Date: 2018-08-12
From: Mizapah (Nauman Campsite)

To: Madison Hut
Miles today: 12.2

We were up bright and early this morning even though it was misting a little when we woke.We made pretty good time this morning even though some of the bare rock was wet and slippery from the mist. We just took our time and were careful. Quite a few of the other thru-hikers had passed us by the time we made it to Lake of the clouds Hut, but we were happy that when we did get there we were told by the other thru-hikers that they had saved us some leftover breakfast. Usually the hut crew will let the thru-hikers eat all the leftover breakfast from the paying customers. It would have been easy for the thru-hikers to polish off the leftovers, but we were happy to see they remembered us and saved us some. We all chatted for a bit then one by one we left all heading for the summit of Mount Washington. The day wasn't as great as we hoped, mostly fog and in and out of the mist. As we made the climb up to Washington it looked like it may start to clear so we removed our rain jackets. However, as we approached the summit the clouds and mist rolled back in and we were starting to get wet and cold with the wind. When we finally reached the summit building we went downstairs to the pack room and took our rain gear off to try to dry it out.Most everyone was upstairs grabbing a quick bite to eat, we joined them and had slices of pizza with chili and soup. We stayed long enough to eat our fill, charge our phones, warm up a bit and then we figured we better get moving. We took the summit photo, but it didn't come out very well as there was so much rain on the camera lens. It was so foggy and we had trouble finding the trail to start across the ridge. Once we got moving there were no views and it was pretty much hiking cairn to cairn. Hiking across the presidentials is pretty much walking on large rock slabs, sometimes they are laid flatter than others. With the rocks being so wet today Mary hiked carefully so as not to twist an ankle or slide off the rock down into the crevices between. Our progress was slow as we picked our way across the Gulf Side Trail. The more we hiked the more tired Mary became, and we were beginning to wonder if we could make Madison hut at all before dark. Mary was exhausted by the time we dragged ourselves down into Madison Hut just before dark. We inquired from the hut master what we should do as we were too tired to move on and whether we could do a work for stay. After some consultation she said they were full, but we could do a work for stay but we would have to do morning chores. It wasn't ideal as we wanted to get going early, but we really didn't have a choice so we agreed. Once they were cleaned up after the paying guests and the crew had eaten it was the thru-hikers turn to eat. We all got a pretty good portion and we're happy to be in where it was warm and dry. The one thing the huts need to do a little better is have a little more control of how they do their work for stays. After we had been granted the work for stay several other hikers came in without asking the hut crew anything and just set their mats up on the floor and stayed the night. The same hikers got up in the morning and left without doing anything. All in all it may not be a very fair system but at least we were warm and dry for the night. Tomorrow we'll make it down to Pinkham Notch where we have reservations to be picked up by the Rattle River hostel so we can get a shower, do our laundry, and eat some good food.