Date: 2004-08-11
From: Lakes of the Clouds Hut, NH

To: Day 115: NH 16 at Pinkham Notch, NH
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: fog

On AT Day 115 I got up at 4:00 a.m. and went out to hit the trail just before 6:00 a.m. Exiting the Lakes of the Cloud¢s Dungeon I was confronted with light rain, thick fog and gusting wind and temperatures in the low 50¢s. This made me a bit apprehensive, but the weather forecast had only called for rain in the morning so I thought it was safe to proceed. However, within 50 yards of the Hut, the AT passed an ominous large yellow sign with the following stern warning, ¢STOP. The area ahead has the worst weather in America. Many have died of exposure, even in the summer. Turn back now if the weather is bad.¢ So here I was at 6:14 a.m., standing in the rain, looking up at a cloud enshrouded route to the summit wondering if I should retreat to the Dungeon or take a chance and press on. What to do???I knew that I had a great set of rain gear (much of which I had earlier tested a year earlier on what appeared to be much worse conditions on my expedition summit climb of the snow and glacier enshrouded 14,410-foot Mount Rainier), several sets of dry thermal underwear, a 15-degree down sleeping bag, my trusty tent, lots of extra food, and more, so I decided to be adventurous. Besides, if I didn¢t make it up and over the summit and back down to the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center parking lot, my wife would be worried. How¢s that for an irrational rationalization!Shortly after passing this sign, the trail went between the two Lakes of the Clouds and then began its steady, 1.4-mile, 1,300-foot climb to the 6,288-foot summit. Looking up toward the summit I could see that the Crawford Path was marked both by yellow and white blazes and large cairns that were often capped by large quartz rocks giving the appearance that the route had street lights. This attention to trail marking should have been an additional warning sign for me, but as climbed the weather actually seemed to improve for a while, with the sun even making a brief appearance lighting up the Lakes of the Clouds Hut and Mount Monroe.Unfortunately when I looked back again about 10-minutes later, not only was the sunshine gone, so was all views of anything 30-feet or so below the trail. The same was true as I looked toward the summit, but by this time I had already gone nearly a mile, so I figured it would be much quicker to make a dash for the summit than retreat to the Hut. Besides it was no longer raining and it wasn¢t all that cold and I figured that there were buildings on the summit and probably some people so if the conditions were really bad I could probably find emergency shelter. So I continued to climb, searching out first one cloud enshrouded cairn and then another until I finally reached the summit.I didn¢t know I was actually at the summit until I nearly bumped into one of the many metal towers used for weather testing. The weather conditions at the summit were impressive to say the least. The wind was blowing at perhaps 30-miles per hour, the visibility was limited to about 30-feet and the temperature had dropped to the upper 40¢s. To make matters worse, I couldn¢t find where the AT¢s Crawford Path leaves off and the AT¢s Gulfside Trail begins, so I took refuge out of the worst of the wind next to the Yankee Building. After standing there for perhaps five minutes, however, I decided that it would be better if I further explored my surroundings for better options.I soon found the Summit House with its food service facility, bathrooms and observation deck ¢ all of which were closed since it was still only 7:15 a.m. At this facility I also ran into another backpacker who told me that he had come to the summit following the Alpine Trail and that he was waiting for food service facility to open so he could get some hot tea. We chatted for a while and then he tried, in vain, to help me find where the AT continues northward from the summit. After returning from this failed recon trip we met one of the staff people who worked at the Mount Washington Weather Station and he was kind enough to not only show me where the ¢official¢ summit was located, but also the trailhead I was seeking. He then warned me that I would pass many trail junctions as I descended from the summit so I should stay attentive. The fact that he did not also warn me to not leave the summit because of the harsh weather, gave me confidence that it was probably safe to proceed. So after taking the requisite summit photo (I had to hand-hold my camera as it was too windy to perch it atop my little tripod.), I began the steep climb down from the summit by scrambling over one large boulder after another and all the while fighting the heavy wind and trying to find and then keep the next cloud enshrouded cairn in site.About 0.3-miles from the summit, I was forced to climb up and over the elevated tracks of the famous ¢world¢s first mountain climbing cog railway¢ that has been bringing visitors to the summit for over 135-years. From there the trail continued to descend steeply over a very rocky path to the Clay-Washington col where it junctioned with a side loop trail leading over the 5,532-foot summit of Mount Clay. The rocky path of the AT then began a short, but relatively steep climb toward its junction with another side loop trail, this time over the 5,715-foot summit of Mount Jefferson. As before, I skipped both of these side loop trails. The trail then descended sharply and I soon stopped to eat my morning snack in the comparative shelter of a small patch of stunted spruce trees.As I later skirted around Mount Jefferson, and at several other spots thereafter, I was met by at least five squads of young US Army soldiers hiking in matching shorts and T-shirts and relatively light packs. In each case they were incredibly polite (lots of ¢yes sirs¢ in their answers to my greetings and queries), cheerful and seemingly impressed with my fitness and pack weight. Following the final group I met three much older soldiers, presumably the commanding officers, and when I joked that it was interesting that they were following and not leading, they all laughed and noted the obvious age (and fitness?) differences.After continuing to descend to another col, I followed the trail up along a narrow ridge before it reached a grassy saddle between Mount Sam Adams on the left and Mount Adams on the right. I then climbed the AT to where it crossed the aptly named Thunderstorm Junction and then descended to reach the AMC¢s Madison Spring Hut. At this impressive facility I went inside briefly to get water but I still elected to sit outside to eat my lunch. After this break I immediately began the extremely steep 500-foot climb up the AT¢s Osgood Trail to the cloud enshrouded and very windy 5,363-foot summit of Mount Madison. As tired as I was by now, I was pleased that I was able to easily keep up and finally pass a Hut-resident day-hiker who was making a short up and back run to the summit.After crossing the summit, I began the 2.5-mile, 3,000-foot descent to the Osgood Tentsite. This descent was often very steep and rocky and as such it required my full attention. However, despite my care I still managed to slip twice, once forward and once back but neither time causing any harm, except to my ego, especially since the head-first tumble was witnessed by a young female day hiker less than 10 feet behind me. She was polite and respectful noting that she had been an AT through hiker in 1995 and knew what a balance challenge it can be carrying a heavy pack. Just as I entered the tree line, it started to sprinkle once in a while and I even heard some thunder ¢ boy was I glad to have some trees around to serve as alternative targets should there be any lightning. I continued to descend as quickly as possible, but once I was under the bigger tree cover, the trail became much wetter and the rocks much slicker, hence my second, and this time butt-first, fall. Despite all of my efforts to speed, it was already 4:50 p.m. when I reached the Osgood Campsite, and I still had 4.8-miles to go before I reached the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center and my meeting with Hot Chocolate ¢ clearly I was going to be very late for our 4:00 p.m. pick-up.By the time I eventually did drag myself into this hiker oasis, it was raining and after 7:00 p.m. and my wife had already called upon the AMC folks to send out inquiries to all of the other hikers in the dining area and radioed the other AMC Huts to see if any of them had seen me. When questioned, many of the hikers and staff at the Center thought that my wife must have had the day wrong for the pick-up since the 14.8-mile trek from the Lakes of the Cloud Hut to the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center, via the AT, usually takes two-days. Undeterred she assured them that I said I could make it in one ¢ well as the text above suggests, I was a bit ¢optimistic¢ in my boastful projections. The highlight of the evening, other than meeting up with my lovely wife once again, was the admission by one of the other AT through hikers that he had made the same passage on the day before ¢ in much better weather conditions ¢ and was so tired afterwards that he was taking an additional day off, just as I now planned to do.