Date: 2004-08-26
From: AMC-Lakes of the Clouds Hut

To: AMC-Lakes of the Clouds Hut to AMC Madison Spring 
Miles today: 7.0

Note from Lady Kritter: Forgive our delays in updating the site. Unfortunately Florida (our home) has been in the midst of Mother Nature's temper tantrums. We've been affected by Bonnie, then Charley, then Frances and now we await Ivan. I have not had power long enough to even get on the computer in between repairs and clean-ups during this month of storms. I have been out of power for a week so far with hopes of getting it back before Ivan hits us. I'm sending this note via a friend with electricity.The Kritter is so close to the end I have told him NOT to come home ... unless he could singly handedly stop a storm. (Little did I know there would be more than one, but with each storm, Krispy is that much closer to Katahdin).KrispyKritter was in Andover, ME on Sept. 3rd and in Stratton, ME on Sept. 8th taking a zero day to wait out the monsoons Frances was providing in Maine. The rains have swollen the stream/river crossings dangerously on this last leg of his journey. He still plans to complete his thru-hike to Katahdin by Sept. 24th. All updates will be posted upon our return ... as long as we have a house and electricity.Thank you all for your concerned e-mails and your patience. There is still the rest of story to be told... Electricity and water finally restored on 9/13; internet cable restored 9/14. And here's the rest of the story ..."Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not" ~Ralph Waldo EmersonWhat a great night I had after watching a beautiful sunset. I would wake up during the night and look out the hut windows to see the 3/4 moon's face huge and bright, lighting a moon lit landscape. It was the closest feeling I have felt of being on the moon. The boulders and rocks surrounding the hut glowed in hues of grays and blacks. The clear night exposed the brightest diamonds of stars in the sky. I felt I could reach up and capture one for Lady Kritter. It was a most peaceful and content night.Those of us that worked for stay slept in the dining room. We were up early and cleared the room for breakfast. Quest, Catdog, Diesel, Maya Ques, Now or Never and I left the hut at 8:30 and headed back on the boulders and rocks above tree line headed towards Mt. Washington.Another beautiful and unusually clear day on the summit. I called Lady Kritter to find the Mt. Washington Observatory website on the computer. She found it and I told her to look at the picture on the main menu in 15 minutes. I hung up ran to the observation deck and stood on a yellow X. A deck cam would snap a picture and in 15 minutes there I was on the main menu. This was the closest to real time that Lady Kritter has seen me in months. We spent several hours on the summit along with Skippy, Poppins and several other hikers, enjoying the views, the snack bar and each other's company. Left Mt. Washington and immediately back on more boulders and rocks. The cog train was going up the mountain billowing its thick black smoke. It is a tradition to moon the train as it goes by. Not wanting to break an AT tradition, I dropped my pants and gave the passengers the brightest white moon seen in daytime. The next train by everyone mooned as Catdog snapped the pictures as proof of our bravery. In response the train engineer threw chunks of coal at us narrowly missing us.The walk over the boulders and rocks was tedious, and hard on everyone's legs and feet. The views were incredible. Everywhere I turned were bare mountains of the Presidential Range above tree line with more boulders and rocks. Skirting Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Adams we finally made the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club)-Madison Spring Hut (4820 ft.). It was good to be off the boulders for a while. The crew of the hut was fantastic - the hut master Jesse, Greg, Ben and Erin. Working for stay Quest, Diesel, Maya Ques, Catdog and I cleaned and helped serve the many hikers that came into the hut. Dinner was over late and as soon as the last hut guests finished we were picking our dinner tables for beds. The end of an exhausting day for both the body and eyes.