Date: 2010-08-09
From: Madison Spring Hut

To: Lakes of the Cloud Hut
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Slept great in the bunks - rather cozy with 3 wool blankets and a real pillow instead of using my clothes bag as a pillow.Weather blows today...literally - wind gusts up to 50+, visibility around 10-50 ft at times. At one point we couldn't see the next cairn that marked the trail..so we had to wait for the fog to thin to see where to go. We were in the clouds all day. Its not what we wanted to hike up to the famous Mt. Washington - the 2nd tallest peak on the AT. Mt. Washington - dubbed as having the world's worst weather. Changes on a moments notice. 150+ people have died on and around this range. Mostly due to stupidity and unwise choices. Holds the record for fastest wind record at 231 mph. There is a book at all of the huts call Not Without Peril that describes several of the deaths and the circumstances. Not the best choice of reading material as we are hiking over the same mountains that have claimed so many lives. But really - I guess that reading about the guy who first tried to hike Mt. Washington in the winter in the 1800's who froze to death may not be as intimidating since we aren't doing something like that...but them Mo proceeds to tell me about a father and son who were hiking over Mt. Madison (which we did yesterday) in August (which this is AUGUST) and they got caught in a terrible thunderstorm...the father ended up getting blown over and died of hypothermia or something...the son made it 40 yards from the hut we stayed in last night. It took over 2 hours for the croo to make it to the son and bring him in side. And this happened in the 1980's or 90's. Thanks Mo for the story to help me get through the presidentials. So not great weather...the wind would blow hard every once in a while and I would hide by a rock for it to settle down so I could walk without being blown over. All miles between the Mad. Spring hut and Lakes of the Clouds hut are above treeline. So no real protection from the weather. And to make things better...the AMC who maintains this section of the trail sucks at marking the trail. At one point we came to a fork and didn't know which one to take...so we guessed instead of looking at the map. We chose wrong. But it was easy to fix since it took us near the Cog Railroad, which provides trolly's up to the top of Mt. Washington for the cheating tourists...(just kidding, sort of). We were able to follow the railroad back to the trail and summit Mt. Washington.At the top, we were sooo in the clouds, we couldn't even see any of the buildings. Fortunately there were a few tourists up there who pointed us in the right direction and we made it to the visitors center where we got pizza and hot coffee...yum. We ended up chilling there for a couple of hours. 1.5 miles from there we hiked to the Lakes of the Clouds hut to try and get another work for stay. Made it around 5 and they already had all their work for stays...but they did offer us space for $15 per person. Well as it turns out the family who gave us space at the Mad Spring Hut were there two, with another cancellation, so Mo and I both got to be like the real people at another hut. Great experience!! THanks so much David and Krista for the place to crash again! We spent a lot of time with Tami, Krista, Rosie, Erin, Kelly, David, Charlie, and Krista's Dad. It was so much fun to hang out and talk and relax and read and sleep well. They are all from Maine and Mass and each year they take family/friends vacation to the Whites and the huts.