Date: 2005-07-23
From: Edmands Col / Gulf Spring - The Perch Shelter(RMC)

To: Pinkham Notch Camp / Joe Dodge Lodge (AMC)
Miles today: 9.9
Weather: fog

We got up at 5am. It was a chilly 46 degrees and windy when we got up. Brisk. The valley below The Perch was beautiful and clear.We hiked back up the 1.1m trail to the AT at Edmands Col. As we got back above tree-line we were exposed to the windy conditions. As we hiked higher, it got more and more windy. When we got up to Thunderstorm Junction, the wind became more ferocious and was blowing us around. All the way to Madison Hut, the wind was blowing. We hooked up with Bones again on the way to Madison Hut. We all stopped for a snack break. We all had on shorts and short-sleeve t-shirts as we hiked to the Hut. As we arrived we saw the Hut guests preparing to leave. Bones dubbed them, the "Polar Expedition". They were getting ready to leave the Hut and Cubby felt that all they were missing was their ski-boots and skis.We had a snack, hot chocolate and filled our water. After leaving Madison Spring Hut we summited Mt. Madison while the wind howled and tried to blow us off the mountain. We hiked along the ridgeline on the Osgood Trail section of the AT. It was full exposure to the strong winds and nothing but rock boulders to scramble over. We had to hike from cairn to cairn to find our way.After the ridge, we hiked down to the USFS Osgood Campsite trail junction. We continued on the Madison Gulf trail to the Old Jackson Road trail (all the A.T.) and then to Pinkham Notch Camp and the Joe Dodge Lodge. In The Whites, the A.T. goes by the local trail names and not just the A.T., so sometimes it is challenging to find the A.T. As they say, you MUST read the signs and look for the white blazes.It was good knowing that we had a bunk reserved for each of us at Joe Dodge Lodge. Cubby had made reservations from Galehead Hut. When we arrived at 2pm, we were pleasantly surprised. When Cubby made the reservations, she was told that we had a bunk in the bunkhouse. All the Huts have large bunkrooms that have about 20 bunks in them. When we walked in, we were very happy to discover we had our own room with just our two bunks in it! We went down the hall to shower and wash our clothes in the sink and then came back to our "private oasis" and did what we haven't done the entire trail, we took a NAP!!!! We took an afternoon nap for two hours before going to the dinner hall for a family style dinner. We felt like real civilized people.The dinner was excellent. How can you complain about a meal that you didn't have to carry, didn't have to cook, and is served to you? All you have to do is sit there and enjoy. We had chicken, potatoes, vegetables, bread & butter, and chocolate eclair for dessert. All of it was washed down with numerous glasses of cold milk. You could say we were "happy campers."As we ate dinner, we shared conversation with a father and son from Connecticut. The son had told us that his grandfather had a long-range goal too - like the A.T.. Only it sounded like a lot more fun than hiking 2,000+ miles. His goal was to golf every state, and he accomplished it. It sounded like a great goal to Cubby. She thought, now why couldn't we think of that instead of hiking up every rock pile from Georgia to Maine?!!We went back to the room and packed up our backpacks so we could begin our slumber on our soft mattresses. We went to bed at 9pm looking forward to our hot breakfast in the morning.