Date: 2004-09-07
From: AMC Lake of the Clouds 

To: AMC Madison Spring Hut
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: broken clouds

The mountain's night sky was clear and awesome, filled with constellations and the Milky Way. I stayed outside as long as I could; when the dampness in the air started seeping through to my skin I was forced indoors. At 11 p.m. two Zealand Hut croo members hiked in, to the cheers and hurrahs of this hut's croo, but to the dismay of six slumbering thru-hikers. Their boisterous pleasantries lasted past midnight, but eventually faded away to quiet and darkness and our sleep returned. When my body sensed the rising sun, I awoke fully: 6 a.m. ~~ time to get ready for the summit of Mt. Washington and whatever surprises the trail had in store for us today.One hour after departure (delayed to 9:30 because of the "work for stay" duties after breakfast) we were at 6288 feet. Sucked in to the tourist trap by the irresistible odor of food, we ended up spending a full two hours on top. I made three phone calls telling family and friends to log onto the Mt. Washington website, after which I took my lunch out to the observation deck, sat and lay down on the yellow X in front of the webcam. The picture was snapped every 15 minutes so I sat out there making faces for 20 minutes. Anyone see me?! I don't feel totally silly though. Here at Madison Hut, Rooney Tunes told me he did the exact same thing. We both took a picture of the webcam too!! Must be a thru-hiker mentality.Speaking of thru-hiker mentality: a tradition exists, and although it's not mandatory, it is frequently practiced. A cog rail train travels up Mt. Washington every half-hour or so. At the crossing of the AT and RR tracks, passengers and crew are treated to "mooning" by thru-hikers. Two minutes after we crossed, the train passed ... 'nuf said. Temperature on the summit was 50.9 degrees with wind speeds from 26-32 miles per hour. All day long the wind felt like it was gusting at twice that speed. More than once I paused to regain my footing as my pack and I were nearly blown off-balance. We never descended below treeline and only once was the terrain anything but large rock piles. It was a tiring, energy-zapping day, and we are weary. Blue was able to leave at about 8:30 this morning, allowing her to continue another three miles today. Ursa, Cygnet and I chose to stop short. The only real downside to this decision: 50% chance of rain, starting tonight. I've heard that, after our rocky climb and descent of Mt. Madison, the trail is steep with difficult boulder scrambling. Going down could prove treacherous when wet. But that's tomorrow.Right now we are cozy and sheltered. We are doing ¢work-for-stay¢ and this time asked for evening chores so we can boogie out of here by 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. Eight miles from here awaits a reasonably-priced lodge with shower and laundry facilities. Yippee!! Cygnet will be leaving us to return to her reality. These two weeks have flown by! She's hiked nearly 100 miles of the must rugged terrain of the AT and she's done marvelously well. I'm quite proud of her and pleased as punch to have had her gaiety, humor, and love be a brief part of my journey. I'll miss her, as will all my fellow hikers who have met her. She has a way of leaving a legacy of smiles in her wake.I can't conclude today's entry without confessing that the Swan did a little dancing on the trail. Part of the jig had my toe under the lip of a rock, my poles thrown to the side, my body splat saved by my arms holding me in a push-up position, and my nose softly kissing a rock. Until I saw blood dripping off the edge of my nose I didn't even know I had scratched it! And that is all it was, a minor scrape, but it really bled! I slapped a couple Band-Aids on it and looked like a clumsy geek the rest of the day. The skin isn't even broken now; the nose simply looks a little sunburned. The irony of the fall is, it occurred on one of the easiest parts of the trail. I was just doing two things at once and missed a step. In true thru-hiker form, I picked myself up and quickly looked to make certain no one saw me. No one did. Life is good!!