Date: 2019-06-18
From: Mizpah Hut tentsite

To: Osgood Tentsite
Miles today: 14.8

Long day!I yogied an excellent dinner of steak, rice, and peas with chocolate cake from Mizpah Hut last night in exchange for dishes. Went to bed with a full belly!Slept well. Woke up at 5am and got an early start on the day.Took the blue blaze summit to Eisenhower which was totally worth the 360 veiws! The trail was empty except for Fair Forecaster and myself which was a nice perk of starting before breakfast was served at the huts. We didn't run into anyone until we hit Lake of the Clouds Hut below the summit of Washington. Got a sausage patty from breakfast scrapes at the hut!The weather was overcast, but there was no wind! Temps were around 40 degrees but was comfortable hiking in shorts and a tshirt. Clouds were coming in and out over the summit of Wahington and it was a bit foggy when we got to the top.Got our picture at the summit before it got crazy busy with the cog rail visitors coming up (they formed a long line). It was chilly after sweating during the climb so we went in the visitors center. We got there around 10am and I had a coke and ice cream bar while we waited for the hot food bar to open. The clouds cleared up a bit and we ran outside to get pictures. Very happy with my summit day weather!! Came inside and ate 2 hot dogs with a bowl of chilli. We stayed at the center around 2 hours before starting the hike down to Madison Hut.Really rocky ridge all day. We rock hopped for at least 10 miles today. It was mentally draining having to focus on the trail and where to step for such a long time. We took plenty of breaks for pictures. Ran into some guys skiing the snow leftover in the notches. Looked like a lot of work to climb back out with all the ski gear.Was pretty exhausted getting into Madison. We didn't take a break between Washington and there (5.7 of rocks) and I was tired. We debated waiting outside and doing a work for stay, but we would have been sitting on the trail for two hours before they'd accept us. Decided to push ahead to the campsite and just went in for a snack and water.Getting out from Madison was tough. There was a half mile strait up to the summit and then 3 miles strait down to the campsite (all rocks till treeline). Once we hit treeline we started running into downed trees. Clearly the AMC doesn't care about this section of trail and no one had been out this year to maintain it. I find this frustrating because the amount of money thru hikers bring in is not insignificant (I'm up to 150+ dollars at this point). We also ran into a very upset family who took the VERY hard trail up to the hut. There are at least 30 tree down between Pinkham Notch and Madison Mt. White blazes are missing from Osgood Tentsite to Mt Washington auto road (almost 3 miles) and the trail has 3 intersections with other paths. This is pathetic maintenance and I feel no care is given to the AT or it's hikers. Just because it's the hardest trail going to Madison doesn't mean you can just ignore it. There is major erosion happening because of traffic being routed off the trail and it will only be getting worse as more AT hikers get here. I lodged a complaint with the AMC and I hope they see it as a higher priority.All that said it was a fun day. The sun came out for our trip over Madison and we got some great shots looking back at the Presidential Ridgeline. The 6000 ft of decent was a bit much for my legs and feet but clearly I survived. Almost through the Whites and the weather has been kind!Levi