Date: 2009-09-13
From: Lakes of the Clouds

To: Madison Spring Hut
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: fog

Highlight: Climbing up Mt. Washington at 6,288 ft. and making the ill-advised decision to leave at 4:45 PM with 70 mph wind gusts en route to Madison Spring Hut traversing through difficult terrain. We woke up in the morning at Lakes of the Clouds hungry as can be. Like clockwork, as soon as the patrons had finished their food, we were able to chow down on our breakfast. Actually, I lie, we had to clean up the tables first. The joke of the morning was that as I was clearing off pitchers of liquid from the tables, Chef took the one pitcher out of my hand, which he presumed to be apple juice, and poured it into the thru-hikers apple juice that was set aside in the kitchen. The problem was that not only was this pitcher not filled with apple juice, but it was filled with a hodge-podge of liquids, namely coffee, tea, and apple juice, from the USED cups of the patrons of the hut! It was only until we started drinking it at the table did we realize that this was not apple juice, but a horrible concoction of liquid! We didn't mind the cold eggs and bread, but we definitely couldn't drink the 'juice'. After breakfast, we continued to clean up the hut, mainly stripping down pillow cases and rolling up blankets. By 10:30 am, we were ready to conquer Mt. Washington. Early on, we could see the summit, but within an hour, it had become entirely clouded over. Just after we left the hut, Jungli pointed to a sign to the side that read: "Warning! You are entering very dangerous territory. If you are not adquately equipped, then you can die. During every month of the year, hikers have died from climbing this peak. Temperatures can change almost in an instant." We were told that one day hiker had already perished due to hypothermia this season (July) as he got lost on a trail and was not adequately dressed. Ascending the rocky face, a thick fog lay in front of us and we were literally walking into a storm with 30+ mph wind gusts. I hiked ahead and, by the time that I reached the summit, the wind had picked up and visibility dropped to almost nothing. I thought to myself, no wonder people die up here. I found my way to the Mt. Washington museum, which had a historical remnants from people who used to live on top of Washington for scientific research. It is up here that on April 12, 1934, during a huge storm, the fastest ground wind speed ever recorded at 231 mph (372 km/hr). Jungli caught up and we managed to make our way over to the cafeteria, where we also met up with Fletch, Chinese Tourist, and Chef. We developed a strange sense of tiredness and I began drooling all over the table and floor, as I started falling asleep. Others grew tired, but only a few of us decided to set up 'camp' on the floor in the cafeteria. Everyone else left, but Chef and I stayed behind dilly-dallying trying to ride out the fog storm and waiting for the summit to be clear so that we could get a clear view. It didn't clear up and at 4:45 pm, we decided to leave Mt. Washington. The winds had really picked up at this point and as Chef tried to find his way back to the side trail, he headed out into 'The Way', which is where the fastest wind whips up over Washington. It was coming so quickly that he had to literally fight against the wind, but...the wind won. It blew him right over and Chef still fought to pick himself up. It kind of scared both of us, but we had to get to a lower elevation and off the mountain. I also knew that we would probably be night-hiking, but I didn't realize was that the weather conditions would deteoriate. As we traversed the Presidential Range en route to Madison Spring Hut, the winds continued to pick up and we grew tired and cold. We were moving quite fast for our standards, but the terrain was so rocky that we probably only cleared 1 mph. Our original intention was to make it to Osgood Tentsite, but we didn't even get close. My fingers started to freeze due to the wind and we had to take a few stops behind boulders to warm up our bodies before heading back into the wind. The sun set and darkness crept in and we were forced to begin night-hiking, even as conditions worsened. We finally made the decision to just make it to Madison Spring Hut (which had been closed down for the season) and plead with the caretaker to take us in. During the descent down to the hut, I turned to Chef and shouted so that he could hear me: "We have to take it slowly now!!! We don't want to get injured on the way in". I couldn't feel my fingers or my hands and, although they were far from being frostbitten, it was just the cold wind that was penetrating my flesh. We saw the lights on at the hut and, as we approached it, two figures came running out to us. It was Jungli and Buttchinz. When we got inside the hut, everyone was in there: Chinese Tourist, Fletch, Big Camera, Buttchinz, Jungli, Pete, and another southbounder. Chef and I were a bit shocked as everyone was supposed to go to Osgood Tentsite for the night, but the weather was so bad for them that they decided to come to the hut. Actually, Buttchinz managed to get lost on one of the trails without a map or a tent (Big Camera and Buttchinz share a tent) and the caretaker at the hut was prepared to call search and rescue if she was not found before 8 pm. Buttchinz managed to find her way back to the trail, where Big Camera had patiently waited with Pete. Everyone was emotional and crying and, after hearing the story, I was just so happy that everyone made it to the hut without a catastrophy occuring. Everyone was convinced that Chef and I had found a ride back down the auto road from Mt. Washington and that we were not stupid enough to try night-hiking through the Presidentials. It was my first serious brush with backpacking danger, but I remained calm, collected, and positive the entire time. My hands were so incredibly cold and Chef was pretty frozen that our friends brought over some hot cocoa so that we could warm up and eat our food. Chef and I had a heart-felt embrace, but we were a little bit naively ecstatic about experiencing the danger from our poor decision to hike on so late. As we all laid down to sleep, the wind gusts recorded up to 55 mph with 30 degree weather outside. This calculates to 10.9 degrees Fahrenheit wind chill. No wonder why we were so damn cold. We could here the wind turbines spinning frantically on the roof of the hut and, although cold inside, we were incredibly happy (and fortunate) not to be outside.