Date: 2005-08-29
From: Mizpah Hut

To: Lake of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 4.8
Weather: fog

Day Two in the Presidential Range - another fabulous day on the trail!I was up at 5:30AM thinking that I would get an early start and have a go at doing 12 miles to the Madison Hut thus making up for my short day yesterday. But it didn't work out that way.I had my pack all loaded and ready to go but as I was getting a cup of coffee, other hikers came down and I took advantage of their knowledge of the local trails to try to decide how far I should really expect to go today.The consensus was to hold up after doing 5 miles to the Lake of the Clouds Hut because the 7 miles after that were really tough, especially in bad weather, and I shouldn't expect to average more than 1 mile an hour in that section of trail if the weather was bad - and especially if the rocks are wet. Which they were. That would mean a 12 hour day and arriving about 6PM, possibly missing dinner, and maybe not getting a bunk or - perish the thought - not even a work for stay. Actually, they were unanimous in their opinion, which made me think that maybe I should heed their advice. So, I decided to make it another wimpy hiker day and just do five miles. So I stayed for breakfast, had the hut manager radio-phone ahead to make a reservation for me at Lake of the Clouds Hut, and only then did I start up the trail.I must say that this was one of the nicer hikes I've done, really pretty and very impressive, even though visability was minimal. Before climbing above the treeline, the vegatation was a very dense population of spruce trees, looking for all the world like an over-grown, out-of-control Christmas tree farm. Then, the higher one climbs, the shorter the trees get, just due to the more extreme weather conditions. Once you get above treeline, the vegatation is mostly just ground cover, but an interesting combination of green fern-like plants with red berries, dwarf evergreens, and grasses that are green close to the ground but brown thereafter- all contrasting with the rugged, rocky trail and granite out croppings.The weather was marginally better than yesterday, still totally overcast, 100% humidity and misting but at least not the pouring rain of yesterday. Visability, however, was limited to a distance of about 20 yards. With rain, it would have been less, so I was just as glad I had not tried to hike this section yesterday.The trail itself wasn't that bad, so I made relatively good time, arriving at the hut at about 11AM. Embarassingly early, but I reasoned that doing another 7 hours, over very rocky trails, would not help my knees one bit. My right knee has been complaining more than usual recently and would no doubt benefit from a few shorter days.So I checked in, got my bunk assignment, and started to unload my pack. That was when I realized that my pack cover was missing! My pack, as a result, was soaked, but fortunately nothing inside the pack was wet since I keepeverything in baggies or sil-nylon bags. No harm done, but I realized that I was kind of attached to that pack cover. It's my blaze orange hunter-safety cover that I bought through the ATC and have carried it with me every day since Springer Mountain. Thinking back, my best guess was that it got pulled off my pack as I went through the dense pine tree grove, since it would take more than just the heavy winds at the summits to get it to come off. I was hoping that someone hiking behind me might pick it up and bring it along, but the next several north-bound arrivals said they hadn't seen it. Then a college orientation group came in, and they said they had seen it but thought maybe it was from a south-bounder, so they had left it where it was. The next hiker in the door, however, who thought it might have belonged to one of the college kids, had picked it up and brought it with him. I was thrilled, and told him he had made my day! A good omen, on a day when I was still feeling a bit down about my short day.Things got better soon after that when Easty and Goosebump showed up. They had planned to go on to Madison Hut, doing the 12 mile day I had opted out of. After a couple of bowls of soup and some tea, however, and after consulting their maps and talking to the hut manager about the next 7 miles of trail, they TOO decided to call it a day. YESSSS! I'm NOT the only wimpy through-hiker, after all. Life is good. Slow, but good. Now if the hut just had cable tv....By 4:30, a large number of other guests had shown up, along with a number of additional through-hikers. The later included Thrifty, Peas and the Cheek, Hitman, The Honeymooners, a couple of OBOs whose names I didn't catch, and finally Mouth and his gang - Gypsy Lulu, Touk, Tink, and Cuppa Joe. While I was really glad to see so many old friends, they were mostly ones who were intentionally taking it easy so as to prolong their AT experience - and the fact that they had caught up to me was not a good sign! Still, like yesterday, I am satisfied that I am hiking my hike, a smart hike, and a safe hike, so I'm prepared to let the miles fall where they will. I'm sure the pace will pick up after the Whites, so I'm just not going to let the Milage Monster get to me. And I have to say that it has been good to relax for a couple of afternoons in a row. Today I was putting together a picture puzzle with Easty and Goosebump, and then starting a game of Trivial Pursuit with the rest of the gang - interupted by the need to clear the dining romm tables for dinner. I could get used to this... Stay tuned, Longhaul------------------------------Sent via PocketMailEmail Anywherewww.pocketmail.com