Date: 2015-07-29
From: Lake of the Clouds Hut - The Dungeon

To: Pinkham Notch
Miles today: 14.9

7/29, White Mountains Hostel Gorham NH, 14.9It just gets tougher each day. The white mountains have lived up to the hype and are certainly he toughest day after day hiking we have done yet. Today we planned 14 or so miles, but really had no other options. Last night was an interesting on spent in the dungeon at Lake of the Clouds hut. The guests above is on the dining/activity room were noisy on the floor above us until 10:30 pm. I had fallen asleep earlier and was awakened by the ruckus, but fell back to sleep fairly quickly. We heard today that e dungeon was two feet deep in ice until a couple weeks ago when some hikers work for stay was to chip it out. The musty damp remnants of winter still linger I am afraid to say. The best part of the dungeon stay was being able to leave as early as we wanted to so we were on trail up the mountain to Mt. Washington at 7am. Mt Washington is known as one of the harshest weather locations in the world and is the site of the highest velocity wind ever recorded on earth at 232 mph. After the clear day hiking yesterday and te forecast for a clear fay today we were looking forward to the morning climb. In spite of the forecast though the mountain was completely fogged in when we hiked up. We arrived at the top at 8:15 to visibility ranging 15 to 50 ft as the fog rolled on the 20 mph winds. We took photos at the sign mounted at the pinnacle, and moved toward the visitor center. The temperatures were moderate at 58 degrees but he fog was heavy and the hike sweaty so we were soaked when we arrived, and cooled quickly when we stopped. IB's knee was a bit of a concern so we had decided to seek a way to transport our packs to the bottom of the mountain so we could hike down lightweight in a slack pack. IB found a gentleman willing to carry our gear and leave it at he gate of the auto road, the private roadway to the top of Washington, where we could get it in the hostel shuttle. Once that move was complete we shared a snack/breakfast table with Quigon, Yellow Bird and Father all NOBO's, and all headed for the hostel with us. We finished our meal and hiked off the mountain at 10:00.The trail off Washington is downhill, mostly, over rocky boulder fields and craggily ridge lines, marked with cairns and few or no white blazes. We moved as quickly as the trail would allow but found that anything near 1.5 mph was hard to sustain so we covered the few miles to Madison hut by noon. We stopped for a quick snack at Madison and were on our way again. The weather began to clear after we left Washington this morning and folks who visited there, whether by auto road or cog railway, after noon were afforded clear views from the peak. Our day cleared as well from that time and temperatures climbed to the mid 70's by 2 pm. Around 2 pm we realized we would be arriving at our destination around 7 pm so we tried calling he hostel to give them a heads up. Unfortunately we had no luck with that until later. Additionally, the hostel was picking us up at Pinkham notch, and our gear was a couple miles away at the auto road office. Fortunately we checked at the Pinkham visitor center office for our bags when we arrived and the clerk there called the auto road office after we did not find them. The auto road gate had them and was willing to set them outside for us since they lock up at 7 pm and our ride was not due until 7:20. All went well as we headed over there at 7:20 and found our gear right where the auto road staff had left it. Special thanks to all the folks involved in making his happen, none of whom gave us any of their names. As our hike continued down to Pinkham the weather changed, and rain began to fall. At one point it had stopped, but I kept getting soaked with the rainwater on the evergreen branches that overhang he trail. When the rain restarted harder I donned my rain jacket to stay warm even though I would sweat inside it until soaked. As I hiked on I pushed ahead of IB and JP to try and get to the auto road office for our bags. Unfortunately in my haste I took two slippery falls on the mud and was in no condition, wet and muddy, to hitch a ride. I waited for IB and JP to catch up and we finished our hike down to the notch to see what we could arrange. Once at the notch we were taken care of as I have shared but we were not sure about how we felt about tomorrows plan for 21 miles.After the long day hiking and pounding down the hills the hostel is a welcome relief. We have decided to break the next 21 miles into two days that we can slack pack out of this hostel, returning here each evening to rest. We are at the White Mountains Lodge and hostel in Gorham and interestingly we have reunited with Otter. We are not sure if he will take he two days with us, but he was going to do the 21 until we changed plans. Tomorrow we will find out at breakfast. Silverback