Date: 2016-06-25
From: Saco River, Crawford Notch

To: Lakes of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: broken clouds

We woke up this morning incredibly excited for the day to come; We were headed up towards the highest mountains we would climb for the rest of the trip: the Presidentials. What was more, the day was gorgeous. I can't believe how lucky I'm getting with the weather here. If I can get through New Hampshire without hiking in a day of rain, the month of Northern Virginia and PA rain will have been worth it. The climb up to Mt. Webster was tough, very tough, and hard on my thighs. Recently, I haven't been getting tired out on the climbs anymore, but this one took it out of me. But man was it worth it. As we climbed thousands of feet out of Crawford Notch, the trail began to take us out on a series of open granite ledges with incredible views back towards Franconia Ridge. It was fun to look forward and back up and down the mountain to see the ledges where we had just stood and were about to head. It was less fun to see NOWA about a hundred feet above us and say, "holy crap we have to climb that." Rob and I paced each other through the morning, waiting up a few times for Claire, Dill, and White Rabbit, who must've absolutely run down the hill from Ethan Pons, but had now caught up. We paused atop Mt. Webster for a while and I made friends with a fearless Gray Jay, then moved along towards mount Jackson. This piece of trail I had actually already completed four years ago with kids in tow. The weather was much better today, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We enjoyed the view of The Presidentials from Jackson then headed down to Mizpah Spring Hut for lunch. Soup, again, and as usual, although this hut offered refills for a dollar rather than for free as at Zealand. But still, it's probably cheaper (and lighter) than anything I could have bought and carried up, so a good deal over all. I continued my streak of playing guitars at huts, this one being the nicest so far. Lunch was pretty relaxed, as I hung around for another pot of corn chowder to be put on the stove, and Large ended up showing up. Also three thru hikers showed up, talking about their intentions to get to Lakes tonight, having started I believe at Zealand this morning. They had long shaggy hair, and seemed to have a "crush miles, take no prisoners" attitude to hiking. Not my style, but hike your own hike. One's name was Blazer, I remember. After they left, Large turned to me and said "those are the type of hikers who'd sleep in a ditch." Hardcore, just not my style. I got going a little before Large did, headed up towards Mt. Pierce and the confluence of the Crawford Path, one of the oldest and most famous hiking trails in the nation. I had been debating with myself all morning (and indeed, all trip). The AT skirts around four major summits of the "Prezzies," Monroe, Eisenhower, Adams, Jefferson, and leaves the summits accessible via loop trails. Ostensibly, this is so that some zealous thru hiker does not attempt to go over all of them in a damn snowstorm, and is the smart thing to do so that people are not stuck unable to "finish the trail" even in bad weather. However, I wanted to go over all the summits. I felt that that is what the Appalachian Trail at its heart is about, and what it is for. But part of me wanted to complete what is actually "The AT." But as I got over the little rise of Mt. Pierce, I saw the summits laid out in a line before me, spilling down, Eisenhower's scrubby summit, Monroe, gray, tilting wildly, the sharp top of Jefferson, Adams like a distant pyramid, and Washington lording over them all, and I knew that I had to go over all their tops. That is what I needed to do, not even as a hiker, but as a person. I hiked with renewed vigor, and plowed over all of the summits, leaving behind Dill at the Eisenhower loop trail. There were many other hikers around, doing the Crawford Path and the loop trails. I took a break at the top of Eisenhower, which had a lovely view back all the way to Moosilauke. My favorite other hiker was a man who was carrying his schnauzer in his pack near the summit of Mt. Franklin, one of the littler peaks. I also passed Cosmo here. The loop trail over Mt. Monroe was ever cooler, taking me up two subsidiary peaks. it was composed only of a jumble of stones, though, and was tough going sometimes, not something that should be attempted by someone with bad footing. Or in the rain. duh. I sat for a while on the summit of Mount Monroe, admiring Mt. Washington, now only a mile away, and marvelling at the fact that I was finally here, finally doing it. I couldn't believe how lucky I was. I spoke a little bit with some French hikers who had me take a picture for them. Mainly, I had some time to kill. It was only about 2:30, and I knew I wanted to do a work for stay at LOC, but I was worried that I would be too early and would be turned away. So I sat around. One guy walked past me with bare feet. Which is pretty crazy. Finally, just after 3, I decided to head down the half mile to LOC and try my luck. Lakes of the Clouds Hut is the largest in the Whites, and can sleep over a hundred guests, I believe. It sits right at treeline, with a great view up to Monroe and Washington both, right next to two alpine ponds (that I eschewed to go swimming in). The At walks right past the front door, and I dropped my pack outside and came in. i was anxious, hoping to spend the night here. Then I saw Cosmo and White Rabbit and Rob, who quickly gave me a thumbs up. I spoke to one of the Croo members about WFS, and she pointed me to another guy who asked if I was part of the group of 8 who wanted to do WFS, pointing to Rob. I said yes! Good goin Rob! He set up WFS for like twice as many people as usually get it, and all even before i got here. Roller, Cosmo, Trippin Billy, White Rabbit, Large, Dill, the Bears and I would all be staying the night! woohoo! There was a lot of time left in the day, and they put us to work immediately. But let's just say they went a little easier than Galehead. Kia, the hutmaster, first gave me the job of reorganizing their game bin. This was not very hard, but was surprisingly gross because there was some standing water in the plastic tub... I then was asked to reorganize the bookshelves, which entailed standing on a chair and making sure each of the log books from the past four decades (wow) were all in order, and then grouping the other books into naturalism, sci-fi, children's books, etc. It was pretty easy. We also did some sweeping of the main dining area before dinner, then Kia brought us outside. During the evenings, the huts have a form of entertainment for the guests in the form of talks, about composting, about geology, etc. Kia asked whether two hikers would be willing to give a talk about their experience on the trail and answer questions. I would've loved to do this, but Large and Claire were chosen, and I can see how they would give interesting and complementary perspectives, a young woman just out of college and a 50-year old man who's wanted to do this all his life. I was going on dishes duty. In the meantime, I also checked out the Dungeon, a little concrete room under the Hut that acts as a year-round emergency shelter, but is available to thru-hikers for I believe 10 dollars during the summer. Blazer and his buddies were there. It was pretty dingy, but only slightly more so than the average shelter. I also asked about the guitar that was behind the counter, but i was informed that one of the Croo members actually had a much nicer one that he was willing to lend out to folks who could play decently and would be careful. It was honestly a great guitar, and I sat outside the Hut playing tunes. Cosmo has a very nice voice, too, and joined in on a few songs. Another Sobo section hiker rolled up named Mica, who had brought his own guitar, and we played some songs together, as well as taking some very classy pictures in the dying light of the day. Kia gave a short talk about the routine of being a Croo member; twice a week they all head down the mountain with packboards on their back, carrying down trash and bringing back up fresh food. All the non perishables, though, as well as the gas on which the entire place runs, is brought up via helicopter at the beginning of the season. Apparently their is a bit of contention in the huts of whether everyone should carry the same amount of weight or whether stronger, heavier Croo members should carry more. I asked If we could see and try out the packboards, to compare them with our modern day packs, which kia kindly agreed to. She brought out a packboard and I gave it a try, first carrying Kia and then Rob. It's surprisignly easy to use, but cannot be comfortable to carry multiple miles uphill, yeesh. I had my first interaction with Honey Badger, who came up later in the evening and got another work-for-stay spot. He is a thru-hiker from last year doing a section from Connecticut this year. And indeed he has a blue plastic trumpet. Which doesn't sound as good as he thinks it does. He trumpeted over a few of Cosmo's and my duets, to my chagrin. Also at the Hut was a man with long blond dreadlocks named Wanderlost, who is hiking south, and was a friend of Honey Badger's last year. He seems like a bit of a space cadet. As the guests all ate dinner inside, we sat out in the back and joked, having a great time. After they were done, we ate some dinner, which was Thanksgiving themed, and included some delicious mint chocolate cake for dessert. There was not quite enough food to go around, though, and the Croo ended up heating up a pot of soup for us all, which was nice of them. Rob and I got placed on dishes duty, and we learned their cleaning system and did a hell of a job, I must say. Wanderlost, who was placed on our team, too, was nowhere to be found during the process. The Croo did nicely tell us to take a small break and go look at the sunset, which was spectacular and orange and pink. The guests were up for a very long time talking and playing games, much longer than at Galehead, and all the thru hikers were sleepily laying out their gear among the tables trying not to get in the way but also to motivate them to quiet down. This has been a wonderfully eventful day. Tomorrow will be over Washington!!