Date: 2017-08-14
From: Mt Washington

To: Madison Hut
Miles today: 5.7
Weather: broken clouds

Finally the day arrived to hike the last leg of my final section.In May 2017, Dori, a section hiker and I visited Red Squirrel.  I told them I needed to get back to Madison Hut to continue where I left off.  I was planning to hike the 7.8 miles with 3066 ft elevation gain, from Pinkham Notch, up and over Mt Madison to Madison Hut again.  They suggested I take an easier way to get to Mt Madison.  I decided to take the Auto Road to the summit of Mt Washington and hike the 5.7 miles with 934 elevation gain, to Madison Hut.  As I hiked it, I thought perhaps I should have taken the Valley Way Trail for 3.8 miles.  Oh well.  What I did worked.  At 7:30 am, I was so excited to start my hike, I climbed in the shuttle car that was going to Route 2.  I was made aware of my error.  I got out and waited the few minutes for Paul to shuttle the hikers to Route 2 and return.  He let me know he saw John at the Burger King.  He was heading home due to his bad back.  See yesterday's post.  The first hiker shuttle on the Auto Road left at 9 am.  So Paul dropped off the hikers at Pinkham Notch first and then dropped me off, a little after 8 am, as he returned to the Barn.  The ticket desk was not open when I arrived, so I used the bathroom and read the displays.  I returned to the ticket desk and purchased my ticket for $31.  A few tourist vans left before 9 am.  I met Murray waiting for the hiker shuttle.  At last, we were called.  Murray asked our woman driver why the hiker shuttle left so late.  Typically hikers like to get an earlier start.  She said it was a financial decision.  The earliest there would be hikers to come down the mountain would be 10 am.  So we arrived at the summit at 10 am.    I had heard the ride up the mountain was scary because of the drop offs with no guard rails.  I must have lived in the mountains too long to be scared.  The views were spectacular on this unusually clear day.  I thought of asking the driver to turn off the air conditioning when I realized it was the outside air that was getting cooler as we gained elevation.  We arrived at the summit.  Mt Washington is famous for unpredictable weather.  One hiker told me it can go from sunny to windy to rain to snow and back to sunny in less than an hour.  It can snow on Mt Washington any month of the year. A few days prior, the temperature on the summit was 27 degrees Fahrenheit with the wind chill.  Mt Washington has recorded gusts of 235 mph.  70 mph is hurricane force wind.  At the Barn Hostel, I met hikers who were at Mt Washington with gusts of 90 mph last week.  I wore a pair of panty hose under my convertible pants, as well as many layers above my waist.  I was not cold when I exited the van.  There was a light breeze.  Murray and I made plans to hike together today.  Murray is a 67 year old section hiker from Alabama.  This was his first day of this section.  He was planning to hike 13.5 miles from Mt Washington, past Mt Adams, past Madison Hut, up and over Mt Madison, then a descent of 3066 ft in elevation change to Pinkham Notch.  For many sections of the trail, 13.5 miles in a day is very doable.  In this section, not so much.    We took pictures next to a Mt Washington sign and then went up the rock pile to the summit.  Immediately we were having to pick our way across craggy wobbly rocks, a little bigger than my shoe.  It took me a few minutes to engage my brain to start choosing where to put my every step.   We crossed the Cross Cog Railroad tracks after the train passed.  One article I read said it was tradition for hikers to moon the train.  Neither of us mooned the train.  It was a little confusing at the unmarked intersection of Clay Loop to the east (right) and Gulfside Trail (AT) to the west (left).  Murray looked at Guthook and we were on the correct trail.  We were above treeline all day.  I got a very slight sunburn.  When I stopped, the views were absolutely spectacular.  If I hiked and looked at the views, I would surely fall on these rocks.  At the Jewell Trail junction, there were stunted alpine trees.  I took this opportunity to use the facilities and remove my panty hose.  I was over heating hiking in panty hose.  Murray let me know he was going on.  One AT hiker I met previous, mistakenly took the Jewell Trail, which is not the AT.  Last year, one of our contingency plans was to take the Jewell Trail and stealth camp a mile below tree line.  At the Jewell Trail sign, I went over the boulder to continue on the Gulfside Trail (AT) trail.  I caught up with Murray and then stopped on a small rock hill near the trail, for a snack.  Murray got a phone call.  We were surprised he had cell phone coverage here.  He continued on.  I caught up with him.    We were joined by four men who were peak bagging.  In this area, it is very popular to try to summit the peak of the 48 mountains above 4000 feet in Maine and New Hampshire.  When we came to the Mt Jefferson Loop trail to the summit, they encouraged me to join them.  I decided to go with them.  I would be coming back this way tomorrow, when I could pick up the few feet of the AT I would be missing today.  We had lunch on the summit of Mt Jefferson.  We came down Mt Jefferson and joined the AT again.  One of the men said he was shredded and needed to rest.  A woman came by with a pack board that the croo at the huts use.  This was the last of the summer season.  She had been croo at Lake of the Clouds this summer but tonight she would be croo at Madison.  I tried to follow her.  I would spot her as she would disappear over the next rise.  I passed a 70+ year old man with flourescent orange duck tape on his hiking poles and backpack.  His name was Nose Flute.  He asked if he could hitch a ride.  No, I giggled.  I caught up with Murray.  He said he had decided to stay at Madison Hut.  These rocks were exhausting.  We hiked through a rock cairn forest.  Rock cairns are large piles of rocks, used to mark the trail.  In this area, the top rock of the cairn was usually white quartz.  The other rocks were grey craggy limestone.  Last year, we woke at Madison Hut to fog so thick you could not see the next cairn.  It would have been difficult to navigate this area in fog that thick.  The trail hugged the stunted alpine tree line to the east (right).  Today I could see at least 10 cairns at a time.  We came to the top of a descent and saw Madison Hut.  I was energized and hiked quickly, down the long rock stairs.  I arrived at Madison Hut about 4 pm.  I let the croo know that Murray was behind me and wanted to stay the night, even though he did not have reservations.  He was struggling on the exhausting rocks.  In my opinion, these rocks were worse than Pennsylvania.  People don't complain too much about these rocks because the views are so spectacular.  I chose a second level bunk.  Near me were two women with their 12 year old daughters.  The women were on the bottom bunks and the girls were on the third level bunks.  A week or so ago, an AT hiker told me the AMC huts were too expensive for families to come to them.  Most of the huts where I stayed, had many teenage children with their parents.  For some, this was a generational tradition.  Murray arrived at 4:30 pm.  He and I rested on the stairs outside the hut.  I let him know the croo said they were full.  I sat with his pack while he talked to the croo.  He came back in a few minutes.  There was a cancellation and he was staying at Madison Hut.  He found a bottom bunk and took an hour nap before dinner.  The four guys arrived at 5 pm.  They probably summited Mt Adams, that the AT side skirts.  Dinner was at 6.  There was a program after dinner about the huts.  Madison Hut was the first one built.  It was built in 1888.  It has been burned down at least twice.  Carter Notch Hut was built next.  The huts are run by AMC (American Mountain Club), that was started by a group of wealthy people who enjoyed the rugged outdoors of the Whites.  The AMC board used to meet once a year, January 1 on Mt Washington.  One year, two board members died trying to get to the meeting.  Lake of the Clouds was built the following year.  Nonperishable food is brought in by helicopter twice a year at 75 cents to a dollar a second.  Perishable food is carried on pack boards by the croo, twice a week.  Electricity is furnished by solar panels and stored in Lithium ion batteries.  Propane generators are used if there is not enough sun for the panels.  Propane tanks are also flown in by helicopter and the empty ones removed the same way.  The toilets use the Clive system for composting.  Fans run 24/7 to blow the foul odors away from the hut.  During the program, I recharged my phone on the outlet in the main hallway for the bunks.  Other people were charging their phones here.  Little did I realize, this was the last electrical outlet I would be able to use until I got to my hotel in Portland.  So glad I had a small relatively lightweight PocketJuice cell phone charger.  I used it twice before my trip ended.  I called my husband every night I could and tried to conserve battery life the rest of the time.  I could not call my husband from most of the huts, since they are in notches.  I called him the next day from a summit.I went to bed shortly after the presentation while the 50+ guests mingled in the dining area until lights out at 9:30 pm.