Date: 2004-08-05
From: Nauman Campsite

To: Crag Camp
Miles today: 10.9

It was another fine morning. The huts serve breakfast to their overnight guests at 7am. All packed and ready to go, I left Nauman Campsite and stopped into Mispah Spring Hut a bit after 8am to check up on the weather report and visit the bathroom. The caretaker had been servicing the campsite privy. The croo gets the weather via a radio call direct from the weather observatory on the summit of Mount Washington every morning at 8am. It's always fun to listen in. Then they post it of course.Maine Dish and Oxymoron were sitting at a table in the hut with a few others. It turns out they were waiting for the leftover pancakes to be set out. The croo had to eat their fill first. Sure enough, there they were a plenty, complete with syrup and butter. That was a mighty fine surprise. Mmmm.The views start to open up after just a short steep climb above the Hut. While cruising along the southern Presidentials climbing higher and higher above tree line the weather was playing strange games. Lacey wafts of cloud drifted up out of the ravines and valleys across the ridge in a strange convoluting dance. The views were all around. Ridge after ridge after ridge of mountains played hide and seek among the strange cloud dance.The trail here, once again, was extremely familiar. It's hard to know how many hikes we have shared. It was such a fulfilling feeling to be hiking it this time as a link in this phenomenon known as the Appalachian Trail.By the way, the Mount Clinton here is named for a past governor of the state of New Hampshire not for a President. On my first ascent some 30 or 40 years ago it was named Mount Pierce.Along the Presidential Ridge there are loop trails that go over many of the summits. The AT, here known as the Crawford Path, does not go over every summit but skirts many of them keeping a more steady incline. This way thru-hikers do not feel compelled to summit every peak in the often life threatening weather. Typically, my hikes along these ridges would include all the summits possible. Today, however there were other considerations. First the AT did not technically go over such summits as Eisenhower and Monroe. Beyond that there were many miles to go before sleep, 10.9+1. That's not to mention the miles before Katahdin, 338. This is a debate that had played in my mind many times since the day of my decision to hike the AT. The question was now at hand, stick to the trail or blue blaze over the summits. Sticking to the trail won out. After all the summits were good old friend but the trail around the sides was almost a stranger.It was really heart warming to look to the east and see the ridge from Boott Spur to Mount Isolation and beyond. My friend Graham and I adopted a section of the Davis Path from the Glen Boulder Trail to Mount Isolation that runs along that ridge. Mount Isolation - 08/05/2004 10:31a dscn1992.jpgTrail Adopting:Adopting a trail means that you need to get out to do trail maintenance at least 3 times a year. A day of training is required every 3 years. Reports need to be filed for every work day. We work on the cairns, scree walls, keeping the treadway clear, clearing blowdowns and keeping the brush at bay and the drainage clear. It's rewarding work to be able to give back to the mountains and trail community. I highly recommend it to all thru-hikers. It gives a much better perspective of the trail at large. The Appalachian Mountain Club used to have posters at shelters and privies that simply said "You got here with a little help from your friends." Well let me tell you, that is a huge understatement. Just try bushwhacking to or from one of the high ridges or through a boreal forest. The forest didn't give up the trail treadway easily when it was first built and it wants it back. Without the hundreds if not thousands of volunteer trail maintainers and their organizations this hike would most likely take years. With that I offer a sincere thanks to all the maintainers up and down the trail. To the rest of you I say, "Get out. Get dirty. Give Back." It's fun.The Crawford Path was originally built as a bridal path used to guide tourists from the Crawford House, a huge wooden Hotel similar to the Mount Washington Hotel also in Crawford Notch, to the hotel that used to be on the summit of Mount Washington. Today it is hard to imagine a horse navigating the well worn and eroded path.Lakes of the Clouds Hut appeared over the lawns of the ridge at about 11:20am. This would become a good place for a little lunch part 1. It could be supplemented with some nice hut leftovers too and in fact the pancakes and soup were great. About an hour later after chatting with a good number of folks it was time to begin the ascent of Mount Washington. The summit had been in and out of the clouds most of the morning.It's only one and a half miles from Lakes of the Clouds Hut at 5,040' to the summit of Mount Washington at 6,288' but the climb of 1,280' took nearly an hour. The whole climb up Mount Washington is above tree line on rock and completely exposed to the elements. Mount Washington is referred to as the Rock Pile and for good reason. Of course being the tallest mountain in the north east as with many "tallest mountains", the summit is covered with buildings. There is also an auto road and a cog railway to the summit. That ensures that there will be plenty of tourists on the summit. It was actually necessary to wait in line to get to the true summit for a photo. The nice thing was that there was someone there to take the picture for me. So what if he was wearing a motorcycle helmet.It's easy to be critical of all this development of the summit. But be assured that there is a long a colorful history here and the answers are not simple. There is actually a museum in the basement of the summit building with lots of fun information on the summit history. It is well worth the dollar or two admission which supports the Mount Washington Weather Observatory.One of the funniest things about the tourists is that they show up wearing all the wrong stuff because it may be 80 in the valley when they board their vehicles and only 40 or colder on top. Now that's not to mention the wind and clouds or precipitation. After all, the highest wind ever recorded by man was recorded here at 231 miles per hour back in April of 1934. I've had the pleasure of knowing and visiting with one of the 4 guys who was here on that auspicious occasion, Wendel Stephenson. He was a fascinating guy and grandfather of my good friend Phil.Lots of people have died on Mount Washington. The count is 137 at this point. Inside the summit building the names dates a circumstances are listed on the wall. Folks tend to think that these people must have died in the winter but many die in the summer months. It snows every month of the year here and the weather can change from sunny and 60 to a soaking cloud at 30 degrees with gusts approaching 100 miles per hour in the space of about 15 minutes. Hikers be ware.There are also photos and a few relics from the old summit building that was here when I first climbed here at age 10. Inside the summit building were the familiar rustic tables and chairs, the gift shop, the snack bar and of course the Weather Observatory Museum. It was crowded for sure but there was space at a table by the fortified windows none the less. There was a trip or 2 to the snack bar but the final trip yielded a pint of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia of course. Having eaten leftovers at Lakes and now more snacks at the summit it was going to be tough to tackle a whole pint. Even in this crowd of close to a hundred day hikers, backpackers and tourists it was not hard to pick out a couple of thru-hikers. Switchback and another guy who's name remains a mystery at the moment were more than happy to help me out with the ice cream. That was fun.The summit is like a black hole of time. It's warm and there is an endless supply of food inside. At 2:45pm after an hour and a half on the summit it was time once again to head out into the wind, over the summit and down the Trinity Trail to the Gulfside trail. Those are the local names for the next 2 legs of the AT.The Trinity trail is one of the newer trails on the summit and it's reasonable to think that someone just headed down with a bucket of paint making blazes and building cairns. Aside from the blazes and cairns there is no evidence of a trail. It's just a matter of hopping from boulder to boulder. Ya gotta love it.The trail was in and out of the clouds but more out than in. Visibility varied from moment to moment from 50 feet to 50 miles or better. It was cool and windy but there was no actual rain. What an awesome day on the Northern Presidentials. It was just exhilarating to be hiking this stretch of trail again and under these circumstances. Perspective:Over the last 3 decades, I have talked with so many thru-hikers as they passed through these mountains and now I join their ranks. Even having listened so intently in all those conversations, it was impossible to truly understand what a through hike was all about. I can recall coming away so often with thoughts of ¢How can he think that way after being on the trail for so long? Why don't they see things the way I do?¢ Well, now I get it or at least I think I get it. I may still disagree but now there is understanding. That is the beginning of learning for all.The rays of the sun shown down through the clouds like light from heaven. It was aw inspiring. An entire day of continual 360 degree views led to lots of photo ops. Having a camera at the ready is the only way to go. Mine lives in a little zippered pouch on my hip belt with the Handbook page of the day. There is no need to even stand still to take a picture. It's great.After passing such familiar places as Mount Clay, Sphinx Col, Monticello Lawn, Mount Jefferson, and Edmond's Col the trail climbed up to Thunderstorm Junction just below the summit of Mount Adams. Thunderstorm Junction is a crazy trail junction of about 6 trails at an elevation of 5,510 feet. There is a huge cairn at least 10 feet tall that a small group of hikers can take shelter behind for a little break from the wind to adjust clothing and snack.It was here at Thunderstorm Junction that the final decision was made to head for the Randolph Mountain Club Crag Camp for the night. The trail to Crag Camp was not new to me however it certainly seemed longer and more down than my recollection suggested. Then it occurred to me that it had always been snow covered and my mode of transport had been either boot skiing or butt sliding. That changes one's perspective a bit. The thought of climbing back up in the morning definitely brought some doubts to mind. Looking back though confirmed the decision had been made and there was no going back up at this hour, not till morning. It'll be fine.Not too many thru-hikers go to Crag Camp because it is a mile off the trail and on top of that it is a steep 1000 feet down just below tree line. The thing is, Crag is just such a fine place. It's like a mini ski lodge perched on the edge of the precipitous King Ravine. The views out the cathedral windows and from the deck are just beyond description.It was kind of nice getting to the cabin at 6:30pm and having a relaxing evening. There was plenty of time to take pictures, fix and eat dinner, write in the journal and chat with the caretaker, Jeremy. It was just the two of us for the night. Actually he would be spending the night at Gray Knob, a half mile away. This would be a solo night for me. He was surprised at my stay. He said he seldom gets thru-hikers but he had 2 last night and now me. The journal confirmed that it was Waterloo (Amy) and Machine (Jason). They wrote their appreciation of this beautiful cabin and thanked me for the ¢Trail Magic¢. That was cool. This was a 10.9 mile day but the jaunt to the cabin added 1.1 miles making it 12 mile. You just can't blow by something this spectacular. Even with an early arrival it was 10pm before my sleeping bag summoned me. After all, we can sleep all we want when we're dead.