Date: 2011-07-28
From: (111) Zealand Hut Falls

To: (113) Lakes of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: clear sky

I was awoken by the dropping of a plate on the floor from one of the Croo staff members. It made a loud clatter followed by several lesser ones that increased in rapidity over and over and over again until finally coming to rest flat, then picked up again by the same clumsy hand that had dropped it. I wondered if the girl had dropped it on purpose to wake us up; it really was a well-timed commotion¢¦After waiting outside for the paying guests to finish their breakfast, the Croo let Tridub, Grasshopper and I in to ¢have at it¢ on the leftovers: organic oatmeal and pancakes. Then the Croo had us clean the bathrooms of the Hut as the ¢work¢ portion of our ¢stay¢, which was pretty easy considering what we had received for our labor (One of the Croo members even gave us her iPod and speaker to listen to while cleaning), and by 9pm we were done and on our way.Stomach ready to burst, I hiked with Tridub for a few miles before losing him (Nature called, and I answered), but he was heading into town anyway to resupply so I was sure to see him again. The rest of the day I hiked alone, which was fine by me as the weather was great and the views in The Whites were ever majestic and grand (I was also listening to my Brave New World audio book). One of the highlights of my hike was doing a tremendous climb into The Presidential Range, which was full of rock cliffs, tourists, and an ever increasing view as far as I could see of the surrounding mountain ranges. It was unlike anything I had ever encountered on the AT, resembling the Wild West in size and scale.Having long ago passed the point of being able to wear myself out, I trotted up and over Mt Webster and Jackson, passing scores of tourists as I went (You never realize how fast you are or how hard the terrain is until you start passing normal people by the handfuls!). I scrambled up cliffs, jumped streams, and took loads of pictures. When I arrived at a hut called Mizpah Hut, I camel¢d up on water, then I inquired with the Croo about work for stay, but they said it was too early and to move on. (To ¢camel up¢ means to drink a lot of water at a source, filling your stomach, in order to hike without or with very little water to the next source. Its main benefit is guaranteeing that a hiker will at least be fully hydrated before continuing on, instead of hydrating while walking and carrying the extra weight).I continued up over Mt Pierce, Eisenhower, Franklin, and Monroe. As I hiked over these I could see Mt Washington amongst the distant peaks, by far the tallest of them all. Above tree line, I watched as Mt Washington (which seemed just a little ways ahead of me) grew larger and larger without ever getting closer (Like I was running down a hallway with a door at the end that I would never reach).I arrived at Lakes of the Clouds Hut that evening after 18.9 miles of hiking (Lakes of the Clouds is the largest hut in the Whites, resting high up in the Presidential's at 5,012 feet and the start of Mt Washington¢s summit). It was above tree line and around the grounds of the Hut rest several hikers looking out at the view, bundled up against the cold air. I went to the side of the hut to take off my pack where I met a girl who told me she was a Sobo thru hiker. I frowned and said, ¢I¢ll never understand you South Bounders. Next you¢ll want to run around the track counter clockwise!¢ She laughed but I am not sure she got the joke¢¦Inside I got work for stay from the Croo, and soon found myself in the company of Gingersnap (who I had not seen since PA, and as always was shocked to see me still on trail/catching up to her and not already finished), an older hiker named Grandpa, and some South Bounders (Milk Carton and Walk-about) who I wasted no time in making fun of for hiking south (Milk Carton was the girl I had already made fun of, so I started out ahead!). Offset from the hut¢s chattering guests (around seventy in all), we all sat together at a long wooden table in the dimly lit hut feasting on beef tips and other thru-hiker rarities, while drinking cup after cup of hot cocoa to warm us up. (It reminded me of knights sitting at a king¢s feast, stuffing their faces with meat and talking loudly). Grandpa ate several plates of nothing but beef tips; it was amazing to watch and we all commended him. Slowly the guests began to trickle back to their bunks for the night, and so our group of thru hikers swept, washed the dishes, and finally went to bed in the dining room. For some reason Gingersnap decided to sleep under a wood bench, and so, for the sake of being obnoxious, I went to sleep on top of the bench directly above her. It was narrow, it was stupid, and it hurt.