---
url: 'https://dri.es/album/presidential-traverse-2026'
title: 'Presidential Traverse'
author:
  name: 'Dries Buytaert'
  url: 'https://dri.es/about'
date: '2026-07-23T04:09:22+00:00'
license: 'https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/'
type: album
count: 11
---

# Presidential Traverse

![Smiling man with gray hair wearing sunglasses sitting between people inside a wooden building.](https://dri.es/files/cache/presidential-traverse-2026/chris-brookins-640w.jpg)

![Wooden bunk beds in a cabin with backpacks, sleeping bags, and hiking gear scattered around.](https://dri.es/files/cache/presidential-traverse-2026/mizpah-spring-hut-bunk-640w.jpg)
*The view from my bunk at Mizpah Spring Hut.*

![A bearded man reflected in a weathered mirror with hooks, mounted on a wooden wall beside a red fire extinguisher.](https://dri.es/files/cache/presidential-traverse-2026/mirror-selfie-640w.jpg)
*A worn mirror, an old-school fly catcher, and an early-morning selfie.*

![A hiker with a backpack climbs a rocky trail through a dense, sunlit forest of tall trees.](https://dri.es/files/cache/presidential-traverse-2026/trail-to-mount-pierce-640w.jpg)
*Between Mizpah Spring Hut and Mount Pierce, the trail passed through a forest straight out of a fairy tale.*

![A wooden trail sign marks the Crawford Path and Appalachian Trail, with Mount Washington 5.4 miles away and Lakes of the Clouds 3.9 miles away.](https://dri.es/files/cache/presidential-traverse-2026/mount-washington-trail-sign-640w.jpg)
*The sign put Mount Washington 5.4 miles away. What it did not say was how difficult each of those miles would be.*

![A weather station building with large satellite dishes and antenna at the top of a rocky summit.](https://dri.es/files/cache/presidential-traverse-2026/mount-washington-summit-640w.jpg)
*After hours of hiking, we reached the summit of Mount Washington, where we found a weather station, satellite dishes, and tourists who had driven up. Sharing the highest summit with people who had simply driven there felt strangely anticlimactic.*

![A stacked stone cairn marks a rocky mountain trail overlooking hazy ridges and a small white hut in the valley below.](https://dri.es/files/cache/presidential-traverse-2026/lakes-of-the-clouds-hut-640w.jpg)
*The trail down from Mount Washington is a long scramble over broken rock. The small white building below is Lakes of the Clouds Hut, tucked beneath Mount Monroe, with Mount Eisenhower and Mount Pierce in the distance.*

![A helicopter flies near a mountain hut and alpine pond, with rocky terrain and hazy ridgelines in the background.](https://dri.es/files/cache/presidential-traverse-2026/helicopter-evacuation-640w.jpg)
*Lakes of the Clouds Hut looked peaceful from above, but the helicopter flying beside it was evacuating a hiker who had fallen ill after a difficult climb up.*

![Wooden trail sign reading "Crawford Path \(AT\)" atop a mountain, with an alpine lake and hazy ridgelines in the background.](https://dri.es/files/cache/presidential-traverse-2026/crawford-path-640w.jpg)
*Leaving Lakes of the Clouds, we rejoined the Crawford Path, which carries the Appalachian Trail toward Mount Washington.*

![A person uses their phone to photograph a mountain sunset, with a hut visible to the right.](https://dri.es/files/cache/presidential-traverse-2026/sunset-at-lakes-of-the-clouds-hut-640w.jpg)
*At Lakes of the Clouds Hut, sunset brought everyone outside, where they all took the same photo.*

![A pair of worn brown leather hiking boots rests on a grassy hillside, with mountain ranges in the distance.](https://dri.es/files/cache/presidential-traverse-2026/hiking-boots-640w.jpg)
*I stopped to take off my boots and treat my blisters before they got worse.*