Date: 2004-09-07
From: Madison Spring Hut, NH

To: Ascent from Hell
Miles today: 13.7

This morning, I watched the college-aged staffers at the hut perform a singing skit for the paying guests. In the dining room, the staffers wore costumes and sang the melody to a song by the composer Billy Joel, but changed the words to include an appeal for tips to pay for their college expenses. Some of the guests appeared amused. Other guests seemed taken aback by this appeal. I am told the cost to stay at a hut ranges from sixty to seventy-five dollars, not including tips.When the paying guests had finished breakfast and departed, the staffers fed us thru hikers. I was so impressed with the friendly demeanor of the staffers that I offered to perform an additional chore. They asked me to sweep the floor of a bunk room.The upper slope of Mount Madison is a gigantic pile of rocks, much like the upper slope of Mount Washington. But the terrain on Mount Madison is steeper and the summit is a conical shape with space for only a few people to stand. I was alone as I stood on the summit. The wind was so strong that I was afraid of being blown off and quickly began my descent.The steep grade required me to descend the slope at a snail's pace.Later, within the tree line, the hiking conditions improved. Eventually, the trail reached the bottom and the hiking became easy.During the afternoon, I arrived at the visitor's center at Pinkham Notch. Several thru hikers were eating lunch at a snack bar and I joined them. All of us knew that a difficult ascent awaited us on the other side of the notch.The climb out of Pinkham Notch was possibly the steepest and most physically exhausting slope I have encountered on this journey. It was over 2000 feet of pure hell which took me up Wildcat Mountain. When I reached the summit, a thru hiker I knew was climbing toward me and heading southbound. He was infuriated. After summiting the mountain northbound and descending the back side, he did not see any white blazes on the trees. He worried that he had chosen a wrong path and hiked back up. I assured him that he was traveling on the Appalachian Trail.The day ended at the AMC Carter Notch Hut. There were lots of thru hikers present and only one group of paying guests. The caretaker offered us thru hikers the use of a bunk house in return for chores. My job was sweeping a floor during the evening.Most of us thru hikers cooked our meals outside our bunk house. There a hiker told me about an incident which happened yesterday on Mount Washington a few hours before my arrival.A train from the cog railway was approaching the spot where it passes beside the Appalachian Trail. Three thru hikers were standing there. A fourth hiker placed his camera on a metallic hiking stick with a camera screw on the handle. The stick was jammed into rocks, or something like that, so it would not fall over. The camera was aimed at the approaching train. The hiker activated the self timer button on the camera then joined his fellow hikers. They turned around, facing away from the train. They dropped their pants, bent over, and mooned the train.The crew of the train was outraged. They hurled lumps of coal at the four hikers. The hikers used the palms of their hands to slap their own butts, adding a verbal component to the show.In the meantime, the passengers were laughing.I am sharing a small bunk room with five other hikers and their sweaty clothes. It smells foul in here but I am so exhausted that sleep will come easily.