Date: 2007-08-17
From: ????

To: Madison Hut
Miles today: 3.0

mi. 3 sleep hut/floordest. Madison Hut day 36 Well last night was only my second night by myself this whole trip. Didn't go too bad. Give me a couple more weeks and I think I lick this whole long nights by myself thing. Sleep wise. Well lets just say good enough and good thing no one was close to me. I tossed and turned a lot to get into a good enough possition. What seemed to work the best is fold the pad in half and put that under my upper body. With my tail bone off the pad. Then I put my clothing stuff sack under my butt. I made it through most of the night this way. By morning my tail bone was yelling at me, but the rest of my body was thinking me. I figured the rest of my body should win out anyways since it is picking up the slack during the day. I made breakfest and packed up. I fit the trail around 7:30. I proceeded down the trail where I went through last night and back tracked. This being my third time over this part. I kept going for awhile. Keep in mind through this whole thing that there are no blazes and small if any notes on signs in this part of the trail. I got to an intersection. I looked at the map. One of the names I could find on the map, the other I didn't. The one I found lined up with the name just before Osgood campsite. So I proceeded on. I got to the next junction. The sign said mt Washington Direct trail 3 miles. Now I was supposed to go over Madison first. Washington was a good 10 or so AT miles away. At this point I knew I was way off. I sat down and looked at the map for awhile. I finally figured out where I was. A good 1.5+ off the AT. I missed the turn at somepoint yesterday. So I backtracked. A few minutes later I ran into a woman hiking. I talked to her and she was actually a northbounder. She was also lost. She thought she was lost, but really far off from where we actually were. So we hiked out together. We talked while we walked. A nice woman from Vermont tht goes by Shiver. I also want to add this is the fourth time I walked this section of trail. We finally got back to the turn I missed. Funny thing. It turned out the trail I needed was the trail I took to take my little swim yesterday. The sign said AT, but was hard to read. I went probibly an extra 5 miles on that little side track both days. Not too big of a deal. I put today's mileage at 3, but it was closer to 7 or 8. It may show up as a nero, but definitly not one. I finally got to the Osgood tent site around 11. I figured after all of that I needed a break. My goal as also to do a big day and go over Madison, mt Washington, and over to lake of the clouds hut. Needless to say 3+ hours after my normal start time, I wasn't going to make it that far. So I decided to take a good break here. I have been carrying some choclate pudding mix and decided this was the best time for it. It actually turned out really well and better than my pistacio pudding. It was the consistancy of the snack packs. I spent about an hour resting and journaling. As I was getting ready to leave the flip-floper Barbarso pulled up. I though he was going to pass me up. He slack packed the last section I did. He said he zeroed the next day though. I talked to him for a couple, than he took off. The hike up Madison wasn't that bad. Above the treeline it was all rocks. But nothing too bad. I did have to stop for a major snack break on the way up. Just before the Madison Hut I talked to a couple day hikers, they said they saw Jason and Karl ahead of me. A couple northbounders backed that up later. They must have passed me in my little side trip or break. No sign of Clay. Hopefully his foot wasn't worse than he thought. I rolled up to the hut to find a group of northbounders and barbarso. I thought there was no way I would get a work for stay. I lucked out. Only Barbarso had one. I went in and talked to the hut people for awhile. They ended up giving me the other slot. I think me going southbound had a lot to do with it. The next hut is 7 miles away and it was well after 3pm. Northbound the tentsite is only 2.5 miles. I got a great chat with a group of northbounders. They had a great video of people properly soluiting the cog. I'll try more about that toorrow when I give it my reguards. So now I am sitting in the bunkroom listening to everyone eat and smelling the food. The worset part is I eat last. But you get what you pay for. They people here seem cooler than the last one. I'm hoping for more and better food. Weather forcast, not so hot. Tonight it is supposed to get into the 30's with chance of rain and possibly snow. This is on the peaks above the treeline. Not to mention the wind. Tomorrow is supposed to be about the same. Today would be a pervect day to go over mt Washington. But I have seen all the views. So maybe I'll get the story going over tomorrow. For those who don't know google mt washington. They have a weather center ontop. It is the place you see on tv in the winter where they throw boiling water in the air and it comes down as snow. It also has the highest recorded land wind speed. Something like 231 mph. It has also recorded snow every calender day of the year. So some nasty weather. It is a big tourist thing. You can drive or take the train up. Best part there is a snack bar up there. If I plan it right, I should be up there for lunch tomorrow.