile up there can still take an hour, because the surface is boulder rather than path.

Mark two things before you go: the water, because every hut is a filling point and there is almost nothing between them, and the way off the ridge. Carry a current paper sheet rather than a screenshot. Above the treeline paper keeps working when cloud arrives and the battery does not, and the line up there is marked by cairns rather than by any worn tread.

Doing It in One Day

A presidential traverse in one day is a genuine undertaking, and it is the version people search for most. Fit hikers take between 12 and 20 hours, and the range is that wide because the rock slows people far more than they expect. A plotted line over the ridge estimates just under 13 hours of moving time, before anyone stops to eat.

It suits someone who already covers 20 mountain miles comfortably, has walked on broken boulder before, and is willing to turn round when the weather changes. What ends most attempts is not fitness but daylight running out while a forecast turns, with the nearest way down still miles along the ridge. Set a turnaround time before you start walking.

The AMC Huts on the Ridge

The Appalachian Mountain Club runs eight huts across the White Mountains, three of them on or below the Presidential ridge. They are staffed buildings with bunkrooms and cooked meals, and without them a multi-day traverse would mean carrying a tent onto exposed ground.

You do not really choose between them. The three sit where the ridge allows, so which ones you use is settled by how many days you take and which way round you walk. A four-day traverse stops at all three in turn, and a two-day version picks one.

The buildings are plainer than the meal service suggests. Bunks have mattresses and, through the full-service season, three wool blankets and one pillow each. The bunkrooms are co-ed and unheated, with no overhead light. Dinner goes out family-style at 6pm and breakfast at 7am, cooked by a crew of four to ten who work eleven days on and three off.

Water is the other reason to plan around them. Every hut is a refill point, open to day walkers too. There is very little between them on the ridge, so you carry for the gap ahead rather than for the day.

Camping is not the fallback, because the alpine zone above the treeline is closed to it. Beds go a long way ahead and midsummer goes first, so fix your nights before anything else.

Our Hut-to-Hut Week, Day by Day

Our four-day version goes north to south, and these are the figures from the published itinerary. It covers 21 miles with 9,380 feet of climb and 9,430 feet of descent. Splitting the walk this way keeps the longest day to 7 miles. It also leaves a spare morning to sit out bad weather rather than walk into it, which on this ridge is the difference between a good week and a shortened one.

• Hardest day: 4,040 feet of climb, in 3.9 miles

• Daily distance: 3.9 to 7 miles

• Grades: 4/5 fitness, 5/5 technical

• Sleeping: AMC huts, bunkrooms, meals included

Day one runs from the Appalachia trailhead to Madison Spring Hut, 3.9 miles and 4,040 feet of climb against only 560 feet of descent, the steepest morning of the week. Day two is the long one, 7 miles across Adams, Jefferson and Washington to Lakes of the Clouds, with 3,380 feet up and 3,150 down. Day three drops to Mizpah Spring in 4.6 miles over Monroe, Eisenhower and Pierce.

The last day is 5.5 miles out to the Webster Cliff trailhead, 860 feet up and 3,400 feet down. Three of those four days lose more height than they gain, which is why walkers finish this route with sore knees rather than sore lungs. A presidential traverse 3 day itinerary compresses the same ground and leaves you less margin.

Weather on Mount Washington

Mount Washington has a reputation it has earned. It held the world surface wind record at 231 miles per hour, and the summit buildings are chained down because of it. The range sits where several storm tracks converge, and cloud can be down on the rock while the valley you set off from stays clear.

Read a mountain forecast rather than a town one. The Mount Washington Observatory publishes a Higher Summits Forecast written for this ridge, and cloud can sit on the rock all day while the valley below stays clear. A clear valley start tells you nothing about the summits. Once you are committed the escape trails are long and steep, so change your plan at the hut rather than at the col two hours later.

Getting There, and Getting Out

The two ends sit on different roads, which is the biggest logistical fact about the traverse. The northern trailhead is Appalachia, on US Route 2 between Randolph and Gorham, a roadside parking area with no facilities. The southern end comes out on Route 302 in Crawford Notch, near the AMC Highland Center.

That means you finish a long drive from your car. Most people use the AMC hiker shuttle, which links the trailheads through the season. Gorham on Route 2 is the practical base town, at the junction with Route 16, with the supermarkets and the outfitters twenty minutes from the northern trailhead.

Water is scarce above the treeline. You carry what you need for the gap ahead rather than for the day, and on day two that gap is 7 miles. Every hut is a filling point and there is little in between.

Know your way off before you need it. The standard escapes are the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail from Lakes of the Clouds to the Cog base station and the Tuckerman Ravine Trail from Washington to Pinkham Notch. Both drop over 2,000 feet into the trees, quickly.

The season follows the huts. Early June to mid-October covers the full-service window across the three of them, and July through September gives the best odds on weather. Early June can hold snow in the ravines and October puts ice on the rock, and a winter traverse is a mountaineering objective with its own skills and its own guiding.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is the Presidential Traverse?

About 23 miles with 9,000 feet of elevation gain if you cross the summits. A through-trail version comes in at 20.4 miles but skips the peaks, and a plotted line between trailheads can read as little as 18.5 miles.

Can you do the Presidential Traverse in one day?

Yes, and plenty of people do. Expect 12 to 20 hours depending on fitness and the state of the rock, plan to start in the dark, and set a turnaround time before you leave.

How difficult is the Presidential Traverse?

Hard, and the difficulty sits in the terrain and the exposure rather than the distance. We grade our own four-day version 4 out of 5 for fitness and 5 out of 5 for technical difficulty.

Where do you sleep on the Presidential Traverse?

In the AMC huts on the ridge: Madison Spring, Lakes of the Clouds and Mizpah Spring. All three serve dinner and breakfast through the summer season, and the midsummer dates book out well ahead.

How many 4,000-footers are on a Presidential Traverse?

Seven summits named after presidents, and all seven clear 4,000 feet. Clay and Franklin sit on the same ridge but do not qualify as separate peaks.

Choosing Your Presidential Traverse

Pick your version by the hardest single day, not by the total. A one-day traverse asks for 9,000 feet in one push; the four-day version asks for 4,040 feet on the first morning and less every day after. Those are two different sports on the same ridge.

If you want all seven summits without the endurance test, the Presidential Traverse hut to hut is the gentlest way to collect them. It is still graded 5 out of 5 for terrain, because the rock takes no notice of how many days you spend on it. Every figure on this page comes from a published itinerary or a trail authority.

Tell us which version you have in mind and we will match the week to it →