Date: 2005-06-10
From: Lakes of the Clouds

To: Lost down some blue-blaze
Miles today: 7.0

Since the hut was half empty, I was allowed to sleep in a bed just like the paying guests and I have a bunkroom all to myself. I wake up at 5:30 and I get the brilliant idea of skipping a gourmet breakfast at the hut and hitting up breakfast on the summit of Mount Washington instead. Lakes of the Clouds is just 1.5 miles below Washington, so I¢m at the summit by 7:15. Or so I think. The clouds are so thick I have just 10 feet of visibility. Yesterday I could see multiple buildings and weather instruments from the hut, today I am walking around blindly looking for the summit house. I¢ve been told many a hiker tale about walking up Washington to mobs of tourists who had driven up or taken the railway. Not this morning! Not a soul is around, and the summit house is not open despite what my guidebook says. I put on some layers and nestle into a building corner out of the wind (10-degrees by the Leki-meter). I cook a breakfast of mac and cheese and make coffee, passing time and staring into the cloudy abyss. Occasionally I get a view of some picnic tables 20 feet away, but that¢s it. Finally a worker opens the door at 8:00 and I can get inside. There is a Backpackers ¢Drying Room¢ where I ditch my pack. The building is now open, but nothing else is open. The museum, stores, and snack bar open at 9, so I pass some more time calling people and saying ¢Hi, I¢m at the top of Mt. Washington!¢Then some familiar faces start trickling in: the smart people that stayed down at the hut for breakfast. Meanwhile, the clouds dissipate and there is a view! I grab my camera and race to the summit which I can now see! Now I can see three large buildings, an observation deck, railroad tracks, a parking lot, and a view.I leave the summit around 10, after a museum tour and a resupply from the snack bar. Yesterday I saw the Southern Presidentials in clear sky; today I experience the Northern Presidentials in and out of cloud cover. Both equally impressive. I am walking above the clouds and occasionally they rise up and pass right thru, at eye level! Unusual lighting and constant changes in scenery again has me walking along with my mouth open and camera out every five minutes! This is great, but it is obvious that rain is in the future, so I push along. Lots of slow rock hopping north of Washington, I cover 6 miles in 4 hours.I climb up Mt. Madison, which is all boulder scrambling. The route is marked with gigantic cairns. By now the sky is real dark, and on the decent it starts to downpour. Sheets of rain! In a few minutes I am drenched and the boulders are slicks. I have my eyes locked on my feet and the ground. Maybe that is how I missed my turn. I remember standing at a junction at the top of Madison. White blazes are few and far between in the whites, and often the trail junctions are labeled with the local trail name, not ¢AT.¢   I went left when I should have gone right.   I only went .5mile out of my way when I realized my mistake. But by now there is lightening and thunder and it is no longer safe to back track to the exposed summit of Madison. I continue down the wrong trail to seek shelter. A mile later I am out of the alpine zone and in the trees. The thunder is so close it sounds like splintering wood. It¢s time to throw up the tent. It is still down pouring.I believe I¢m having a mental meltdown:Everything I own is drenched.I want town.I¢m not really sure where I am.