Date: 2008-07-03
From: Carter Hut

To: Madison Hut
Miles today: 0.0

Then there was one... back to being solo today. Mango and Grettle had to get off the trail so that Mango could see a doctor in Pinkham Notch. I chose to move on to Madison hut aprox. 14 miles from Carter. The morning got off to a late start. The day was going well. I was making good time and had plenty of energy. I was concentrating on my breathing, challenging myself, thinking about my future, family and friends and moving forward with my head down...I went off the trail... miles off the trail. I spent a good amount of time going over the maps and my thru hiker book. After wasting over one hour going up and down incorrect trail heads I ran in to another south bounder. He calls himself Turtle. He assured me that he was going the right way and I followed. We hiked up Madison together.Turtle is 24. He is originally from Georgia but just graduated from Boston College. Both Turtle and I had heard along the trail that thunder storms were due in at approximately 2:00pm. Madison is over 5000ft., it's weather can change on a dime. We raced up the steep incline and talked about the trail and school and work and books and life.Some how the day got away from us. We did not account for climbing up boulders and scrambling through giant rocks for 70% of the hike... we even climbed up a waterfall.7:00 rolled around, then 8:00, then 8:30. We still hadn't summited Madison. The bad weather had already rolled in hours earlier. The wind picked up to 20-30mph and the temperature dropped to low 40's. There was a thick fog screaming passed us that you literally could not see 10ft. through. Turtle and I raced to summit Madison before the daylight was completely gone. We needed to summit the mountain and get to Madison Hut about 2 miles south of the summit. At 9:00pm daylight was gone.Madisons summit lyed within 100yds. Turtle and I hid behind some boulders from the wind. We dug out our headlamps and began to scout our way through the dark and fog. On the tops of bald, rock covered mountains carins are commonly used to help hikers navigate their way on the trail. A carin is a pile of rocks stacked in a pyramid shape. They are critical in the fog because small white paint blazes are not visible. In order for Turtle and I to make sure we remained on the trail I would leap frog in front of him to scout the next carin. He would stay at the last one we located with his head lamp shining. He was my beacon incase I got lost. As I found the next carin (usually supporting myself on all fours in order to balance from the wind and rain) I would holler up to Turtle that it was ok to meet me (my headlamp being his beacon). He would then remain at that carin and we repeated the process. We arrived at the Madison Hut at 10:15pm... absolutely crazy! The staff were unbelievable. They were all whispering when we got in. We were drenched and pitiful looking. They offered to feed us and give us food if we agreed to work for stay in the morning... we agreed. Drew (hut croo worker) got Turtle and I a huge bowl of pasta with peas and Italian dressing. He also made us split pea soup and gave us hot water for hot chocolate. We set up our sleeping bags atop the dining room tables where some other thru hikers were staying. The bunk houses for regular guests was packed. Tons of people came to the White Mountains for 4th of July.I am glad I am alive. Today was truly an adventure. I liked the excitement. I liked that my aches and pains went away because I had to focus on getting safe for the night. I never doubted that the night would end with me in this shelter, lying here writing in my journal. ~Santana~ "by myself but not alone"