Date: 2006-08-21
From: Crawford Notch

To: Lakes of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: fog

Well, I won¢t use the fertilizer vernacular usually reserved for this kind of day, but it was one of those. Bama was finally able to get out of Bretton Woods at Crawford Notch and she, FDR and Pi got back on the trail for what was to become a miserable day hiking toward Mt. Washington.First Mt. Webster, then Mt. Jackson and finally to the AMC Mizpah Spring Hut. The weather fluctuated between nasty and overcast and nasty and raining. As one point, she swore she felt sleet hit her ¢ very possible as it can snow on Mt. Washington any month of the year. The front that was supposed to move off the New England coast after morning didn¢t. When they reached the hut, they ran into a caretaker whose mood was as foul as the weather and he told them there was no room ¢ period. Bama really didn¢t know what she was going to do. Sleeping outside on the tent site was out of the question.FDR and Pi decided to hike on to the AMC Lakes of the Clouds Hut at the foot of Mt. Washington, about four more miles up trail, past Mt. Clinton (4,310 ft) and Mt. Franklin (5,004 ft). Bama decided to go with them - actually she had little choice. It was wet, slippery and there was often zero visibility. Negotiating the trail required following (if you could see or find) the rock cairns that had been constructed as there were no trees on which to put the blazes. The wind above tree line was 30 mph and with higher gusts (according to the weather station on top of Mt. Washington). The wind was literally blowing her off her feet. Bama had a number of slips and falls - fortunately, nothing serious. Bama says if nothing is broken or bleeding, it¢s a good fall.However, there was one terrible loss. Somewhere about a half-mile north of Webster Cliffs after Crawford Notch (before Mt. Webster), she lost her digital camera. A hiker who saw it, but did not pick it up, said it was near some tree roots ¢ probably where Bama had taken off her pack to take a break. Now cameras can be replaced, but not the pictures she had hiked so far to take and worked so hard to get. She kept it in a small, black leather pouch with a snap strap. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S600 (I think) camera was a little bigger than a deck of playing cards. Maybe someone will find it and turn it in to one of the AMC huts or offices. It¢s the memory card that¢s most important.Bama wasn¢t hiking as fast as FDR and Pi and she told them to hike on without her. She knew that Montreal and Snickers were behind her if something bad happened. She finally reached the Lakes of the Clouds Hut and was overjoyed to find that there was room. The ¢Croo,¢ as the AMC hut volunteers are called, said she could work for stay. Ordinarily, rooms are $79. This is a tradition for thru-hikers, but there are usually on a few openings for the trade-out. Lakes of the Clouds Hut is big, one of the biggest in the Whites, accommodating up to 90 visitors so there was plenty of work to do.Ben, the Croo supervisor, was the perfect gentleman and very nice. His Croo was the best and friendliest that she had met yet. There was a full-house of paying guests stranded in the hut, milling around and bored. At least everyone can eat and contemplate what to do tomorrow, assuming the weather lifts and they can summit Mt. Washington¢s 6,288 ft. Tomorrow¢s plan is to get past Mt. Washington and on to the AMC Madison Spring hut, about 7 miles away.UPDATE: Bama said that she had many great moments to relate about the stay, but she would enter them at some point in the future when she had time.Bill