Date: 2007-09-01
From: Lakes of the Clouds Hut

To: Madison Spring Hut
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: fog

In the ClearAll the guests were up at 6:30, but I slept in since I was eating breakfast with the hikers. When I got up to pee in the early am, the skies were clear and the stars were shining. When I got out of bed the clouds had rolled in again and visibility was less than 1/16 of a mile. We ate leftover eggs and oatmeal for breakfast and got bundled up to brave the climb up to Mt. Washington at 6288ft. The outside temp at the hut was 39 degrees with 35mph wind and gusts up to 60. The wind chill was in the low 20's. I put on my wind pants for the first time since the smokys, wore my warm jacket, and put my rain jacket over that. I also had my hat and gloves on. I put my pack cover on since the clouds made everything damp. I made sure to tie a string around it so it wouldn't blow off my pack. Game on and I left the hut at 9 and started the 1000ft climb. A few min from the shelter we passed a sign that warned of the worst weather in America and to make sure we were prepared for the climb. !That made us feel pretty tough. The wind was so strong I had to lean in to it or risk being blown over sideways. At first we were super cold, but the climb soon warmed us up. On the way up the mountain the skies opened up twice, giving a brief view of the summit.At the summit we were overwhelmed by even stronger wind and a crazy amount of tourists. Game on and I took our summit photos in front of the sign and then went into the summit house to get warm. We found our buddies sitting at a table and went to join them. Every 20min or so the clouds would briefly clear giving a view of the valley below. We hung out up there for almost 4 hours since the afternoon was forecast to be clear. I got lunch, mailed some postcards, and called ken and my parents. At 2pm I had enough of the overwhelming amount of people and decided to hike out. There is a road that goes right to the top as well as the cog railway. Kinda kills the vibe up there, but it was still cool.I bundled up again and went outside. I walked back up to the summit sign one last time and was amazed to see the clouds starting to blow away. I got a view of the rest of the presidential range for the first time and was awed by their greatness. I went over to the weather observatory where the highest land speed wind (231mph) was ever recorded by man. A gust almost blew me over, but I braved it to see the view. I started hiking down and to my amazement all of the low clouds blew over and we were blessed with a sunny day and at least 50 mile views. The wind was still blowing hard, but the sun warmed us a bit. The trail crossed the cog railway tracks and I was disgusted by the mess the railroad caused. There was coal all over the beautiful alpine areas and a dirt road carved out next to the tracks. The black smog from the train engine fills the air with dense black puffs of smoke. I can't believe that thing is still allowed to operate! The rocky trail went around mt clay then t!o mt jefferson. Game on and I decided to be blue blazers and climb jefferson on a side trail which made us miss like .4 of the AT. I didn't mind since we actually made the trail harder. The view of washington from mt jefferson was breathtaking. We could see the franconia range and mt kinsman in the distance too. We descended mt jefferson back to the AT and rock hopped our way around mt adams to the madison spring hut. We were tired and my knees hurt so we decided to try and stay. We went inside and asked for work for stay. There were already 8 hikers there, but they said yes anyway. We all hung out in the back room while the guests ate, then got our turn. We devoured the leftover ham, rice, pasta, soup, corn, and cake. My work for stay was to scrape the ice out of the freezers and wash them down. I had a lot of fun doing it since everyone else was in the kitchen too scrubbing pots and pans. The croo girls played some good music for us and we passed around a bottle of whiskey. After we were done working and the lights went out all the hikers slept on the dining room tables, benches, and floor. The wind still howled outside! I am a super hut slut now! 4 huts? At least I'm getting fed well!Today's StatsStarting Point:Lakes of the Clouds HutEnding Point:Madison Spring HutMileage:7.0Elevation Gain:4470ftElevation Loss:4770ftHiking Time:5:15Weather:Foggy COLD windy morning, Clear Cold windy afternoonPain Factor:4