Date: 2018-08-05
To: Lake of the clouds
Miles today: 0.0

Sat/Sun Day 142 143 8/4,5 PTSo my friend, Peter, drops us off at Crawford Notch on Route 302. It is just getting dark as we start to hike the trail. We hike the 1/4 Mile in and I can see the bridge crossing the Swith River. Ibex points out there are sticks on the trail that I just walked over. It said PT with an arrow to the right. We start talking and we hear PT'S Voice. It's a bit of an emotional reunions cuz I haven't physically seen PT in 3 months, since I left Irwin, back in March. We set up our stealth tent camp using one of PT's stakes to tie down our tent. I brought in a resupply food bag for PT. We agree on the plan to be on the trail by 4 a.m., so it we have a shot at the six bunk spaces at Lake of the Clouds. I get to sleep around 10. I'm up at 2:30 stretching on four and a half hours of sleep. I wake everybody else up at 3. We're up and hiking at 4. It's straight up out of Crawford Notch. Somehow, we get off trail not once, but twice. First time we picked it up pretty quick. The second time we got turned around and hiked downhill 10 minutes. Nobody wants to hike extra miles on a steep grade up or down. We get it figured out using Guthooks. It's a long tough uphill for the first couple hours. The views along Webster cliffs are spectacular. You pop in and out of the trees for over half a mile with repeated beautiful views. The climb levels out a little bit after Mount Jackson. It's a gradual tough climb as you go past Mount Pierce, alongside Mount Eisenhower, Mount Franklin, and finally Mount Monroe. It's been beautiful views all day. It's also been a long steady climb from 1277 feet up to 5047 feet. We've taken a lot of pictures but we're really starting to wear out. Finally, the Lake of the Clouds Hut comes into sight as we round Mount Monroe. Mount Washington is to our right as we head in to Lake of the Clouds. We thought we'd arrive at 1:30 and arrive at 12:30 instead. We are the first to ask for rooms in the dungeon. There are six bunks in the dungeon. We are taking 50% of them. We spend the afternoon eating and waiting to see who else might come. The dungeon is a six bunk stone square with an iron door. It is available all winter even when they close down the Hut above it. It is an emergency shelter, very basic. It smells dank. Katie, the girl who was with Castle earlier on the trail back in the Smokies, comes in with Pit Boss. She has lost a lot of weight. They talk about staying in the dungeon. That would be a drag. They decide to hike on. Summit of Mount Washington ducks in and out of the clouds. Three times it shows its face and I run outside to get a picture but the clouds cover it again before I can. After a while, Thumper arrives. She has been hiking with PT earlier. So there is bunk space number four. Then another fellow comes that PT knows and that is bunk space number 5. Everyone talks about getting up at 5 a.m. I talked about possibly getting up to see the sunrise on Mount Washington. Because of my lack of sleep and how tired I feel I think it's more important to get to sleep in until 5 a.m. By 7 PT, Ibex, and I are all in falling asleep. I have to get up in the middle of the night and it's really quite difficult getting in and out of these tight bunks. When I wake up in the morning and only then do I realize that the 6th bunk got taken by a southbounder who came in around 8 PM, that I was totally unaware of. The other hikers who slept upstairs on a work for stay program didn't get to sleep until after 11 AM and we were up eating and waking them up at 5 a.m. Staying in the dungeon was a very good look. It may smell dank and look dirty but it's a great place to get a good night sleep. All I wanted was a good night sleep.