Date: 2005-07-28
From: Near Peak E, Carter Range, NH

To: 4 miles south of Lake of the Clouds,NH
Miles today: 21.4

21.4 miles today4 mi s of Lake of the Clouds Hut, NH. It was cold out this morning. I woke up at 4:30am and decided to get moving because I wanted to try and buy a breakfast at Pinkham Notch. I couldn't bring myself to put on my cold wet shirt from yesterday, so I wore my lite jacket. I did put on the cold wet pants and socks. I was packed and started walking at 5am. I wasn't sure what time the breakfast was, but I didn't want to miss it. I had to hike down Wildcat. I was lucky because the high wind last night had it pretty much dry this morning. It's not a fun down when it's wet because of the smooth steep rocks. I was moving pretty good and got to Pinkham Notch at 6:30. They had just opened the doors when I got there. I bought a breakfast buffet for $6.75 which included all your drinks. I had 3 plates of food, 3 glasses of milk and 3 cups of coffee. This was shaping up to be a good day. :-))) I got some change and went downstairs and used the pay shower. I washed my clothes because they were already stinky after being wet all day yesterday. I checked my email and sent in a journal entry. I tried to buy some denatured alchohol, but they didn't have any. I left Gorham with only 2 ounces. That's only enough to heat up 2 things...either 2 cups of coffee or 2 dinners. I got all my stuff done and hiked on. The next 5 miles were slightly uphill to Osgood Tenting site. When I got there, I filled up with water and started a big climb up to the summit of Mt Madison at over 5300 feet high. On the way up I ran into Wag Daddy, a nobo. I was glad to get to the summit, but then I went right back down to Madison Spring Hut. I stopped in there with only the intention of getting water, but I ended up buying 3 bowls of soup for $2.00. I talked to a nobo while I was there by the name of Street Fighter. I didn't intend to stay there so long because I wanted to get up to Mt Washington before the restaurant closed. I hiked on and stayed above 5000 feet for most of the way to Mt Washington. I was figuring how long it would take to get there. I wasn't sure if the restaurant closed at 4 or 5. I didn't think I could make it by 4. I ran into a nobo by the name of Chickadee. Last week I had run into another girl by the name of Dr. Chickadee. The walk today was just about entirely on rocks, nothing but rocks....big rocks, little rocks, rocks that moved on you, jagged rocks, rocks, rocks, rocks. I had a pretty good climb to the summit of Mt Washington. It was almost 6300 feet high. I started getting closer and I realized I might make it before 4pm. I walked fast up that mountain and made it at 3:55. I went right in and got me a big bowl of chili and a coke...3 meals today and I didn't have to carry any of them or fix them...Life is good!!! I saw 2 sobos there by the names of Ladybug and Big Fish. I found out they were part of the large group of sobos I had heard of. They said there used to be 9 of them, but there's only 6 of them left right now. I walked back through the restaurant thinking about getting something else, but decided I was full. I left and hiked down to Lake of the Clouds Hut and emptied the gravel out of my shoes. While I was there, I met the other 4 sobos out of that group. Their names are Teflon John, Frankenfeet, Blue Sails and Tooth Ferry. We were all sitting there talking and when I got up and put my pack on, they couldn't believe I was hiking on. I ended up going about another 4 miles and found a sweet stealth spot. I set up my tent at about 7pm, crawled inside and ate some nuts and wrote my journal entry, then layed down and listened to the radio. Today was a fantastic day with cool temperatures and a slight breeze. It's hard to get better days than this, especially in July.