Date: 2005-08-29
From: Crawford Notch

To: Lake of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: fog

Today was the day we started the climb up what is called The Presidentials with Mt. Washington, the ultimate goal. Notice I said start. It was a long steady climb, some of it very steep and some of it involving technical rock scrambles. We were planning on laying up at the Lake of the Clouds Hut for the night, about a mile from the summit and 11 total miles for the day and about 1.5 miles from the summit of Washington. The rain had stopped but it was overcast and it looked like it was going to stay that way for most, if not all, day. Gypsy and I were the first to leave but I was in cuise mode so I told her I would see her at the top. The plan was to meet at the Mizpah Hut, 6 miles into the climb. What a climb it was! Constantly up and in some cases some very serious rock scrambles. I got to one rock section and just started laughing to myself, it was that steep and tough to climb. I sure was glad I wasn't doing it downhill, especially on the wet rocks. I finally reached the top of Webster Cliffs, phase one of the climb. The area was completely clouded in but that had a beauty in itself. I rested there for a bit and then pressed on. I really felt like I was going nowhere today! First time in a long time that I thought I was just spinning my wheels. I finally made it to the top of Mt. Jackson and here is where there is another glaring error in the guide book. It said that from here we made a 1400 foot descent to Mizpah Hut. Ha! Wrong again! There was more of a climb to the hut. What was even funnier is that it said we would make a 1500 foot climb from the hut in only three tenths of a miles. Can anyone say, going vertical!? When we all got to the hut we had a great laugh about that one. It took me 4 hours to go that 5.5 miles. A little over a mile an hour when the usual pace is around 2 to 2.5 an hour. Goes to show you how tough it was. The rest of the group also had a tough go of it and we were glad to be done with part one. We stayed at the hut for awhile, eating the bottomless bowl of soup. That really hit he spot on a dreary day like today! A bunch of other hikers showed up while we were eating. Thrifty, Hitman, Honeymooners without a Name, Chick, and Pea. We learned that Longhaul, Easty, Goosebump, and Kokomo were also going to be at the Lakes Hut. we headed out around 1:30. The weather was getting worse and we were climbing higher. About 2 mies from the hut I told Gypsy that the glasses were coming off. I couldn't see with them because of the misture and it did no good to wipe them off. Tink had already taken hers off for the same reason. Gypsy later told me the story of the snowstorm flashed through her head when I told her I was hiking witout them! No problem this time. I made the journey without mishap. Mouth was already there and he gave me the thumbs up sign. Work for stay! This meant that the Lake of the Clouds Hut would be our first hut experience. The crew, or croo, as they are known, there didn't turn anyone away and we ended up with 15 NOBO's there that night. They even gave us bunks becaue they weren't filled for the night. Lake of the Clouds hold 90 people and there were only 60 guests there for tonight. Work for stay here includes a place to sleep, dinner and breakfast. We have to wait till the guests are done eating and things have been cleaned up but who's complaining. Dinner was lentil soup, ham, mashed potatoes, bread, and dessert. Great meal. We climb the rest of the way to Mt. Washington tomorrow, only a mile and a quarter, and from there we plan to go to Osgood Campsite. Not a lot of miles butover some rough stuff.