Date: 2018-08-11
From: Stealth camp on Webster Cliffs

To: Mizpah Spring Hut
Miles today: 4.5

The wind stopped blowing during the night and it became very quiet. Three other tents had joined us. Up and out this morning at 7:30am. Temperature was 54 degrees.The trail immediately started to climb and soon turned into a hand-over-hand climb up vertical rocks. All the way up the ridge of Webster Cliffs to the top of Mt. Webster the trail alternated between rocky trail and rocky climb, with a few rocky descents thrown in. A periodic reward was rock outcropping views to the valley below, similar to yesterday's picture. We finally made it to the top of Mt. Webster by 9:30am for our breakfast break. For the first time we had a good view of Mt. Washington, which is today's picture. If all goes as planned we will cross over it the day after tomorrow. After breakfast, we headed down the mountain. Once again it was near vertical in many places. With several more ups and downs to negotiate, we eventually made our way to Mt. Jackson. On top were a croud of dayhikers who had come up a side trail from the valley below. We passed people eating pizza and others eating Subway sandwiches. Hmm... Our nuts and jerky don't look so good anymore! From the top of Mt. Jackson we had an even better view of Mt. Washington with its array of antennas. We could also see our destination, Mizpah Spring Hut, 1.7 miles away...Wahoo!Another steep descent off the mountain and then several ups and downs in a boggy area. We saw a lot of dayhikers in this area. We could tell we were getting close to the hut. We finally arrived a little before 1pm.We checked in and were assigned to bunkroom 5. It has 8 bunks, two high in the room. We grabbed a couple, then went down to the dining room. Our orange card allowed us a free soup, so we took it! Drinks are free for guests, so we enjoyed some lemonade. So now what? Go on a hike?...I don't think so! We walked around the outside looking for chairs or hammocks...nothing. I guess people come here to hike not relax! So we headed back to our bunks and "moved in". We read most the afternoon until the other hikers came back from their dayhikes. Then we got into conversations with them. A big thing in the Northeast is to hike to the top of all 48 mountains over 4,000 ft in New Hampshire. We have met others along the way whom were there doing just that, and this hut was certainly no exception (because several "4,000ers" are nearby).At 5pm we went to the dining room to be more sociable, but were tossed out by the Croo at 5:30pm so they could set the tables for dinner. Dinner was served at 6pm. It consisted of black bean soup, salad, roast turkey with mash potatoes and gravy, green peas and chocolate cake for desert. That was sure better than a freeze-dried dinner. What is amazing is that all of this had to be carried up the mountain on the backs of the staff. They said they go down twice a week, carrying out trash and bringing back food for the next several days. The Croo introduced themselves between the main course and dessert. All are twenty-something and this is their summer job. Most are in college or have just graduated. They rotate cooking, cleaning and set-up chores and seem to really enjoy it since most have been doing this for several seasons.The meal is served family style on long tables set for 14 people. Through the course of the meal you get to know the people around you. Most are here doing 4,000ers. One was a family of 4 getting their kids away from computers and into nature.After dinner we hung around talking for a while then headed to bed at 8pm.The day had started out partly cloudy but had turned to competely cloudy with a chance of rain. We will hope for a change for the better since we will be hiking exposed ridges above treeline most of tomorrow! Milesones: We passed the 100 mile mark of this year's hike. We also passed the 1850 mile mark of our hike of the AT.