Date: 2016-07-23
From: Lakes of the Cloud Hut

To: Madison Spring Hut
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: clear sky

We had some good thunderstorms move through during the night. By 5:30 morning there were just some residual clouds and a great view/sunrise with Mt Washington. We were waiting until 7:00 to get the daily forecast and had breakfast. The forecast was for mostly cloudy skies with a chance or rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon. By the time we were ready to head up the fog had rolled in. So we headed up in the fog, carens(nicely piled up rocks) lead the way. We made it 1.5 miles by 8:30. Spirit of 76 headed up to the summit and Shutterbug and I checked out a building and some signs. The cloud still covered the mountain so we had no view and the wind was steady putting the windchill into the upper 30s. We found a nice place to take a break and went looking for Spirit of 76 and couldn't find her. We went all around the buildings and she was nowhere to be found. We thought she continued down the trail so down the trail we went. We were unable to find her so decided to go back and check around the buildings again. The fog was thick and visibility poor. I yelled for her and heard her answer. She had gone into the visitors center, we didn't think it was opened yet. We finally found each other. We went in the visitors center and looked around and charged our phones. We had some refreshments and B-Hiker caught up with us. We headed out and were going to be on ridge line above the treeline for the next six miles. The trail was rocky and we were going a little over a mile an hour. After a couple of hours the clouds cleared over Mt Washington and we stopped for a break and enjoyed the view. We got to hiking again and 20 minutes later we heard a rumble. We were heading to Thunderstorm Juncture and up over a the mountain. Soon after the first rumble another crack of thunder much closer got our attention. We got off the ridge, spread out, and knelt down. The rain was coming down and I got my sleep mat out and sat on one end and curved the other end over my head. After about 15 minutes we heard no more thunder and headed up to clear the top as soon as possible. We made it over and were relieved to be heading down. Madison Hut was less than two miles away and we continued at a quick pace. It was clearer on one side of us with dark clouds on the other side. We cleared the next upper ridge and found the view of the hut a quarter mile ahead. There was some more thunder and we continued to the hut. We made it to the hut and the rain picked up as we were heading inside. We got some soup and waited out the storm. We have Mt Madison ahead and need some time to get over it. After a half hour it clearing to one side of us but clouds are still on the opposite side of the mountain we just cleared. We asked the staff about work for stay here and there were ten hikers here so they were going to have to send someone on. There is a stealth campsite a quarter mile down a trail in the treeline. We are thinking about going to it when another storm blows in. Soon lightening hits close with a loud rumble. The girl in charge comes out and tells us that we can all stay. That was the last thunder we heard the rest of the day and it cleared a little before sunset. The turkey they made the guests was gone so they made us some pasta, bread, jam, salad, strawberries, a few mashed potatoes and brownie cheesecake. It was all fantastic and we all ate a lot. My crew, Spirit of 76, Shutterbug, B-Hiker and I did some evening dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. Soon after it was 9:30 and we were off to bed. It was an exciting day for a hike.