Date: 2014-08-28
From: Lake of the Clouds Hut

To: Madison Hut
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: clear sky

In which I started and ended my day in the clouds. I also battled the wind and the wind won.Last night was a beautiful night in the hut. We all hung out until 930pm when we could set up on the dining room floor and go to sleep. I set up in the corner hoping to escape the snorer. The stars were beautiful to begin with then the clouds overtook them. The wind howled all night too rattling the antennas on the roof top. It reminded me of the wind roaring during hurricanes in South Florida. The windows were also rattling and rustling all night long. The temperature continued to plummet and there was large amounts of condensation on the windows this morning.I was awake and packed up by 0600. The guests were fed at 0700 and we got the leftovers of oatmeal, eggs, hash browns and coffee. Delish! It was chore time so I swept out the bunkrooms, wiped tables and stalled waiting for the clouds to clear. They were not clearing! The wind gusts were predicted to be up to 70 mph, the summit temps were in the 20s, 40s here at the hut, visibility was 50-100ft. That was as good as it was to get today. This was pretty intimidating, especially since so many people die on this mountain! But it was almost 1100, do or die time. No pun intended!I stalled long enough hoping the weather would clear. It did not. It was time to commit and go. So I did and was off to an ominous start. I was being battered by the wind. It was sleeting at times. I could see my feet ahead of me and not much more. The path to the summit was all rocks marked by cairns which were rather hard to see. I set my eye on the cairns relying on them to guide my way and trudged on. The climb was slow going. One mile point four to the top which seemed to take forever. It was really cool though hiking through the clouds. The weather station at the top looked like some kind of monster. I finally found my way to the summit sign and got my obligatory picture. I was so cold I could no longer stand it outside. Thank heavens for the Visitor's Center inside and snack bar!Lost Boy and Messy were just leaving so I got their table next to an outlet and charged my phone. I couldn't get any signal to send or receive texts. That was disappointing. I got a cup of coffee, a piece of pizza and a cinnamon roll to eat while I was waiting for the weather to clear, which it didn't, and my phone to charge some. The train came and went. Tourists boarded and unloaded. It was a different, foreign world up top here. People all over the place. A little too overwhelming in my opinion. Time to leave this craziness (because hiking in 70 mph wind gusts and sleet was more sane to me).So after a nice long break I headed out into the foggy, cold, windy weather with RW ahead of me. I was getting blown all over the place. I could not walk a straight line and just when I adjusted for the wind blowing me one way it would stop and I would fall back in the other direction. It was a good exercise in balance or entertaining to watch I'm sure. This was even more tricky because most of the hiking was from rock to rock through a boulder field. Even the boulders were moving too.It was a beautiful walk down the mountain in the fog watching the train go down the cog railway. The clouds would temporarily raise their curtain and reveal a peek of the sunny, green landscape below. It was a different world up here above tree line, breathtaking in its own way.The next climb was over Mt. Clay and Mt. Jefferson. These were slow going rock climbs in the wind and sleet. I was bundled up in my layers and rain gear and was still cold. I just had to keep moving. Any break I took was very short lived, long enough to stuff food in my face and move on. My snickers bar I was intending on eating even froze!Plan A for the day was to hike to the campsite beyond Madison Hut. That was not going to happen. I only hiked 7 miles. The last 5 miles took over 5 hours to complete which lead me to Plan B. That plan was to show up at Madison Hut and see if I could do a work for stay. They were full up! They did however let me sleep on the floor for chores and I had to cook my own dinner. That was perfectly fine by me because I was so cold and tired at that point I just wanted to crash. The last descent to the hut was killer. It was very steep, straight down fine rocks like gravel that I often slid down. That was very nerve racking.I cooked my dinner outside in a niche on a trail sheltered from the wind below the shrubs. It was starting to sleet again. I boiled my water, poured it into my food to rehydrate and quickly ran back inside the hut to eat. There were 8 of us sitting around the table, Lost Boy and Messy, Mason, Mystic Pony, Rw and 2 Canadian kids. In the end we all got to eat food, then I scrubbed some pots and ate peanut butter chocolate bars.My left knee, right quad and left ankle are feeling it today. It's time for aleve now that my belly is full. I loved every minute of today even though it was a tough day with the wind and weather. I conquered it! I'm safe and warm in my quilt finally listening to the chatter all around me. Life is good!