I got lost on the way up Mount Madison, and so learned an early, important but ultimately painless lesson: if you can’t see a blaze ahead, make sure you can still find one behind you.

Madison was the first peak along our Presidential Traverse. The trip was my friend Michelle’s idea, and I’d rank it among her best. It was the most rewarding hike I’ve ever done, and I recommend it to anyone fit to handle such treks. We reckon our north-to-south route wound about 22 miles, and it took us about 14 hours. Though we did it way back on Aug. 26, it’s still clear in my memory and epic enough that I thought it worth writing about. Besides, I haven’t done anything half so cool of late.

We made a three-day weekend of the trip, and left one car in Crawford Notch on the way up to Dolly Copp campground. That’s a terrific place, but a side note to fellow campers: if your children are prone to loud tantrums, or your dog barks at anything that moves, please don’t bring them to public campgrounds. Thank you.

We pitched camp, went for a walk, dined early and went to bed, setting the alarm for a 3 AM start. We didn’t sleep well that night.

It was chilly up there in the mountains, at that hour of the morning. We made coffee, and chowed on oatmeal and bananas. We could see stars, so we felt better about the weather. The forecast had called for mild temperatures, but with a strong chance of rain. We thought we’d play it by ear, and change our plans to a long run at lower elevation if the weather got really foul. We ended up with daytime temperatures pushing 60, no fog, no rain, and more than our fair share of sunshine. We lucked out, big time.

We were geared for a fast hike. Minimally, in a word. We dressed as for a trail run, and crammed our packs with rain paints and coats, fleece jackets, hats, gloves, survival blankets, waterproof matches, Band Aids, a small knife, a map, lots of water, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, gorp, goo and energy bars.

Part two