Date: 2013-09-09
From: Nauman Tent Site

To: The Perch Shelter
Miles today: 10.3

It froze last night. Hard. Really hard. I woke up to frost on my rain fly. Welcome to winter everyone! The folks who had stayed in Mizpah Hut had gotten an early start by virtue of the hut crew waking them up at 6am. I slept in a bit longer than that because it was cold! Eventually I managed to struggle out of bed and visited the hut for water before I bounced.Only to find Saga and Delorean there having coffee! It is always great to see friends again. They had camped on the side of Webster Cliffs last night with Talker, who had pushed out in front early to try and make it to Pinkham notch, which was quite a feat.Roadkill and I made it up to treeline and started the long ridge walk to Mt Washington. Along the way we kept encountering camera from the AMC that were part of a wildflower research project. The weird thing was that they were all less then 10 feet from the trail.Maybe flowers don't grow if they are far from the trail up here....I decided along the way that I wanted to climb at least one secondary peak today,and Eisenhower gave me the opportunity. I climbed to the summit and was greeted with a wonderful 360 view of everything around. Truly a spectacular moment.We made it to Lakes of the Clouds at around 2pm, much too early for work for stay, and plus the weather had held out. The sky was blue with very few clouds,and the wind and temperature weren't bad at all. We decided to push on to Washington and try to stay in the emergency shelter on top.Mt Washington is the high point of the Whites. Everyone drives up. We walk up. It's one of those moments where you can look around and go "yes, I am doing something special and different.¢The climb up from he Lakes hut is only 1.6 miles, but the 1.25 an hour rule still applies. It takes forever to get anywhere in the whites.When we did hit the top we were greeted with high winds, dropping temperature and one heck of a view.We got our picture by the sign and retreated inside to the visitors center to escape the wind and cold. It was late in the day by this point, about 530 and there were few people on top."We're closing up in about half an hour.... just so you know" we were informed by the very young and bored looking ranger."What is the procedure for staying in the emergency shelter here? Its getting late and we are on top of the mountain....""There is no emergency shelter. You have to walk on"Now here is the thing. I know there is one up here. In fact I know because I saw it last year. In the basement, by the pack room. If you don't want to deal with us, that's fine. But don't lie to me, especially when it's a safety issue. Night hiking in the Whites is not something you want to do. So that's what we ended up doing.We walked off of Washington at 6pm. We decided to head to the Perch Shelter, about 5 miles away. We planned on taking a shortcut through another path near Jefferson to shave a little time off. In the dark.Yep, this is fun!The sunset though was amazing. Oranges, yellows, purples and blues. The sky looked like it was on fire. And then the sun slid behind the mountain line and it was dark.Headlamp time!On the AT in the forest, it's usually fairly easy to night hike. You have a well marked path and blazes. Above tree line, all you have are Carin rock piles.Not quite as easy to see at night....Despite the rocks and ridges and wind and cold we made it to the Perch. Immediately passed out. Hard. It's a wonderful feeling to sleep deeply and soundly.If you like reading about this adventure and my insanity out here, consider donating to the cause! A small donation of loose change from your couch could help me to have unbridled luxury; things like snickers bars, showers or even,gasp,a real bed to sleep in! Much love! http://www.gofundme.com/nobospice