Date: 2006-08-15
From: Mt. Washington/ Pinkham Notch Joe Dodge Lodge

To: Lakes of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 1.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Oh, I slept so sound and warm last night. Paying for the lodge was worth it. I feel much better than yesterday. I think I may even be ready for breakfast. So I pack up and get to breakfast early. My nobo buddies from Madison are at the dining hall and are surprised to see me. I explain to them why I am there and Crake, who also ate the sausage, was perfectly fine. No stomach illness for him. So I guess my system just didn't agree with that type of food or it was the cheese I ate with the sausage. It's nice to visit with them again. I think they are a little disappointed that I am not accepting the trail name that they came up for me, but I just don't think that the essence of my hiking has anything to do with Alpacas. I try to eat as much breakfast as I can considering that I ate hardly anything yestersay after 2, but my stomach seems to have shrunk.The shuttle comes to pick me up and take me to the Auto Road Center. I wait there for about thirty minutes for the shuttle back up to Mt. Washington. One good thing about getting sick is that I got to experience riding up the 7 mile Mt. Washington Auto Road and seeing all four vegetation zones of the mountain. As we gain elevation, the views cease and we are enveloped in a cloud. When Mararet the driver drops me off, it is cold and very windy with no visibility. I head into the observatory building, find a table to sit at and write emails while I wait for the clouds to lift. There are two other hikers in there and I talk to them a bit. The girl is Tortoise and I have heard of her from both Uber Dude and Crake. The fellow is Grey Fox. Eventually, they head out to hike north. A few minutes later they are back inside. The wind gusts are two strong. About an hour later, the clouds start to lift. I head outside to get a summit picture. The wind about knocks me over. I get some pictures and then head over to the observatory platform. The wind is gusting so hard; its fun to walk into it and have it push you backwards. But its cold, so after photo ops, I go back inside to warm up. The nobos decide to brave the wind now that they at least have views. I am still not feeling quite up to par in the tummy department so I decide to wait it out a bit longer. I think that I will just go to Lakes of the Clouds Hut and give my system more time to recuperate.About 2:30, I make my way down the mountain toward the hut. Its a pretty easy hike but for some reason my left ankle feels tweaked. I don't know why as I haven't turned it in days maybe even weeks. The view is pretty as I approach the hut and I sit and enjoy it for a while before going inside. I sign up for work for stay and go and take some pictures. Back inside, I enjoy perusing past and present hut registers.Dinner tonight is lasagna. Its not as good as mom's but now that I can eat without being sick, its pretty filling. I eat salad, bread, vegetable medley, and a gingersnap. There are some other hikers here doing work for stay and we play rummy until its almost lights out. This hut is bigger than Madison and so I get to sleep on a built into the wall bench instead of the floor. And its warmer in this hut too!