Date: 2008-06-15
From: lakes of the clouds hut

To: osgood tent site
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: fog

Well, didn't sleep well in the hut again, lots of noise and to bed late and up early. Work for stay rocks for the food, but generally sucks. Can't wait to get back to the no fee shelters and tent sites.Grabbed some leftovers from last night for my breakfast and hit the trail at 6:30 in the pouring rain, wind, and cold. Started out with my raincoat on but it came off quickly.The day started off with the final climb to the summit of Mt. Washington. Just after the start of the climb, there was a sign saying the mountain has the worst weather in America and many people have died of exposure up here. Turn back if the weather isn't ideal.Lets see:Cold, checkRain, checkWind, checkShorts, checkT-shirt, checkAll the prerequisites for dying or getting hypothermia, checkGot to the summit and took my picture by the sign the best I could and booked it down because the wind was starting to pick up and it is extremely exposed. Not that I was going anywhere less exposed as I still had another 8 miles above the treeline, but can't do anything about that.The trail crossed the cog railroad. The other side of the tracks was covered in soot and chunks of unburned coal or whatever they're burning in it. I don't get how they can continue to destroy the mountain with that ting, but I can't even camp up there. I think my tent would make a smaller impact. Just saying.Since the trail was completely above the treeline and is often snowy, the trail was just marked with rock cairns. The problem was visibility was usually around 50 feet, no joking. The cairns were spaced further apart than that and there was no trail to speak of since it was all a boulder crawl. Needless to say I was going very slow and stopping to find the trail A LOT. Averaging just above a mile an hour. Walking over shifty rocks for miles didn't help either.In a small ravine, the trail even crossed a patch of snow. It was about 50 feet across and pretty slippery Had to dig in to make sure I didn't go sliding down the ravine. Made a snowball on June 15 and took a picture.Didn't take me long to realize I wasn't doing 20 miles today. Got to the first hut 7 miles in about 5 hours after I started.I went inside and just sat there for about two hours, not really wanting to go back out there, but I couldn't really stay here. Finally decided I would go a few miles further and get lower than the clouds and camp it. No other choice really. Got some free donuts from the croo.Over Mt. Madison, the last climb and straight down, jumping from shifty rock to shifty rock. Loads of fun. Fell a lot. Skinned my knees a couple times. Bent my left Leki two more times. Four bends in it now. Looks like an S.One fall was quite spectacular. I think I sort of did a cartwheel and managed to jam my pole between some rocks to stop myself. It bent about 45 degrees but I straightened it a little. Hard to even get up that time without falling down the mountain. Sometimes hiking solo sucks.Finally made it below the treeline, but the trail was still dropping like a rock so still slow. Took a few more hours to go the next 3 miles.The terrain was harsh today, but I wasn't really frustrated or anything, just had to go at a snail's pace. Wet rocks and flat shoes didn't help either. Gonna be great to get a new pair in a couple days. These have about had it.Up Wildcat tomorrow, apparently the steepest climb on the entire AT. See how that goes, hopefully it doesn't rain like its supposed to...