Date: 2014-08-29
From: stealth site off Mt Clinton trail

To: Madison Spring Hut
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: clear sky

I don't know why the AT skirts along around the Presidentials. The AT has taken us all over the place going through endless and pointless ups and downs. Seems to me that this is one of the few times these summits are not pointless! But ups and downs they are indeed...So today I took quite a few detours... Every presidential peak to be specific and what a perfect day to do it! The locals and tourists seemed to be in deep competition trying to rack up how many 4,000 and 5,000 footer peaks they can trek up. I didn't get it. I also didn't understand what constituted a 4,000 footer. Some of these presidential ranges are over 4,000 feet in elevation but they don't count towards another notch in your boot or whatever. Anyways, last night was a very chilly night even though I opted for staying at a lower elevation in the trees. I could have slept on the floor in the hut but I don't know. I just felt like it I guess. The winds were the main issue so I used my tarp as a wind break just in case and managed to sleep okay even with my 45 bag. I hung around the Mizpah hut first thing in the morning because I was already basically there and the morning was still very chilly with an overcast sky that looked particularly threatening. I watched the skies clear up with a hot cup of coffee and amped up about the day ahead of me. By 9am I was hitting the trail hard to stay warm leap frogging Blu and Steamer. Steamer kind of Chugged along the AT as Blu and I took on all the side trails to the Presidentials. Took us only 2 hours to get to Lake of the Clouds which irked me because one of the main reasons I stayed back yesterday was assuming it'd take me a lot more than a couple hours. The difficulty rating to get to Mizpah hut was a medium but the trail to Lake of the Clouds was rated hard. Considering how I was literally rock climbing to get to Mizpah, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to get near Mt Washington. Let's just say I think the difficulty rating system needs to be reassessed.Mt Washington was within sight over the past week or so when a bunch of false summits didn't block the view. Every time we could spot it, the peak was heavily covered in fog or dense clouds. By the time I got to Lake of the Clouds, it looked no different. Me being me, I waited around keeping an eye towards the peak to see if the clouds would disperse so I can go up and actually get some views. While waiting, Blu and I took advantage of the topographic maps around to plan further side trail adventures. The chili pork soup was bomb and it was nice talking to more tourists without having to stop on the side of a mountain.The clouds started dissipating around noon so I jumped up and blitzed up the mountain. I was stoked to be hiking all morning in what is probably the best scenic portion of the entire AT. So my excitement to get up to the peak of a 6,200 foot peak with clear skies was at an all time high. Unfortunately I lapsed into confusion when my sweaty head popped up within view of the top. Between the cog railway, the road, the throngs of a surprising amount of people, and not expecting to see crowds of people I was stunned. In a bad way. I wandered around the summit with a look on my face that probably resembled disgust. Parents held their children back from the sweaty Asian man with a giant backpack and snapped hundreds of redundant pictures and selfies. I eventually found my way to the snack area and found an outlet to charge my phone but I couldn't wait to get out of there to hike away from this debacle. This was people and impact overload on a scale I seriously did not expect. I couldn't even chuckle at the sight of people wearing gift shop shirts saying "I climbed to the top of Mt Washington" with bottles of soda resting on top of their bellies as if it was a table.When my phone was topped off Made way to Madison Hut which is where I got my first work for stay at a hut. The place was jammed pack and the crew was banking utilizing a group of thru hikers for various jobs. I stuffed my face with "thru hiker gruel" which really hit the spot before jumping in to help in the kitchen. We were then dispersed among the crowd of people to as many tables we could squeeze in at as "naturalists". We were there for curious minds about thru hiking to share stories, answer questions, and basically hang out. Chevy Chafe and Lt Dan finished off the night doing their work for stay as standing up for everyone like it was story time around a campfire. There never was an end to questions and it was quite entertaining with a display of how there's no one way to thru hike.