Date: 2004-08-27
From: Nauman Tentsite

To: Osgood Tentsite
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: mist

Bear and I had great intentions of getting up at 6AM and on the trail by 7.With a big day ahead of us, we figured we'd need as much time as possible.Combine that with the rough day the day before and we really needed the extra time.As it turned out, we were up around 6:30 and on the trail about 7:45. It's not as if the temperature was cold, making it difficult to get out of the sleeping bag. Perhaps it was the rough day prior, or perhaps trying to put of the inevitable, a long hiking day.As we climbed up out of Mizpah Hut onto Mt. Clinton I realized, today is my birthday. What a great gift to get, climbing Mt. Washington on my birthday.To make the gift more memorable, the view of Washington from Clinton was great. We got to the peak and had a great view. 30 seconds later the view was interupted by a flow of clouds.The morning progressed fairly easily as we pushed for Lakes of the Clouds Hut. The sun was out, the breeze was blowing and best of all there was a great view of the high point of the day (literally), Mt. Washington.At Lakes of the Clouds, Bear and I opted for some additional calories by consuming some soup. The choices were Pumpkin (which I've never had and sounded a bit strange) or scorched Split Pea. Pumpkin was the decision of the moment. Hell, I needed some calories, it didn't really matter. The soup was more like warmed pumpkin pie filling. Oh well, it was calories, and calories that I didn't have to carry.Soon we were heading northbound on Crawford path, with the destination being the summit of Mt. Washington. Another long climb and one that seemed to be endless. We could see the puffs of black smoke and smell the burning coal from the Cog Railway as we ascended the cone.At 11:51:36AM, I set foot on top of Mt. Washington's summit. The weather was fantastic, 59 degrees and wind at 22mph. There was even a record 24 hour high of 68 degrees. What more can I say.I was accompanied by Bear a few minutes later. Jolly Time was also there (on his way down) and he offered to snap the obligatory photos. The summit is a strange place for a hiker. A hiker works for days to carry him or herself and their gear to top of this massive beast. Once there, he or she is greeted by people who have taken a different route, the Auto Road or Cog.While rewarding, there is a sense of disappointment as well.The views from the top for me do overcome the disappointement. And the fact there is a snack bar, even makes the climb even more worth it.After the photo op, Bear and I made our way to the visitor's center. There we met up with Loon. I haven't seen Loon since back around McAfee Knob. So it was great to touch base with him, as he's a great guy. Bear spent a few days hiking with him a while back, so Bear was pretty happy as well.Next was a stop inside for lunch, were Bear treated me to lunch since it is my birthday. Thanks Bear!! Lunch was very yummy, and again calories I didn't have to carry.As we were waiting in the checkout line, Ladybug joinned us. Bear and I were a bit unsure if she would join us or not. The other day somewhere around Mt.Garfield she had a fall and lost a pole. The next day as we were leaving the campsite, Ladybug told us her intention of going down the mountain to obtain another set of trekking poles and told us to continue on. We exchanged embraces and told her that Bear and I would be on Mt. Washinton Friday morning. We figured she would hike out, get a new set of poles, then jump up to Wasington to join us. The really rough terrain and fact she's missed some other miles as well, we didn't think much of it.We were both pleasantly surprised to see Ladybug and her full backpack on top. She indicated that she rode the Cog up to meet us, let us know that she's going to go back to Galehead were she left the AT, and continue on, then left as quickly as she had shown up.Bear and I were rather baffled at the situation, but had nothing to do but continue on. So after writing a few postcards we decided to head down. We still had around 8.6 miles to go for the day.The hike to Madison Hut was relatively easy. Unfortunately, they had no soup or bread at the hut. So disappointedly we headed out for the nights destination, Osgood Tentsite.The climb down from Madison was incredible. It was more like a rock elevator shaft. While I'm very glad I wasn't going up it, the descent was brutal!! It was the never ending trail.I managed to get to the tentsite prior to sunset, but was cooking by headlamp, again. I hate cooking dinner in the dark! I hope we slow down soon, otherwise I'm going to be hobbling along on raw stumps. Nevertheless, I'm really enjoying the hike. I'm very blessed to be out here! Some of the trail, is better than none of it.