Date: 2017-07-05
From: Gorham

To: Madison Springs Hut
Miles today: 7.8
Weather: overcast clouds

One of the factors involved in preparing for the AT was the recognition that it was likely I'd have many days of hiking in the rain. But I always intended for there to be three exceptions to this: Katahdin, the Presidential Range and Franconia Ridge. Each one involved high mountain ridges that could be dangerous in bad weather, but the real answer was that they were also some of the best views on the trail and it was worth waiting for clear weather. Even so, I couldn't have hoped for better weather for the Presidentials. As Paul from The Barn drove me the eight miles to Pinkham Notch, the view of Mt Washington without a cloud in the sky was something I hadn't seen at any point since leaving the Canadian border more than five weeks earlier.My original plan -- part of my "cruel to the budget, kind to my knees" philosophy -- was to book a night at Madison Springs Hut. Unsurprisingly with a forecast like this, the hut was fully booked and there had been no cancellations.Plan B was to take my sleeping bag and inflatable mat, so I could ask for work-for-stay at the huts. It meant leaving my tent, cooker and most of my food behind and hoping it would all work out.I was feeling a little lethargic after my trek across the Wildcats so I took it slowly across the nearly level trail traversing out into the Great Gulf, on the far side of which the AT followed a ridge to Mt Madison, the easternmost of the Presidentials.After an hour or so, I was overtaken by Mary Poppins, Pouffe and Hot Mess Express, who were slackpacking the Presidentials by hiking with daypacks on the AT to Mt Washington and then hitching down the auto road and back to town for the night. The plan was to hike back up to Mt Washington from the southern AT approach the next day.But while they hiked ferociously fast, they also took equally impressive breaks and when I slowly made my way across the Peabody River bridge, I found them just heading off again. "You guys definitely put the slack into slackpacking," I quipped as they sped off uphill.The cruisey terrain of the traverse came to an abrupt end at the Osgood Campsite, at which point the trail headed directly up with a directness that had exemplified the AT thus far through New England. There was nothing for it but to plod upwards at a steady pace. With the tree line restricting views, the only diversion was meeting some of the summer camp hiking groups that were plying the range, one of which had a unicorn helmet -- a photo is coming -- which I was informed served as the "power object" for the group. I was hoping to learn more but they sped past downhill.Mt Madison is more than 5,300ft, making it higher than Katahdin so even as I emerged from the tree line, there was plenty of climbing still to do. But having the extensive views of a day like this was invigorating and the earlier leaden limbs were long gone. A series of people came past, most amazed at how nice a day it was.I'd been carrying rain pants -- something I hate and rarely use, other than in full mountaineering -- but I was perfectly comfortable just in a pair of shorts and a thermal top. It's always like this, right?At the top of Mt Madison, there were maybe 20 people -- including Mary Poppins and Pouffe, who were in the midst of one of their extravagant breaks. The weather was so extraordinarily calm that black flies were a problem, and they can only fly at 2mph. It really was something special to be up here in these conditions.Madison Springs Hut was only half a mile away so I made my way down and asked if I could do work-for-stay. This is often a tricky balancing act: ask too early and they might send you on to the next hut. Ask too late and they might already have all the helpers they need.I seemed to have timed it perfectly. I was the first to ask about it that day and they were happy to recruit me. Later two nobos, Socks and Alps, along with my sobo colleagues Rare and Dirt, arrived and were also given work for stay. It seemed that this was a particularly hiker-friendly hut -- one of the "croo" was a former AT thru-hiker -- and they were happy for us to sit at our own table in the dining room rather than banishing us outside, as had happened to the thru-hikers at Carter Notch Hut.Earlier that day I'd run into Lucky, an Irish hiker, who said seven of them had done work for stay the night before, intimating that they accept all who ask for it.He also suggested that we were starting to run out of the speed-obsessed dead-eyed nobos. He exemplified this trend by saying he felt bittersweet about finishing and was really enjoying himself. We were plied with plate after plate of leftovers from the previous day and then we were asked to demolish the leftover pulled pork from that evening's dinner. Everyone else present was paying between $93 (for AMC members) and $109 for this, but our payment for all this was about 20 minutes of light cleaning. When we tried to do this as diligently as possible, with the aim of creating a good impression to help the hikers who would follow us, we were advised that "it doesn't have to be perfect".After a truly magnificent sunset, the guests all headed to the bunkrooms and we bedded down in the dining area. With full bellies, a good night's sleep was going to add the perfect finale to an awesome day.Did I mention that life is good?AT fact of the day: Socks, one of the nobos present, said he'd had good experiences at all the AMC huts, to the point that he'd barely touched the provisions he'd been carrying since Vermont. Vermont!