Date: 2017-08-12
From: Lakes of the Clouds Hut

To: Rattle River Lodge and Hostel
Miles today: 15.0

Last night after lights out in the common room a group of eight guests stayed and kept all of the hikers awake with lively French conversation and laughter and headlamps for an hour. Even after being asked to keep it down they didn't take the hint. Amazing how they could be completely oblivious (or uncaring) that fifteen exhausted people are trying to sleep around them. Despite that I eventually sleep well and I'm up and packed by 5:45. It rained overnight and the hut is completely fogged in. Fifteen other thruhikers are still snoozing on the floor, benches, and in hammocks strung between columns. The croo is making breakfast in the kitchen and guests start to tiptoe through the hiker camp to the bathrooms. Within an hour the place is bustling with guests and thruhikers making plans and eating breakfast. I hang around til 8:30 to get my grub and then straighten up the bunk rooms. There are 96 bunks. It was a full house last night on top of the record 25 thruhikers. While I'm making up bunks the morning fog suddenly blows through and we get a view of the valley and Mt Washington. By the time I'm done chores the fog is back. Forecast is iffy as always up here: moderate wind and temps but possibility of showers and severe thunderstorms. Expect to be "in the clouds under the clouds". In other words, no view and you'll get wet.I leave at 9:30. Work for stay is not the best plan for getting an early start. The hike up Mt Washington is through fog with 200 foot visibility. The landscape is alien, the only living things are lichen and hardy grass. The sun is teasingly visible through the fog. Suddenly the radio towers loom high above. I come up to the summit but can only make out things near me. I get my picture at the summit. As I turn towards the visitor center the clouds suddenly drift away and we get a great view of the valley and Mt Jefferson. There is no 110-mile view but this is far more than I expected. The cog railway chugs up the hill to pick up passengers. The crowds seem thin for an August Saturday and it's a pleasure to walk around. Of course the snack bar gets a visit. It's been, what, 90 minutes since second breakfast?After an hour of awesome views I reluctantly put the pack on and head down the Gulfside trail towards Mt Clay. The trail follows the rim of the Great Gulf, a steep valley north of Washington. I watch the cog railway cross the trail while I call a hostel in Gorham to arrange a stay. I forget that thruhiker tradition is to moon the railway cars. Just as well. Not sure I could have gone through with that. The landscape is entirely alpine as I pass Clay, Jefferson, Adams (Sam, John, and Quincy) and finally Madison. It goes from scattered rocks on gravel to fields of boulders. Adams and Madison look like piles of rubble. Fog swirls around the valleys but visibility remains excellent. At one point I watch curtains of fog from north and south encircle us on Jefferson, slowly closing together. Mt Washington goes in and out of view all day. Jefferson is covered in fog when I pass, so I skip the side trail to the peak. I pass innumerable dayhikers and weekenders staying at the huts. Some seem like old hands, others look way out of their depth. I pass only a small handful of southbounders, while playing leapfrog with the same 20-30 northbounders I've seen for the last couple days. Amazingly I'm moving fast over this rocky, bouldery terrain, about 2.5 miles an hour. Rock hopping on dry rocks is a breeze. For a while the trail circles Adams and I'm walking at an angle to the trail to stay upright as I hop from rock to rock. I'm loving it as I fly across the rocks. The people I'm passing don't look as thrilled, as they look for flat places to step and find few.I pop in to Madison Spring Hut for a snack before the last big climb up Mt Madison. It's nothing but a jumble of pointed boulders. It's great. Down the other side it's a little less fun as I worry about a mistep and a twisted ankle or worse. Then I dip below treeline for the first time in 16 miles. The trail takes a nosedive, dropping 1800 feet in one mile. Could be the steepest mile of the entire trail. Near the bottom I meet a group of young campers and their college-aged leaders. They want to climb to the summit, or at least get a view above treeline. I try to tell them what they're in for without discouraging them, but with only a few hours of daylight I don't want to encourage them either. The leaders seem perky, but I'm not sure they've thought this through. I leave figuring the campers look ready to revolt anyway. I rush through the seven mile descent from Madison into Pinkham Notch to get picked up by the hostel, which is 14 miles away. I'm flying at 3 miles an hour and passing every thruhiker but I'm too late. So I grab another snack at the visitor center and start walking up Rt 16 with my thumb at the ready. A family picks me up. Mom, dad, and grown daughter just dayhiked Mt Washington on the Tuckerman Ravine trail. They drop me off in Gorham, ten miles away. The hostel will pick me up on their return trip from Walmart. I have an hour to get dinner. Belly full of Italian, I'm on my way to the rendezvous point, ten minutes early, and stop to photograph the town. I catch the hostel van in the picture, passing me by! Fortunately Jim the driver sees me - no other hikers on the sidewalks at the moment - and turns around. The van is packed with hikers returning from resupply. We return to Rattle River Lodge and Hostel and I get my shower and laundry and get to relax on a couch for the first time since leaving home. Tomorrow Jim will drop me off at Pinkham Notch and I will march 21 miles across the Wildcats and Carter mountains back to the hostel, which is at the Rt 2 trailhead. The following day I'll continue north and hopefully reach Maine.