Date: 2011-09-07
From: Lakes of the Clouds Hut

To: Perch Shelter
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: fog

Oy. Today started out well then went to hell. We got up at about 6:00 and hung out while the crew served breakfast. After which, they put on a hilarious skit based on Silence of the Lambs. Adam, who¢s built like a horse, played Clarice, complete with mop-head wig. After much cheering, we got breakfast leftovers. I had oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins. Then Adam got Torch, Mojo, and me for our work. We put mattresses, pillows, and three blankets folded hot dog, hamburger, hamburger on all the bunks, then swept out all the rooms and the hall. It was really satisfying to do manual labor in exchange for a roof and food. Adam also said how much he enjoys feeding people.The weather was miserable, so even the evening-work hikers lingered until 10:00. It was raining and crazy windy. The crew was also doing their resupply, so we all left together at about 10:15. Those guys have these crazy wood frame packs with just shoulder straps. They carry trash up Mount Washington then supplies back down. They carry up to 100 pounds at a time. I stopped almost right away to lose a layer and got to the back of the line, out of sight of the others. It was only 1.5 easy miles to all the stuff at the summit, but it was crazy weather and hard to see. I was pretty much walking to one cairn then the next. Even in that weather there are still tourists up there in jeans and t-shirts, which is weird. Inside the snack bar, most of the thru-hikers and crew were sitting together. I got cleaned up and got some food, then noticed Torch wasn¢t there. No one else had seen him since we left, which was bad news because he¢d been between them and me. The hut master, Ben, was also worried. There¢d been some side trails, so we figured he¢d gone off on one of those. With the summit so close, we figured he¢d realize his mistake pretty quick. But two hours went by, so I started really worrying. I finally went to the ranger at the desk and told him what happened. He said they wouldn¢t launch search and rescue unless Torch didn¢t show up at Madison Hut that night, so I gave him his description and info. Naturally, Torch came in right after that. He¢d gotten off on the wrong trail and took a while to get sorted out. Which was totally understandable. It was really tough to see anything out there. After all that, we didn¢t get out until after 2:00, which was stupid. The terrain was tough but the weather was a lot better once we were off Washington. With three miles to go, it looked like we were going to just make Madison before dark, but then we got slowed by the terrain. There was a trail juncture in a bit of a gap that we should have just stopped at. It was at about 5,000 feet, but pretty well protected from the wind. It was pretty obvious that we weren¢t going to make it. But we pushed on to the next juncture, which was with the Israel trail. Ben had showed it to us on the map that morning because there¢s a cool shelter a mile down. It only saved us 0.6, but it was down and a safe place. If we¢d got caught high after dark and clouds rolled in, we¢d have been in real trouble. We wouldn¢t have been able to see the cairns at all, and the trail¢s all just rock.It was a solid hour down slippery rock to here, but it¢s well below treeline and warm. We¢re both on tent platforms because there are college kids in the shelter. I was really angry the whole way down here, but I¢m just relieved we¢re safe. It¢s one thing to kick myself for night-hiking in Virginia, but today was really dangerous.