Date: 2006-09-03
From: Madison Springs Hut

To: Hikers' Paradise, Gorham, NH via Pinkham Notch
Miles today: 7.8
Weather: fog

Today I was nearly blown off the trail several times. It was quite an adventure.We arose about 5:30am to clouds and high winds but no rain, and packed up because the room would be needed for breakfast. BigFoot and Veto finished their chore about 7:30am, and we opted to skip breakfast and to head out early at 8am. It was cold, foggy, and very windy, even windier than yesterday's 40 - 50 mph at Lake of the Clouds.Immediately on leaving, the trail headed steeply up Mt. Madison, again over difficult treadway of boulders. About a half mile into the hike, the fog had become denser. We noticed BigFoot wasn't with the group after a trail junction where the direction of the AT was difficult to discern. We decided to wait in the relative calm in the lee of a 6-foot boulder pile. After ten minutes we became concerned he'd fallen, and Veto headed back to check on him. I put on two additional layers and my rainpants to avoid chilling while we waited. It seemed the fog/clouds got denser and wind harder in the 10 minutes GreyGoose and I waited. It must have been gusting to nearly 60 mph. BigFoot had stopped to deal with his pack, lost sight of the group, then headed back the wrong way, in the direction we came from.We decided to stick closer together. Veto led and I was last. Twice the wind blew me down, until I learned not to take big steps among the boulders we walked over. Before long there was occasional stinging on my cheeks as the wind drove sleet as well as drizzle. We couldn't put our packcovers on, as they would have been blown off. Fortunately, my pack was lined with a heavy-duty garbage bag so the contents stayed dry. Veto's glasses had fogged up so much he had to take them off. It was so foggy he had trouble discerning the worn "trail" among the boulders we were making our way over, so we went directly from cairn to cairn (piled-up boulders indicating the way), sometimes missing the trail. The wind sucked the mucous from our noses and it streamed away.It took us two hours to reach a sign indicating we'd traveled just one mile from Madison Hut--a whole 1/2 mph. As we went on, it seemed forever until we descended below treeline to the kremholz (stunted balsams), that offered some protection from the wind. There we had a "pee break" and, apparently the descent had scared the crap out of me, as I had an urgent need to dig a cathole.Even below treeline, the going was slow. As the drizzle was continuing and big drops were falling from the trees, we put our pack covers on. Even though our packs were alreadt quite wet, we figured they'd help keep the contents from getting even wetter.The descent was long and tedious. We reached yesterday's intended destination, Osgood Tentsite, about noon, having traveled only 3 miles. Since it was obvious we would have another short day, we set our sights on Pinkham Notch and the AMC's Joe Dodge Lodge.When we got there about 3pm, there was room for only 3 males and one female. We let the places go to Blacksnake and Lonestar, who came in just after us, and we decided to regroup over cocoa in the lodge dining room.There we met NoPliers and SleepNinja, who'd stayed at Hiker's Paradise Hostel in Gorham NH. They said it was an easy hitch, but one look outside - it was now a downpour - told us we didn't want to hitch. I asked one of the staff about the hostels in Gorham, and she suggested we call Bruno at Hiker's Paradise, as he sometimes shuttles for larger groups. We decided to call, and I used the coin phone in the hiker room downstairs to call. Sure enough there was room for us, and for $10 per trip he'd shuttle us in at 4:15pm. We looked forward to drying out and using the washer and dryer there {it's a motel with a couple of apartments used as a hostel) to get our clothes clean and dry.Hiker'sParadise was great, and FDOM were the only hikers in the apartment/hostel. We got showers, washed and dried clothes, layed out our gear across chairs to dry, and closed the day at 7pm with a steak dinner and dessert of B&Js from the Irving Gas Station convenience store.On! On!