Date: 2014-07-25
From: Mizpah Spring (Tenting)

To: Somewhere South of Osgood Tent Site (Tenting)
Miles today: 12.9

Day 146, July 25, 2014 Emotional milestone today. We reached the summit of Mount Washington. If Mount Katahdin is the big Daddy, the Mount Washington is the big Momma!! It is the second highest peak on the AT, after Clingmans Dome. Reaching a height of 6288 feet. No before all my Western friends poo-poo this height let me tell you a little about the Mountain. Until just a few years ago it held the dubious title for the highest recorded land wind speed at over 230 MPH and I believe it is still the record hold for the western hemisphere. Almost immediately today we went above tree lines and stayed there for almost the entire day. I put my fleece on early this morning and never took it off. The day both up and down Washington is spent going over or near numerous other peaks. And when we say up I mean it. Here are few of the peaks: Mount Clinton (I don't think its named for Bill), Mount Eisenhower, Mount Franklin, Mount Monroe, Mount Washington, Mount Clay, Mount Jefferson and Mount Madison. As I walked towards Washington the clouds hovered above me. As I went up, so did they. The landscape reminded me of Ireland sans sheep. There is a hut on they way up called Lake of the Clouds that is in the coolest setting. Up I want about 2/10ths of a mile out the sun shone through. Maybe I would get lucky and have a clear day on Washington. It was not to be, about 1/10th of a mile the clouds rolled in and the wind started howling. That is how it remained pretty much for the rest of the day. At the summit I posed for my picture and then went to the snack bar. I did not think I was that hungry. I was. You should not go shopping when you are hungry or to Mountain top snack bars!!! The summit was bustling with people. I felt like I was at the Metro during rush hour. It was a weird and neat experience after so much solitude. I got lost again twice today!!! I am a little befuddled by how confusing the signs are and how little the trails are blazed. The AT seems to play second fiddle to the Whites and the Appalachian Mountain Club). On the signs the AT is either in parenthesis, a foot note or not there at all. I find this odd for two reasons. First the AT is a Federal Trail. I would think it would trump all. Second and more importantly if the Whites are so Dangerous, which I believe they are, then for safety reasons I would think blazing and signage would be of the utmost importance. And why not have some maps available at hostels, trail heads and on the summit. That's my two cents. The last time I was lost I was going straight down a hairy hill. I made it a good ways down when another bedraggled hiker comes from the other way. "This is not the AT!", he says. Good grief who knows how far I would have walked. These issues of getting lost probably cost me a couple of hours at most. But I didn't make it to the Osgood tent site as planned and barely made it below tree line before the sun was setting. It was so nice to be out of the woods, in which I have spent so much time. But I have to admit after the day I had I was never so glad to be back in the safety blanket of my beloved woods! Live Free or Die, Cowgirl and Cooper Hiked today: 12.9 Completed: 1859.2 Remaining: 326.1 Start Point: Mizpah Spring End point: Somewhere South of Osgood Tent Site (Tenting) States Completed: 12 GA (76.4), NC (95.5), TN (287.9), VA (550.3), WV (4), MD (40.9), PA (229.6), NJ (72.2), NY (88.4), CT (51.6), MA (90.2), VT (149.9), States Remaining: 2 NH (160.9), ME (281.4), (13 photos)