Date: 2009-08-25
From: Madison Spring Hut

To: Lakes of the Clouds Hut
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: scattered clouds

We got then weather we were waiting for...a sunny day to summit Mt. Washington. The whole hike was above treeline and the views were amazing. But of course in my case there had to be something more and exciting in the adventure.Mt. Washington is a major tourist destination, you can drive up it, take a train up or in my case take a day and a half to walk up. The mountain is so big it creates it's own weather pattern and is usually covered in clouds, it also has the highest recorded wind-speed on the planet. It's a great place when the sun is shinning.I had an amazing hike up from Madison to Washington, the sun was shining and there was almost no wind. I hung out on top of the mountain for a few hours and ate a couple of hot dogs and a slice of pizza. I met a few more people who are hiking the AT south so now there are about 10 or 12 of us within a couple of days of each other.I started my hike down, 1.5 miles (2.4km), to the hut from Mt Washington at about 3:45, hoping to get there around 4:30 and ask for work for stay. I got about 1/2 way down and met a lady with her 3 boys who asked me what time it was and whether I though she could make it to the top by 5 pm. I informed her that it would be close but if she kept moving she would probably make it. Then about, 20 min later, 3/4 of the way down I met her husband at around 4:10 he had a newborn child in a pack on his back and was holding hands with his 4 year old little girl. I asked him how he was doing and he said fine but he was really concerned that he may not the 5 o'clock train, he told me it was the last one for the day. I wished him luck and decided to run down to the hut.I got to the hut around 4:20, secured my spot for the night and work for stay then asked the guy at the reception what time the last train off the mountain was at and he confirmed that it was at 5pm. At this point I knew that there was no way the gentleman and his daughter would make it so I left my pack and ran up the hill after him to help out. I met up with him around 4:30, we still had a mile of uphill to go, on a trail made up of mostly loose rocks. This would normally take me about 30min. I put his daughter on my back and ran up the hill with her while he struggled to hike up the hill with the other child on his back. At about 4:55 we made it to where the mother and 3 boys were, still not at the top of the mountain but not too far. Me and the little girl decided to run on and get to the train. I got us to the train, just in time, and was a bit exhausted and concerned but went straight to the engineer and told him the situation and pleaded with him to wait for about 15min so the rest of the family could arrive and make the train...he proceeded to let me know that because it was so busy that day they scheduled an extra train that was leaving at 6!!! So I hung out with Akira for the next 25 minutes waiting for her family to show up and give them the news about the 6pm train.I WAS ALMOST A HERO! Instead I got the pleasure of meeting a very friendly 4 year old little girl and carrying her for over a mile up a steep and rocky mountain.In the end there was a bit of good news cause I did get to talk to my parents and sister from the top of the mountain. All in all a great day, good night, great food (free and hot), and good company.