Date: 2015-08-20
From: Mizpah Spring Hut

To: Mt. Washington
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

I knew today might be my toughest day of the hike and I believe it will turn out to be just that! I got started at daylight. My goal was to hike the entire Presidentials which of course includes summuting Mt Washington...a really tall order. Of course it was incredibly steep...incredibly rocky...it was cold and completely socked in with low clouds and very high winds. I just kept trudging along trying not to stop. Visibility was almost zero making it very hard to find and stay on the trail. If you get lost up here you really have a problem. Hypothermia is a very real possibility. It was a great relief when out of the fog the "Lakes of the Clouds Hut" appeared. It was good to get out of the wind and cold. I filled up on coffee cake and coffee. I had to make a decision at this point. This Hut is the place where you begin the last push to the summit of Mt Washington...the tallest mountain in the Northeast and the worst weather in America. The weather report said the weather would deteriorate through the week. There was a possibility of thunderstorms this afternoon. Conditions were pretty crappy but it was now or I would have to wait it out for possibly days. It was time to go. Once I started I would be committed to going an additional 6 miles beyond Mt Washington and on to the Mt Madison Hut in order to get out of the danger zone. That last push up to the summit went well. The wind was rising and the temperature was dropping. I didn't stop until I reached the top. The crazy thing about all this is the summit is a tourist attraction! I had been doing hard climbing for several days to reach this point but there at the top was a snack bar and a lounge and a souvenir shop! There is a specialized train built for climbing extreme angles that bring tourist up. For 50 bucks you ride to the top. It was quite unreal! I ordered some food...a chili dog and an orange juice and sat down to rest. Once I warmed up and finished my food it was time to push on. I walked into the fog and all that weirdness disappeared behind me. It was an incredibly hard hike to the next Hut. You mostly walked from rock to rock...pointed and jagged rocks. The buffeting of the wind was maddening. When you would reach out with your foot to step on a particular rock but then the buffeting wind would push you off balance forcing you to step in a place you didn't want to step...a rock pointed or sharp. The chance of a horrible fall was great. I really don't know how I avoided it. It seemed to take forever to finally reach the that next Hut. I filled up on soup, coffee cake and lemonade. Now came the last decision of the day. Should I push on another 3 miles, another 3 miles of some the worst terrain of the trip to get off the ridge and back down below the tree line so the weather can no longer be a factor? It was getting late. I had just enough daylight to make it if everything went well. I was as tired as I have ever been. I would have to dig really deep for the strength to make it. But to go now would be too risky alone. If I fell on the rocks with no one around and probably no other hikers today, I most certainly would succumb to exposure if I couldn't go on. Luckily a hiker named "Raincheck" who I had been hiking with off and on wanted to make the push too. Boy was I tired. I was still chilled to the bone. Going out there again was the last thing I wanted to do but it was the best decision. Rain was coming in, in the morning. We set out and almost crawled up the next ascent. Visibility was nearly zero as before. Several times we lost our way and had to retrace our steps to find the trail. Actually there is no trail per say...just cairns, piles of rocks to mark the way. The wind was so vicious and with the daylight almost gone it was quite stressful thinking of all the possibilities this could go. I'm not paranoid but being a blue water sailor you always are considering worst case scenarios so you are always prepared. It took us 3 hours to cover the 3 miles. Once we dropped below the tree line the wind was now blocked by the trees. The temperature started climbing as we descended down the mountain. It felt so good to be in a safe place and the relative quiet of the trees. We found a good camp site, cooked some supper and crashed! It's amazing how much more you are physically capable of than you think you are. The summits I climbed today are: Mt Eisenhower , Mt Franklin, Mt Monroe, Mt Washington, Mt Clay, Mt Jefferson, Thunderstorm Junction and Mt Madison. Only 319 miles to go.