Date: 2014-07-27
From: Pinkham Notch

To: Madison Hut
Miles today: 7.7

Pinkham Notch to Madison Hut--7.7 milesBrilliant hues of pink, yellow and blue paint the evening sky at Madison Hut. Clouds drift by, nearly at eye level. It's a beautiful evening. I slept little last night in anticipation of conquering the monster Madison. I had only climbed it once before. RJ and I set out on a backpacking trek to test our endurance and discover our limits. And we found them. I had never backpacked before. I carried a 35 pound pack that barely fit me and slid to the side whenever I leaned over. I had no hiking sticks. I don't even know if they were invented yet. The 8 mile climb took us 12 torturous hours. By the time we reached Madison hut, I was nearly delirious with exhaustion. RJ was fine. That memory caused much consternation and so I was up at 4:30. Rammy and I were out the door quickly, munching on trail bars as we sped toward Pinkham Notch. After the hourlong drive, we were eager to begin. The hike began with an easy grade and a smooth walking path. As we glided along, I thought of RJ often. We made good time and my confidence soared. I was eagerly awaiting the ascent of Osgood I Ridge. I wanted to see if it was as scary as I remembered it. The rain from the night before had soaked the forest plants and soon our packs were soaked. I didn't care because I knew the sun would be shining above tree line. The rocks were wet and quite slippery. I stepped up onto a large slab and confidently descended down it. Suddenly, my feet flew out from under me. Feet went one way; poles the other. I landed hard on the slab, landing on my tailbone. I sat for a while, stunned and hurting. I stood up and decided that I could go on. But that fall colored the rest of the day. I learned quickly that my legs would not support me when I attempted high steps onto boulders. I could not lift myself. But I continued on, thinking that the pain would subside as soon as I entered my hiker zone. We continued to climb throughout the day. It seemed as though we would never reach tree line where the feared Osgood Ridge lay in wait. We took a lunch break in the scrub, just before tree line, to build up our strength for the monster. After lunch, we shouldered our packs and forged ahead. And then we were there. Before us lay a scramble of boulders and nothing else. As I stepped from boulder to boulder, I felt confident that I could do this. The climb did not look as terrifying as I remembered it. And it wasn't. I was conquering the monster. We reached the turn where hikers had a choice of taking the Airline trail (the name speaks for itself) or forging ahead on the AT over the summit of Madison. Rammy suggested that I bypass the summit and take the Airline trail. But I had done that with RJ, and my memories of throwing my pack over huge boulders were still vivid in my memory. So I forged ahead. And that's when the realization that I had really hurt myself hit. To lift my leg was excruciating. To bend was torture. I moved at a pace that was even slow for Slow n Steady. But I did summit. It was beautiful up there. I could see the towns of Berlin and Gorham on my right and the Great Gulf Wilderness on my left--bustling civilization on one side and the wildest of wilderness on the other, the two juxtaposed at that junction. I slowly and painfully began the descent to the hut. The last mile of any hike is always the toughest, I've found. But this one was especially difficult. There was no real path--only rocks. And some of them wobbled. The pain had gone from bad to excruciating. With each step, the rocks sent crushing pain through my legs and into my spine. It was unbearable. The hut that I could see in the distance seemed unreachable. People on vacation merrily leapt over the rocks on an evening pre-dinner stroll. They passed me, and I hoped they could not see my grimace. A small voice came to me from the foot of the mountain. "Are you all right?" asked a young, blonde haired girl. "I hurt myself in a fall," I explained, trying to sound nonchalant. "I can make it down, though. My name is Slow n Steady, and I'm living up to my name today." "Why don't you leave your pack, and I'll pick it up for you on the way down?" she asked. "That's really nice of you," I replied. "That's why God created young people," she shouted up to me. But I'm sometimes too proud for my own good. "I'll be fine," I shouted back. And so she climbed past me and went on her merry way. I continued my slow progress toward the hut. Soon, I saw Rammy speeding up the rocks toward me. "We got a job," he said happily. "We will be cleaning out their fridge as a work for stay!" "That's great," I replied through clenched teeth as I took another step down. "Take off your pack and let me carry it," he offered. I tried to protest but he would not put up with my front. "Knock it off and gimme your pack," he demanded. I couldn't argue. I handed over my pack and he guided me through the final few rocks to the bottom. Solid ground never felt so good. I entered the warm hut and collapsed on a bench. I was so happy to finally be at the hut that nothing else mattered at that moment. After I regained a bit of composure, I hobbled over to the counter to speak with the hut master. "I'm Slow n Steady. I hear you have a job for us." She then explained that we were to wait until after dinner was served and they had cleaned up. Then we would eat with them and do our chore after our dinner. I offered to do more and thanked her profusely. But she just told me to relax for awhile. And so I spent the time cleaning and bandaging the scrapes I'd received, changing into warmer clothing and eating what was left of the day's snacks. By the time we were to have dinner with the croo, I was feeling revived. After a dinner of hot Lentil soup and homemade bread and cream cheese brownies, Rammy and I began our task of de-icing the fridge. The croo joked around with us and were a lot of fun and the fridge was an easy job. We were done quickly and the croo wouldn't hear of us doing any more. It was so nice to experience the inner workings of the hut and to get to know the croo. The best part was that we had a free place to lay our sleeping bags. I slept well that night, watching the night sky through the large windows from my sleeping bag. Life is good!