Date: 2008-09-03
From: Lakes of the Clouds Hut

To: Osgood Tentsite
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: few clouds

Awakened by the croo cooking breakfast. Took my bedroll outside so I could sleep awhile longer. The sun was coming up, and there was a huge cloud that covered the summit of Mt. Washington. Could just barely see the observation tower through the mist. The sun was a bloody garnet through behind the cloud, which finally split, wrapped its arms around the mountain just below the summit. By the time I¢d stuffed myself full of breakfast, the mountain summit had cleared. I was still limping, but hiking didn¢t hurt as much as it had been hurting. K1 was laughing because I still was passing all the day hikers, even with my injury. Had to stop frequently, chug water, pant¢¦after the first half mile, the altitude began affecting me, and I was having a hard time breathing. The last quarter mile was a real struggle¢¦take ten steps, stop, pant¢¦but I reached the summit, began running around letting out war whoops. The view was remarkable, everything below us, bare ridgeline all around, the lower slopes painted green by pine trees, clouds coming and going, obscuring a peak now and then, the sun dappling the mountains below. Sense of triumph at actually having summited the famed Mt. Washington. Looking at all the tourists, smug in the knowledge that I¢d walked here. Everyone was reluctant to leave the summit, but we finally set off hiking once again, climbing down off the summit over jagged-edged slabs of black rock smeared with neon green lichen. It was a careful balancing act, trying not to step on loose boulders. It¢s an old thru hiker tradition to moon the cog railroad as the train passes, but last year, they began ticketing hikers for their prank, charging them with ¢indecent exposure to a minor.¢ This is clearly ridiculous, and just means that mischievous hikers have to be more ¢creative¢ in their mooning. So, as I was going down the mountain, I tucked my dress up into my hipbelt, leaving my backside (which was still a lovely shade of purple), then went hiking on across the tracks and down the trail. I¢m not certain whether or not the people on the train noticed, but there was a large group of day hikers that I passed, and they were all mortified. We hiked on, around Mt. Clay, the whole ridgeline naked behind us, mountains cascading down into the depths of Tuckerman¢s Ravine, everything green and primordial in the steadily shining sun. How to describe such space, the sheer distance down to the floor of the world below, the overwhelming bulk of the earth below us? It is a thing to great to really express in words, being up above treeline, like brushing the face of God. Stopped at a little trickle of a spring to get water. The day was growing quite hot. Hare, K1 and Medium Rare caught up with us while we were taking a break, sprawled out on a rock , gazing off at the Wildcat Range. We all hiked on as a pack, maneuvering around boulders, over shifting rock and scree, downwards slightly, through stunted pines, bright bunchberries growing here and there. We reached a part of the trail where someone had created a sort of paved walkway, laying down flat stones along the trail. We increased our pace to a trot, quickly coming to the short abrupt descent to Madison Hut. Drank a great deal of water, and wanted to stop for the day, but the hutmaster said we couldn¢t, so we forged on, even though it was already four o¢clock. Madison jutted up just beyond the hut, a steep cone of boulders which we had to scramble up. Tough though it was, I was still enjoying myself. We reached the summit, beginning the infamously steep and treacherous descent as the sun was beginning to get low in the sky, illuminating everything with a tender light. It was slow going, picking our way over loose rocks, little cairns dotting the open ridgeline, guiding our steps. The trail flattened out into a plateau several times, each time resuming the descent until we reached treeline, stiff pines, red loam, the trail growing steeper and steeper. I was tiring quickly, my knees beginning to scream, realizing with horror how high up we¢d really been, and how far down we still had to go. Deciduous trees began to appear, the light grown sickly, the evening drawing to an end. We encountered two foolish overnight campers who were just beginning their ascent, with still and hour or two left to their ascent. Some people just don¢t understand the reality of climbing such huge mountains¢¦I¢m sure they got caught in the dark, and who knows if they were able to find a spot to sleep on the steep slope. We finally reached Osgood Tentsite, a free campground in the heart of AMC territory. It was a nice evening, if a bit cool, so we spread out our sleeping pads on a tent platform. Hare and Medium Rare joined us, and we built a roaring fire and stayed up late joking around. The stars above us were perfect and icy. It was a satisfactory day.