Date: 2015-08-30
From: stealth site near Mt Franklin

To: camped on an unknown trail
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: light rain

My mileage on this journal is off. I looked back a couple of weeks and can't find the mistake, but I'll look again next time I get a computer.What a day. We hiked 8ish miles on the AT then got sent down a super steep side trail at the end of the night for another two. But here is how the day played out:Woke up in our little site that was shielded from the wind. What a good find it was! We had agreed the night before that if it was cold and windy we would not try to be up and out by 7 but stay in our bags a little longer and try to be out by 8. It was cold and it was windy, but I still woke up early. I ate breakfast in my tent at 6am then read for a while. We were all packed up and on the trail before 8. As soon as we climbed up the little hill out of our nest, the winds hit us, cold and steady. We hiked about 2 miles or so on a rocky climb, picking our way to Lake of The Clouds Hut. This hut has the most incredible views, and it sleeps something like 90 people. I was looking forward to coffee, but they only had cold coffee left. I drank it anyway-hut coffee is perked on a stove and tastes really good. D.No and C.Shell had hot chocolate. We were told the shelter was packed the night before, full with paying guests and the dining room floor full with thru-hikers. The hikers sitting outside said it was a noisy clomping parade to the bathroom all night and they didn't sleep well. Still- it is good to be warm! From the hut we could see black billows of thick smoke coming from the cog railroad train as it chugged slowly up the mountain, filled with tourists. It looked like a toy train from this distance.We were really excited to climb Mt Washington today- apparently home of the most dangerous weather on earth, with wind speeds recorded in excess of 230 MPH. Wooo! Scary! We passed the lake in the clouds, a small pristine body of water that reflected the clouds above. It is a sight I will never forget, so unlikely, so mysterious and achingly beautiful. A pristine pool of crystal clear water set in a minefield of hard and rugged, almost bitter rock terrain. On the climb up Washington, we could clearly see the weather towers at the top. I wondered aloud why people were so cautious of the climb, you could clearly see where you were going and which way was up. Then C.Shell said-imagine if you couldn't see the top, imagine if the mountain was socked in. Then I understood. You could go "up" in many directions, but if you didn't know where to go, you could wander for hours or days on this desolate pile of rocks. Rock Cairns led the way, and we had clear skies so we could see them lined up.The hike to the top from the hut was 1.3 miles. It was a tedious climb, but not super steep. It was all rock hopping, and took a long time for me. There were lots of day and weekend hikers out and it was like a commercial for really cool hiking clothes.When we finally reached the top, I was surprised to see literally hundreds of people milling around. There was a museum, observatories, and a very large snack bar with souvenir shops. I am fascinated by campy touristy places and I was in heaven with the cheesiness of it. It was crowded like Disney- but campier, maybe more like my favorite tourist place-Weekie Wachee Springs in Florida.We took our obligatory summit pictures feeling like mountain climbers...except you had to stand in line to get it and you might be standing next to someone in heels. The contrasts struck a chord in my love of the bizarre, and actually, it is so great that people who can not physically do the climb can experience the awesome scenery and winds of Mt. Washington.I ate a bowl of really terrific chili, a hot dog, a bag of chips and a coke in the snack bar. We charged our phones and chatted with other hikers. We hung out for over an hour, then we headed out. When I went in the snack bar, the sky was clear. When I came out, you could not see 20 feet in front of you. It was amazing! We were in a thick cloud. I watched as tourists boarded the train, ghostlike in the fog.The descent from the summit was not terrible- same as going up but down! Rocks, rocks and more rocks. We passed the railroad tracks on the way down and C.Shell pointed out that they were supported here and there by shims! Yes, the same kind of shims you might use to level a kitchen counter. I was shocked. Good luck train people!The clouds blew in and out and we were able to see the presidential range one minute and 30 seconds later it was completely obscured by clouds. We were slow going- rocks and endless picture taking, every 50 feet afforded an even more stunning view. From the summit, we had only 5.7 miles to Madison Springs Hut, and another 3 to a campsite. We figured we could camp at the hut if we couldn't make the campsite. We picked our way across the rocks for hours. Yes, the views were the best of the whole trail so far, but the hike was the most annoying. My knees screamed- my never healed sprained ankle started complaining, and mentally I was getting tired of trying to find the next best place to put my foot. It was exhausting, truly. The views were incredible though, just brilliant.After a long descent, we made it to the hut at 7:30. We hobbled in at sunset. There were no work for stay spots left. The guy at the hut told us to hike down a side trail for "1000 yards" to a stealth site, (10 football fields? I asked him) or there was a campsite "0.5" or "0.7" miles further down that trail. He said not to go ahead on the AT, there was nothing. That, at least, was good advice. Hike back up if you can't find a spot or it gets dark. You can't camp here, but "I'll look away" as long as you are gone by 6am. He said he tries to save the work spots at the huts for older people. "How old do you want us to be?" D.No asked him. "I'm almost 60!"We started down the trail he pointed to-The Valley Trail, and since it was 7:30 and sunset was at 7:34, it did get dark very quickly. The trail was as steep and hard as any I have hiked yet (except Moosilauke) About 15 minutes in, we put on our headlamps, previously only called upon for the strenuous duty of helping us read in our tents. It got very dark very fast- the blackness nearly swallowed our light, we could see only the path directly in front of our feet. The trail was so steep, I sat down for several parts of it. Two young guys that were also sent down came back up after we had been hiking for a while- they said no way were they going to continue down this steep path at night-it was dangerous. They couldn't find the campsite and decided to just go set up at the hut. Hiking back up that steep trail did not seem to make sense-we felt we had gone at least a half mile. We had been hiking for almost an hour at that point and thought it would take even longer than that to get back up. The stealth spot was too small for us, and had big rocks in the middle. We kept going down, completely focused on not falling. We never saw the campsite. We finally reached a sign around 10pm pointing to a brook down a side trail. C.Shell and I explored but could not find a campsite. Exhausted, we decided that the side trail itself could be a site for one tent. We pitched theirs and then ate a little by the light of the full moon that had a made a late but very dramatic appearance. It was laughing at us through the trees. We piled in the tent, positioning ourselves head to toe. C.Shell slept in the middle, between my and D.No's feet-poor woman. D.No said-"I can't sleep like that Cheri. My head needs to be next to your head." That was so oddly sweet and funny. I love my hiking partners. We congratulated ourselves on being hard core night hikers, even if we did whine the whole way.But seriously- sending hikers down a trail as steep as the one we went down-at night- and sending us way off our trail- seems irresponsible. I know we are not their responsibility, but there should be at least camping available.