Date: 2007-08-15
From: Osgood Tentsite

To: SOBO to Madison Hut, NH
Miles today: 3.0

The White Mountain Guide, 27th Edition, pp. 98, reads:Caution: The section of this trail on the headwall of the Madison Gulf is one of the most difficult in the White Mtns., going over several ledge outcrops, bouldery areas, and a chimney with loose rock. The steep slabs may be slippery when wet, and several ledges require scrambling and the use of handholds ¢ hikers with short arms may have a particular problem reaching the handholds . . . . The trail is not recommended . . . . for hikers with heavy packs, or in wet weather . . . . In rainy conditions the deep streams and slippery ledges on the Madison Gulf Trail would pose great difficulty. In sum, hikers who are not prepared for this level of challenge would be well advised to change their plans . . . I set off from my campsite this morning just as it began to rain and headed where the trail signs seemed to indicate the appropriate trail. I climbed for an hour, an hour and a half, and found myself more or less dangling from the underside of a boulder one moment and clawing my way up a steep slab of granite the next. I was wedging my toes into cracks and hauling myself up by my fingertips.Mmmm, I thought. Everyone told me the Presidentials were hard, but this is really hard! I kept going. I had to crane my neck to see the top of the next slab. How was I going to get up that? I really couldn¢t afford to think about it. Anyway, I was amazed at my physical abilities, especially my upper body strength. Using Leki¢s for so many months has given me more arm and shoulder strength than I¢ve had in my life. But wow, this was hard. I couldn¢t even imagine doing it with a 30-pound pack!I got up that slab, and there was another almost immediately. I stowed my poles. This was crazy difficult!Then I had my Eureka moment: this was not the AT. I was on some hideous trail that I could not go back down. I gritted my teeth and kept going. I was soon clambering up rocky stream beds, trying to stay dry. But it was rainy and foggy.Eventually, I reached the top, but had no idea where I was. There was a signpost, but it didn¢t point to anything that sounded familiar. And it gave no directions to the nearest hut, which was where I knew I needed to be at this point. Plus, my map had a big blob of something right on this particular spot: useless. I was going to have to guess which way to go and, by now, I was getting blown about quite a bit.I went south, hoping I could find a trail that would take me to the Hut. Ahh, good choice. Another sign indicated as much. It was so foggy though, that I had trouble seeing the cairns. And then, no matter how much I peered into the gloom, I couldn¢t see the next cairn. At all! There was nothing but whiteness. What to do? What to do?Ah hah! No cairn, no cairn, no cairn. But a wall! Yes, the wall to the Madison Hut. I pretty much bumped into it while looking for a cairn.It was busy inside, too. And the lone croo member didn¢t think he¢d have any work for me so I could work/stay the night. But I settled down to some soup and began chatting with the guests. By now, perhaps a hundred people had come in from the fog. Dishes were piling up. Soon I got a tap on my shoulder. ¢I have some dishes. You can stay.¢He wasn¢t kidding. I washed dishes for 3 hours ...BUT:-- I met some wonderful guests whom I¢ll connect with again. I had a great dinner on the house. And I was dry and warm. And I made a name for myself doing dishes.Cairns in the fog -- and it got worse!!Madison Hut at Base of Mt. Madison