Date: 2007-08-22
From: Madison Hut

To: Stealth Camp Past Carter Notch Hut
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: broken clouds

Cold morning as I climbed out of the cold wet dungeon. I tied up the cardboard I¢d used to lay on the concrete floor and was off to tackle Mt. Madison. The last of the Presidential Range. I knew it wouldn¢t be long before I was sweating as I lugged my 50 lb. load up and over. Giant boulders made up the trail as I ascended and the same for the 3 mile descent. all exposed and windy ridge walking up. Gorham, NH 28 miles in the distance! Thank god I had the booties for Bono or his pads would have been shredded wheat! I¢m glad I took the time to train him and to get him accustomed to wearing them. A key piece of equipment! Too bad they have a couple flaws in their design. First they burned holes in the tops of his paws. Second they are not tall enough to fit over his do claws and also rubs him raw in that location. Came upon a father and son coming down into Pinkham Notch. They moved so far off the trail as if afraid of the dog, so I yelled as I have been for over 1,850 miles, ¢He¢s friendly!¢ and he replied, ¢We are too, but my son is allergic to dogs.¢ I replied back, ¢That¢s too bad, don¢t they make a pill that can cure that?¢ He said (sarcastically), ¢Yeah, a leash!¢ ¢Naw, not my dog. No leash for him.¢ Was my response. He says, ¢Well, you are breaking the law!¢ I was having a bad day, so I ended the conversation with, ¢I feel sorry that your son has to grow up with a jerk for a dad!¢ Narrow minded people. Never to know the joy a dog can bring to them! Crossed NH 16 and headed up Wildcat Mt. Saw my first mice¢s or is it mooses? First a mother and cow right on the trail! At first I thought bear because all I saw was the babies head. Then the big mamma¢s head popped up not more than 30 ft away! I called Bono back as quick as possible, knowing the danger when confronting a mom and her baby. They quietly walked off into the woods. Next, there was another mom and baby swimming in Lost Pond. Mom was in the middle of the swim hole and baby was by the shore next to the trail! I thought to myself, ¢Great, come all this way only to get stomped to death by a 1 ton moose!¢ As we inched our way down the trail to try and get the baby to move, you could see the mom getting agitated and finally she made a call and the baby came swimming back to her. What an awesome sight. I felt so privileged to see! That privileged feeling soon dissipated as I encountered the toughest climb on the AT to date. Wild Cat ¢ appropriately named! So exposed, so steep, so sustained. Didn¢t think I would make it and thought I¢d better turn back! No, must go forward and do this! At some point I had to throw my poles up ahead, pick Bono up and throw him up and ahead all the while trying to balance 50 lbs. on my back standing on a loose gravel exposed ridge. To this day, I know my dad¢s rosary beads and Bono¢s safety medallion delivered us to safety. Finally got to where I thought we ¢topped out¢ and saw a building. The ¢Hut¢ I thought! Bono, we made it! Wrong!!!!! It was the Wild Cat Gondola! I felt bad because I got him excited like I have been when our hike for the day was done. 3 miles to go. At the gondola the trail split in several directions and for awhile the path I took had no blazes! I¢d been on it for 12 an hour and was worried. ¢No, please tell me I¢m on the right trail, PLEASE!¢ Finally, a blaze! Then we climbed again! Wild Cat Mt. Peak A, another 1,000 ft. climb! I know it was at this point I mentally lost it and began literally running up these steep climbs and throwing my dog up these ledges. Finally summited and started the long steep descent. In my mind, I hoped I would break my ankle so I wouldn¢t have to do this any more and everyone would let me off the hook, saying, ¢He didn¢t fail, he got hurt.¢ But I didn¢t break my ankle as I ran down hill with Bono trying to keep up with me. Finally! Carter Notch Hut .03 ahead ¢ ¢Yeah Bono,¢ we made it¢ When I approached the ¢Hut Master¢ about the work for stay deal, she turned me away! It took every ounce of self control at that point not to pull a conniption and lose it! I hiked for over 13 miles with 50 lbs. on my back lifting and dragging my dog up the steepest rock cliffs, ran down 75 degree Mts, dehydrated and a chill in my bones, only to be turned away! Welcome to the White Mt. hut system! I walked away so mad I thought I would explode!