The Adams Family

We had the chance to hike with Evan on July 3rd, and instead of dragging him along to slog Owl's head (or similar) we opted for an above treeline adventure on the path less traveled. 

The weather was projected to be amazing (yes) and it was a holiday weekend (a big one) so we knew it could be wild if we went with a standard choice. 

Appalachia was already jam packed when we drove by, but barely anyone had parked at Lowe's Store. In fact, we only saw one descending hiker until we made it to Thunderstorm Junction. 

So for those of you who don't know- The Adams 5 consists of the Big Kid- Mt Adams, and his family, Abigail, JQ, Sam and FIVE. Poor five kind of missed out on the naming. 

So first of all you climb for a good long time up Lowe's Path, pop above treeline, and scoot up and over Abigail Adams. 

From Abigail, you go off path for a bit and climb the obvious prominence to the right, which is Sam Adams. Sadly, we did not bring a Sam Adams to drink (also, it was like 9:15 AM which is early..) The whole trip up and down was just straightforward rock-hopping, very easy to completely avoid the vegetation.

After the summit of Sam, we headed to Thunderstorm Junction, and proceeded to take Gulfside around the looming mass of Adams. 

After the intersection to proceed up Adams, just a short way in, we took a detour to the left to conquer JQ Adams. A fun little rock hop, not at all unlike the rest of the trail! 

From there we kind of raced up Adams Adams because the trail was a little congested. A quick stop at the top to recover, and we were off to our last peak of the day. 

From Adams Adams, wer descended along Lowe's path back to Thunderstorm Junction, and then took a left onto Gulfside. Not long after the Junction of Israel Ridge Path, we found little forgotten about Adams 5, and took the short walk to its summit. We enjoyed a little lunch, and then made our descent. 

We (again) took the path less popular- and saw not a soul. Israel Ridge path took us to the Perch Path (and shelter- which is a nice site!) We then took Randolph Path, before, (eventually) getting back on Lowes. 

PHEW! This was an awesome day but definitely a big adventure, with all the rock hopping and multi peaking. We did have a wonderful time though, and it was an awesome above treeline day!

Stats:

Miles: 11.1

Elevation: 4940, no wonder we were tired

Time: 7:16:37

Fun:

Sara: I'm just saying it was a 10 of a day1

Eric: