Date: 2010-07-30
From: Mizpah Camping

To: Madison Spring hut
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: fog

I was freezing all night. The temperatures were in 30s (meaning freezing) but the wind chill brought the temperature down to the 20s. I slept in all my clothes including my Rab jacket and my hat and my 32F down sleeping. I couldn't get warm. In the early morning I even put my legs inside my backpack for any extra insulation. I wasn't dying of cold but I certainly wasn't comfortable. I saw in the morning that I had slept on the wrong side of my mat but I don't thinl that made much difference. I quickly dressed and had breakie. The good thing about tenting is that you are on the trail early - 640am today. I hiked up to Lakes of Clouds hut. Apparently it is one the most popular huts as it is very close (2 miles) to Mt Washington (you can get to the summit of this mountain by cog railway or bus). Mt Washington is the second highest point on the AT and very popular. I stopped for a break and the croo were very nice. They tried to find me some left over oatmeal or some food but unfortunately there were only Snickers. I still had one as I was hungry from yesterday's effort. I debated reserving a spot at Madison hut but decided to see what happened later in the day. Mt Washington was clouded in fog which was annoying because the forecast was supposed to be better but at least there was no rain.Bill Bryson in "Walk in the Woods" was not exaggerating when he talks about the climb to the top of Washington. The summit is the place on Earth where the highest wind speed was recorded - 231 miles per hour or something. These two factors lead to incredibly changeable and horrible weather there. I had to walk on open ridge of big rocks to get to the summit. I had windproof pants over my shorts and rain jacket over my merino tshirt and my fleece beanie. I was freezing! It wasn't too bad as I was climbing however when I got to the summit, I went inside and it took me 1.5 hours to feel warm. Up the top, the cloud shroud gave meno view whatsoever but there are humans of interest up there. The tourists brought up by the cog railway are fascinating. They seemed to come up just to eat. Admitedly, I had a bowl of chilli, a small slice of veggie lasagna, a tuna sandwich, a packet of chips, 2 cookies and 2 hot chocolates, but I'd hiked a decent distance to get there and I'd not eaten much in the last 24 hours. The tourists just seemed to eat for the sake of it. I sat around and watched them for a while the I visited the museum showing the findings of the weather observatory including a cool little video of someone trying to eat breakfast in the gusty wind. He puts cereal in his bowl and it flies everywhere, same with the milk and the table etc. There was also a place called Tip Top House which used to be a hotel where people used to stay when they were tourists inthe 1800s coming to the mountains. It looked very much like the current huts. The most interesting was a board listing the numerous deaths on the mountain with an explanation for the death. Many had occured in winter accidents but a number were during the summer months. The first female to die attempted to climb in September with her uncle and cousin. They left at 2pm and were caught in a horrible storm. She died during the night "of a weak heart" (hypothermia they think now). She was found very close to the hotel on the summit, maybe 50 metres away. After those grusome deaths, I decided to try to stay at Madison hut instead of camping. I got here and luckily there was a spot for me. I have been here an hour and half and am still cold. Brr! It was 39F max today with 70 miles per hour wind speed.