Date: 2004-08-25
From: Lake of the Clouds Hut (in the Dungeon)

To: Osgood Tentsite
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: scattered clouds

On her way out, Mazie said goodbye with an enthusiastic hug. That girl could brighten any day. I half-wanted to reverse course and be a southbounder. But Big K was calling me, and I am faithful to my mistress.For the past couple of days, the summit of Washington , with it's twin smoke-trails rising from its flanks like smoke-signals, has crept slowly closer, getting incrementally larger in my vision, until last night and this morning looming over the lake and hut, the summit 1.4 miles away and 1200 feet up. The terrain on the way to the top was all rock and sky, thousands of boulders strewn across the mountain, my path made clear by the regular white vertical blazes on the rocks. From above, the hut looked like a doll house next to a beautiful blue puddle.Finally, the summit was reached, its glory diminished by the ugly stain of civilization. The crown of thorns adorning the majestic peak was made up of a weather station, visitor center (including post office and cafeteria), and most obscenely, a cog railway, belching nauseating amounts of sulfurous smoke into the sky. Despite my disgust, I still sold out to the capitalist pig-dogs and bought a hot dog at the cafeteria. Hey, a hiker's got to eat!On the summit pile, posed with The Friar for a picture. My leisurely stay on the mountain over, I headed on down the trail, which I promptly lost and crossed the tracks before the trail did. Ahead I saw where the trail and tracks crossed, so I hoofed it off-trail, until I rejoined the white blazes. Unfortuneately, as I was making my way back to the proper path, a train came by, and I had the displeasure of being engulfed by the rancorous smoke emitted by the engine. This is why hikers hate the damn thing."Mooning the Cog" is a well-established AT tradition, as hallowed as the half-gallon challenge, nude-hiking day, or the carrying of a rock from Springer to Katahdin. It is a pretty simple thing to do. When you come to the tracks, wait for the train, turn, drop trou, and appreciate the startled faces on the lazy tourists contributing to the ugly-fication of the highest peak in New England. Just don't stand too close, as a southbounder related to me, or you'll be an easy lob away from getting a hot coal on your bare butt-cheeks.Practically the entire day today has been above treeline, until the last couple of miles as the trail descended to camp. Starting at the picturesque mountain col at Lake of the Clouds, the rocky and steep ascent of Washington, the relative gently rolling ridgeline walking on the way to Madison Hut, and finally the steep (thankfully short) ascent of Madison, and the torturous descent of Osgood Ridge, it was an exceptionally beautiful, and grueling day, and brutal finish, worse than any 20-mile day. I was told later that one could see Katahdin over 300 trail-miles away (probably less than 200 as the crow flies) if one knew where to look.And that brutal finish I mentioned? I will never in my life forget it. The last two miles saw a drop of 2300 vertical feet, at the end of an already exhausting day, manuevering from boulder to car-sized boulder on shaky knees and screaming quads and calves. Getting below tree-line was only marginally better, less boulders, but the trail was still rugged and steep. The side-trail to the campsite finally reached, I loudly thanked God, and joined Enigma, who I had been rapidly gaining on but never saw, at the campsite. I decided to sleep under the stars that night, for there was hardly any bare ground, only tent-platforms, and they are too much of a pain to set up a tent on.