Date: 2017-07-06
From: Madison Springs Hut

To: Mizpah Hut
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: light rain

At some point on this trip, we'll cross an invisible crucible marking the point where we've done harder terrain than the nobos we've been meeting.I suspect we'll only know this for sure afterwards, but some strong evidence suggesting we might have already passed this point came when I was asking some nobos how fast the trail along the southern Presidential Range would be to Mizpah Hut"It's pretty rough trail, like this," one woman said, gesturing to a broad and slightly rocky tread that I'd have salivated over throughout most of Maine.I couldn't help myself. "This? Rough? This is some of the best trail I've seen in weeks!"And I meant it, even if it wasn't very polite to point it out. Along with the dead-eyed speedster nobos, another sub-group we'd identified among the northbounders is the supercilious know-it-all who talks down to the clueless sobos and I wanted to avoid doing the same thing.All this was in the process of crossing the Presidentials, the highest and potentially most hazardous section of the AT on account of the wild weather this otherwise modest mountain range attracts.Completing it in benign conditions for the 12-mile stretch above the tree line was just one more worrisome stretch we could now or behind us and stop worrying about. This tally had already included Katahdin, the 100 mile wilderness, the Bigelows, the Saddlebacks, Mahoosuc Notch, the rest of the Mahoosucs, the Wildcats etc etc. We're now definitely in the lower part of this list, having crossed one off after another, usually having found the hype failed to match the reality.I thought my chance for a clear summit for Mt Washington had passed with yesterday's clear blue skies.At Madison Springs Hut overnight, the wind had picked up and forced Rare, who was camping outside with Luna, to give up and sleep in the vestibule of the hut instead.Although the hut was in the sun, there was a thick bank of cloud over Mt Washington, 1400ft higher. But as I made my way along the ridge, the clouds gradually lifted until the summit was clear. It still wasn't a patch on yesterday's bluebird day, with a thick layer of cloud hovering above the summit and casting a grey tone over the views, but any day without sleet and 70mph winds on this ridge was one to savour.The trail made its way up to and beside the cog railroad -- the world's oldest, having just predated the civil war -- and AT hiker tradition is to moon the train as it passes to show the disdain at those who get up here without earning the view the way we did.Two trains went past me when I was walking near the line but the passengers were so happy, smiling, waving at us and so clearly enjoying themselves that I just couldn't do it. Soon after that, I stepped up to the summit complex, comprising a visitor centre, museum, post office, viewing platform etc. Others had talked about the shock of walking into this morass of holidaymakers from middle America, and I remembered my own encounters with this kind of thing at Yosemite after the isolation of the Sierra and later at the casino buffets in Tahoe.But it was actually OK and I was more than happy to partake of food I hadn't had to carry, with the summit chili bridging the gap since the last of the blueberry pancakes at breakfast at Madison Springs Hut.There was even a moderate queue for the summit marker photo, so I waited the few minutes to get my photo taken in the shorts and thermal top in which I'd made the ascent. Behind me was a nobo who'd already had his photo taken here when the mountain was socked in and had come back for one now it was clear.The most popular of the AMC huts, Lakes of the Clouds, was just 1.5 miles down the hill to the south and, having been advised about its hiker-friendliness, half contemplated doing work-for-stay there. A sense of work ethic and a forecast for rain prompted me to continue to Mizpah Hut, a little over five miles further and only seven miles out from the road.This was when the nobos told us about the "rough trail". The rest of the way proved to be fast and instead of arriving at 5.30, in the midst of pre-dinner madness, I was there by 4.30, where my request to work for stay was accepted.An hour later, I'd organised the dress-up clothes hamper, arranged the library back into a semblance of order and gone through the toy box to weed out their incomplete sets of cards (four packs out of five) and other useless things like a Yahtzee set with only four of the five dice.Rare, Dirt and Switchback then arrived and also got work-for-stay, which saved me from spending a further hour after dinner with my hands in the sink.Life is good.AT fact of the day: Elena, the woman who seems to be running the show, has not only been to New Zealand but lived and worked there. "Did you ever call the IRD?" This is the kiwi equivalent of the IRS. "I used to answer the phones."