Date: 2016-07-16
From: Crawford Notch - Mile 1,843.7

To: Mt. Washington Summit
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was a tough day. It started and finished tough and very little in between was easy. The Whites got me good today. Today was unusual too because for the first time in this hike I skipped forward. Why? I am trying to make the best use of the days before my family vacation next week. Huts replace shelters in the White Mountains. I couldn't get a reservation for the Lake of the Clouds hut which is an overnight stay for most thru-hikers. Most thru-hikers stay in the Lake of the Clouds hut doing 2 hours of work to sleep on the hut's floor and eat leftovers after the hut's paying guests are done with their dinner and breakfast meals. I couldn't see how the typical time I finish hiking each day could result in me getting "work for stay" nor did I like the idea of beginning to hike as late as 10:00 a.m.. So Beth and I came up with the plan of her picking me up at the Mt. Washington summit and then I'll return to that summit in a few days before my family vacation. In between the summit days, I'll hike the Franconia Notch miles I skipped forward today. Confused. I'm sure you are. I wrote all that to remember the reasons why I did what I did today. I don't recommend such a thing and couldn't pull it off without Beth wasting her time to make this happen. Today's hike. Wow. The ascent to Webster Cliffs from Crawford Notch is tough. It's steep. There are boulders and slabs. There was a good bit of hand-over-hand climbing. And then the difficulty continued as Webster Cliffs provided views for a half mile. I worked very hard and had hiked very few miles. I became concerned whether I'd reach the Mt. Washington summit before the road closes to prevent Beth and me from driving down from the summit. The weather started out great. Not too warm and clear enough to provide great views. Then clouds appeared over Mt. Eisenhower and I was never able to see Mt. Washington because it was completely hidden by clouds. Then the clouds started to darken and I began thinking that the tent and sleeping bag I was carrying might have to be used tonight. Hiking with such thoughts and working so hard made for a pretty unpleasant mindset. Working hard though eventually paid off. I reached the Mitzpah hut by 11:00 a.m. and was happy that half of today's hike was over. There were no options other than to keep working hard. And eventually that work paid off. There were no pictures to take in the afternoon because of the clouds. It was really a shame because there should've been continual picture opportunities given today's 5,000 foot elevation gain and Mt. Washington's summit at 6,288 feet. By the time I got to Mt. Washington's summit the fog was very heavy. Visibility during the last couple hours was 50 feet. Beth was hilarious and realized how funny she was commenting on how cold it was at the summit. Hilarious because she was in the Visitor's Center awaiting my arrival. It made for a good laugh and laughs were hard to come by today. I am grateful to have completed today's hike safely and to not have experienced even worse weather today. One southbound hiker pointed out how better today's weather was than some recent days. It's good to appreciate what we have. Every day isn't going to be sunny and balmy.