Date: 2014-08-03
From: Ethan Pond Shelter

To: Madison Spring Hut
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: overcast clouds

A while back, when I had a bad day in Pennsylvania and my sour mood showed up in that night's journal entry, some readers thought I might be quitting the trail. My response in the next day's entry was, "they'll have to haul my ass out of the woods in a stretcher to get me off the AT." Unfortunately, due to an injury in the Presidentials of New Hampshire today, I'm being forced off the trail. Temporarily.The day started at 5:00 am, when ABear, Pockets, Wild Bill, and I rose before the sun to get an early start on our way to Lakes of the Clouds Hut, where we planned to ask for work-for-stay. After a few mostly downhill miles to Crawford Notch, we started the ascent of Webster Cliffs, the southern gateway along the AT to the Presidential Range. The weather and view from the cliffs were spectacular, which inspired me to suggest to Wild Bill that we attempt to hike the entire Presidential Range today. For the past 15 years, I've been participating in an annual one-day north-to-south traverse of the ridge, but I couldn't take part this year due to my AT hike. The only difference today was that we'd be hiking in the opposite direction with a modified set of end points. Bill, an ultra-marathoner, was game, so we picked up the pace to cover the additional 10 miles the full traverse would require. At Mitzpah Hut, we took on fuel in the form of leftover pancakes and chicken enchiladas from two recent meals there. The southern ridge leading to Mt Washington was in and out of the clouds, good but not superb weather for the Presidentials. On the top of Mt Washington, we ate again, this time pizza and chili, before waiting in line with tourists to have our picture taken at the summit sign.By the time we reached the loop trail for Mt Jefferson, the first of the Northern Presidentials, it was almost 5:00 pm and the weather was deteriorating, so Bill and I agreed we should bypass the summit. Our decision was affirmed when a mist started shortly thereafter. The lichen-covered boulders suddenly became dangerously slick, and just as I was passing a gnarled spruce, I slipped and lunged with my right leg to regain my balance. A branch that had been cut to clear it from the trail impaled my shin, and the gush of blood made it clear I'd need stitches. But that wasn't happening 5000 feet up on the ridge, so we used Bill's gauze and my adhesive tape to stop the bleeding and hiked the two remaining miles to Madison Spring Hut, where we asked the hut master for work-for-stay. Seeing my injury, she readily agreed, so after being fed the guests' leftovers, Bill and I found ourselves standing over a three-tank sink, washing dishes for 30 minutes. Three other thru-hikers, Lost Boy, Wookie, and Swashbuckler, who is on such a tight budget his socks are showing through his original pair of Cascadias, were also doing work-for-stay and busy elsewhere in the hut.Natalie, a doctor from a hiking club in Washington, D.C., happened to be staying at the shelter and volunteered to help me with my injury. After removing the original wrap to inspect the wound, she spent 30 minutes applying pressure to create a clot to stop the bleeding, and subsequently applied a pressure bandage made from gauze that would allow me to hike out tomorrow.Shortly after entering New Hampshire, a day hiker asked me what the worst thing was that happened to me on my thru-hike, and I couldn't think of anything at the time. Although today's injury, which is a severe disappointment that will set me back a week or so, might be an appropriate answer to that question, the way Wild Bill, the Madison Hut croo, and Dr Natalie rallied around me in my time of need was perhaps the best thing that has happened to me on the AT.