› Forums › Flags on the 48 Information › General Discussion › Reports from the 48 Flagsites! › Re: Madison Flag
Hello all! We, too, had a wonderful day. My brother David and I left the basecamp at the Bluff in the Great Gulf at 8:30 AM and reached the Madison Gulf headwall at about 10:30. It certainly was a challenge scaling Mad Gulf, especially with frame packs with five foot sections of antenna which would become our flagpole. We filled up with water at the hut and then made our way up the Madison summit come. I was pretty tired and running on fumes but was determined to get the flag raised as close to noon as possible.
Right around noon we reached the summit and the flag was raised soon after. A man and his young son (who checked another off his peakbagging list) asked about the flag and we let them know about the event. Two other woman came by and we told them about the event. They seemed very excited and asked if we’d take pictures of them by the flag. We chatted with a few other folks, including a WMNF ranger. He said he saw us coming up the summit and couldn’t imagine what the poles were for!
He indicated that last year they had to remove a lot of flags that we left behind and we indicated our LNT intention. He seemed relieved and even knew about the flag that Gail and company raised on Liberty last year. I told him that was the inspiration for this event.
Shortly before 1 PM Joe made it to the summit from Dolly Copp (via Pine Link/Howker Ridge). K and Mike D soon followed. A lot of people were on the summit enjoying lunch, the flag, and the weather. A number of people took pictures with the flag. Adams was in and out of the clouds most of the time, but we were not able to see a flag on the summit, even with binoculars. It was pretty hazy and we couldn’t see one on Washington amongst all the summit buildings.
We took the flag down shortly before 2 PM and made our way down Osgood Ridge to camp, while the others descended to Dolly Copp. Joe offered to take the poles with him which was a huge help. A great day, and worthwhile experience. We were glad to be a part of it.
Max – The flag was small (3′ x 5′) but was raised proudly for almost 2 full hours. It was on the north side of the summit cone.