Date: 2003-08-11
From: Crawford Notch

To: Lake of the Clouds Hut (the dungeon)
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: light rain

AWESOME, what an awesome day!!! Did I mention how awesome today was? Well it was¢¦ Awesome! We had views! We hiked above treeline!! I felt good!!! It appears that the phone calls we made yesterday were very helpful. Wench called Suzie (¢Spike¢), our trail angel and religious contact in the Whites and told her when we would be getting to Gorham. Spike apologized for the weather we had been getting so far in ¢her mountains¢, and vowed to put a good word in with her boss to improve the conditions for us. Wow¢¦. I didn¢t realize how much influence she had¢¦ Today is an awesome day, great weather, great views, great hiking!!!! Thanks Spike!!! It felt good to start the day in dry clothes, with dry gear, and with a full stomach (Mike stopped at a gas station on the way to the trail and we got Bacon egg and cheese biscuits, coffee, muffins, Gatorade. More good people met along the trail.). Now I¢m sitting outside of the Lake of the Clouds hut journaling. I see Mount Monroe on one side and Mount Washington on the other side. Very cool¢¦. We started out the day hiking up from Crawford Notch. First on our agenda was a 2,000 foot climb up to Webster cliffs, a tiring climb, but not as hard as I expected. And the views from the cliffs¢¦ Awesome, grat views of mountains and the valley as far as the eye can see. The views were so good I forgot all about how tiring the climb was, and the rest of the day was so awesome, I forgot ALL my pains for a while¢¦ Sigh¢¦. I¢ve had some issues with religion in the past¢¦ Some events in my life had me doubting that there was a God. I also doubted myself, I lost faith in my abilities, I lost confidence in myself, I stopped living my life. But God is here in the Mountains. It¢s a feeling that can¢t be put into words. Maybe this is the first step of a journey of faith, that will lead me back to God, and finally back to myself. Maybe not¢¦ But it¢s some kind of journey of discovery. I can only hope I like what I find. OK, enough deep thoughts for a while, back to the great views. From Mt Webster and Jackson we could see all the way back to where we started the day, and forward to the Mizpah hut. We climbed Mt Webster, Jackson, stopped for lunch at Mizpah hut (Found out we couldn¢t call ahead to reserve a space in the Lake of the Clouds hiker bunk room, the dungeon). After lunch we climbed Mt Clinton (a 2 faced Mt¢¦ hmmm¢¦ coincidence?), past Mt Eisenhower, over Mt Franklin and past Mt Monroe to the Lake of the Clouds hut. Most of this day was spent above treeline, this is very cool, being able to see where you will be going, miles away. A few miles before the hut, we ran into ¢Big Paw¢ again, we hadn¢t seen him in a few states (it¢s fun running into people you ¢know¢ again). We are staying in the hiker dungeon at Lake of the Clouds hut (a dank smelly room in the basement, with dank wet bunks¢¦ sign on the door ¢for emergencies only¢¦ LOL!). Big Paw is doing work for stay, he passed on the smelly hiker bunks, and tomorrow we will all hike up to the Mount Washington summit!!! Today we went from 1,300 feet to 5,00 feet, tomorrow we go to 6,200 feet! Too bad it will be in a total blinding fog bank¢¦ OK, if I¢m repeating myself, sorry¢¦. We found out that a woman section hiker we met named ¢Philco¢, fell coming down Mt Moosilauke and tore ligaments in her knee (I hate it when people get hurt). Also heard that Walkabout (The male one) camped near the Saco river during the last big rain, and woke up to a flood. He lost some gear, and his tent ended up in 4 feet of rushing water, but he is OK and continuing on after some gear purchases. What else? Hmmm.. Only one fall today, a soft plop onto my pack off a wet rock. No harm, no foul¢¦ 333.8 miles to go!! 164 days on the trail!! 1838.8 miles hiked!! Thruhikers met today: Mr Ed, Don Quixote, Swift Sandles (again!!), and Two step. Life is good!!