Date: 2004-08-22
From: Mt Washington

To: Pinkham Notch
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: few clouds

Summitting Mt. Washington - Take TwoWhat a wonderful, wonderful day. The sun was out andit was so clear that I got sunburned. I'm not sure howmany miles I completed today in total since I had toclimb up to the summit of Mt. Washington again toresume my hike on the AT. Because my friend Jon was in town and he had hiked theWildcats recently, I thought we would both benefitfrom a long hike along the Great Gulf of the Presidentials. I had never hiked the Huntington Ravine Trail beforetoday. It is probably the shortest and most directpath to the summit. The trail is a scramble and, attimes, a climb. At points I would say it was a 5.3 or5.4 in grade. I wished I had ropes because my balancewas off. The trail was hard to follow but very picturesque withdramatic cliff drops and waterfalls. While I had tocorrect taking a wrong turn, someone scooted past Jon."Who was that?" I asked. Jon said with a touch of awein his tone, "A very fast girl." Later when we got to the top of the trail (thank theheavens, I was scared s**tless going up that thing),we caught up with the "fast girl" as she sat restingon a rock. Turned out she was my friend Jen Thistlefrom Boston. What a wonderful surprise. We both tookthe AMC rock climbing course a year ago but she is nowleading climbs. The Huntington Ravine Trail was a minor warm-up for her. I was duly impressed and saidso. She said "well, you're doing the AT, that's prettyimpressive." I don't know...putting one foot in front of the other for days on end seemspale in comparison to someone who climbs up rockfaceswith hardly a safety. Jen hiked with us up to the summit where we tookpictures at the sign. Amazing! There were less peopleat the summit today than there were yesterday in thefoul weather. We said our goodbyes to Jen. Then Jon and I headeddown the Gulfside Trail toward Mt. Jefferson and Mt.Adams. I'm not sure, but I think Jon wanted to moonthe Cog Rail since I lost my nerve. We reached Thunderstorm Junction around 2 pm and decided to stop for lunch. Along the way we sawCritter, Octane, Catepiller, the Roman Noodles,Megabyte, et al. Everyone held up at Lakes of theClouds last night. Now we all had perfect weather forour Presidential Traverse. While Jon and I sat eating lunch a few feet off thepath, a woman called from the trail, "Excuse me,what's your trail name?" When I told her my name, shesaid, "I knew it!" She took off her sunglasses andsaid, "Do you know who I am?" I immediately recognizedher. It was Bluebearee (2002) who mentored me viaemail for many months. This was fantastic. I got tomeet her, her husband, Craig,and their dog, Dali, for the first time face to face.Because we were hiking in the same direction for abit, we got a good half hour to chat. Then at the junction of Loews Path, we gave each othera hug and said good bye. It was good to put a face tothe name and the email messages. I hope we may meet again further north. Jon and I reached Madison Hut close to 4 pm. We stillhad 8 miles, most of it harrowing rocky downhill, togo. And Jon intended to return to Boston that night sohe could work tomorrow. So the last 8 miles were laborious and fast. But wemade our goal just near dusk and headed back to Gorhamfor beers and a roast turkey platter at Mr. Pizza. Then Jon dropped me at the Barn and heheaded home. It was a grand visit on one of the bestweather days since probably June this year. Only Meanderthal and Warden were staying in the Barntonight. They were watching TV and writing journalswhen I came in through the sliding door. I said I hada great day but was heading to bed. I think I went to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.