Date: 2018-09-03
From: Madison Hut

To: Carter Notch Campsite
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: few clouds

I was awoken this morning by one of the croo making baked goods at 5 am. Stretch, Blue Stripe, and I woke up and watched everyone eat breakfast. We waited for our turn to eat. One of the croo brought over corn bread, oatmeal, and eggs. We devoured it all. They were happy that we ate it since they would have had to pack it out. Our morning chore was to make the bunks and sweep the floors. It only took us around 30 minutes to do. Stretch, Blue Stripe, and I headed out around 9:30 am.  From the Madison hut there was a 600 foot climb to the top of Mt Madison. At the top clouds were blowing across at 30 to 40 mph. Blue Stripe almost lost his pack cover. I had to use my trekking poles to keep myself balanced on the rocks. Right when we crossed over the peak the wind subsided. The way down was all boulders and loose rock. My trekking poles helped me make my way down. The clouds at the along the ridge seemed to dance in the air as the valley heated up. It took me 2 and 1/2 hours to descend from the presidential ridge. I was happy to leave the Alpine area so I could camp anywhere again. The trail flattened out as it entered the valley. On my way to the Pinkham notch visitors center I ran into 50 cent on the trail. He was bugging a little bit from his hike yesterday. From Mt Washington he took a side trail that was really steep. It was basically a steep boulder pit. At one point he dislodged a boulder about the size of himself and it went rolling down the mountain. As it gained speed the boulder started splitting and jumping into the air 15 feet. It was probably going 80 mph. Luckily there wasn't anyone below. In some parts he had to slide on his butt to make it down. At the bottom of the trail he had to use his orienteering skills to meet Valc and Tom Brady at a stealth site. 50 cent was on pain killers since he hurt his back. He was planning on taking it easy today. At the Pinkham notch visitors center I bought vegan chili and a turkey sandwich. When they brought it out it was a huge serving of chili. I could only finish the chili and packed out the sandwich.  From the notch we started climbing the wildcats. It was steep and straight up the mountain. At one point I had to just put my trekking poles away and use my hands to climb. Stretch and No Problema passed me as they went up the mountain. We could hear thunder in the distance and knew it could hit at anytime. Hiking on steep wet rocks doesn't help. The back of my right knee started hurting from all the climbing. It feels like its stiff. At the first peak we came to a chairlift for the ski resort. It had just started raining and we took cover under the chairlift. We watched as the clouds came rolling over the presidential ridge. Then the rain stopped and the clouds parted to let the sun shine through. There were clouds in the valley but they disappeared after a few minutes. In background we could see a double rainbow! It was an epic moment to witness. The rain completely stopped and we hiked on. The steep rocks were now a bit harder to hike on. We kept pushing forward to the hut for a possible work for stay. It got dark and we put on our headlamps. I almost fell a few times in the dark but I always caught myself. There was a steep descent to the hut. When we arrived we could see the lights in the hut. Maga was in there cleaning the dishes. We didn't ask the croo if we could have a work for stay since it was so late. We asked him about stealth sites in the area. He mentioned Carter mountain which was a steep climb and I wasn't feeling it. He also mentioned a spot .25 off trail that we could use. Around 9 pm the croo shut off the lights and we had to make our way to the stealth site. It had rained a lot but had let up. We made our way to the site to find 3 other tents there. They had also tried to stay at the hut too but failed. It started raining again and I hurried to setup my tent. I didn't even have time to do a bear bag hang.Tonight I'm sleeping with my food. Hopefully a bear doesn't get me.