Date: 2007-07-27
From: Pinkham Notch

To: Madison Hut
Miles today: 7.8

We leave the hotel to get back to the lodge where they serve an all you can eat breakfast. I fill up on pancakes, sausage and eggs. We bid our farewell to Brian, and are back on the trail. As usual Tumble Weed and I speed off. Yep another big day, Mount Madison is a tough one. We have a rolling 3 miles to the Base. I think yesterdays hike has drained us, as well as the late night. Tumble Weed suggests a break about 2 miles into the hike. This is a 1st ever. We sit by a great spot along a stream. We soak our feet and wait for Timber. Timber arrives and we all enjoy the moment (a long one by Tumble Weeds standard). A mile after the stream we hit a campsite and decide to do a lunch break before we climb Mount Madison. During this break I ask the girls if they want to join me in Chicago. Oddly enough they were interested. I thought for sure Tumble Weed would have squashed the idea as soon as it came out, but she was contemplating the idea. Now this Chicago trip is purely a selfish endeavor on my account. My thought is, if they come with it will be easier for me to get back on the trail. Lunch finished we all start the climb. Half way up it starts to rain. Tumble Weed and I scramble to get our rain gear and pack covers on. By the time we are all situated we hike another 50 yards and the rain stops. We pass a guy descending and oddly enough he has a Chicago backpacking club t-shirt on. I tell Tumble it's a sign. She laughs it off and we proceed to climb. We make it above treeline and can see several false summits that we have left to climb. Tumble Weed and I take breaks at every false summit. Fatigue is one reason for the breaks, but for me it's to establish an emergency fall back location. The sky is looking a little sketchy, and I don't want to get caught in a storm above treeline. 2 more false summits left, and the conversation of this break is how much the flight to Chicago will cost. I use Tumble Weed¢s cell to call Beck to set the flights up. To fly to Chicago on a days notice was only $330. So we wait for Timber to see what her thoughts are. When she shows up we discuss what the trip entails. I tell them the selfish reason I think they should come. They would make their decision at the summit. At the summit we can't get a hold of my brother, we would be staying with him. Beck suggests I ask if it's cool if the girls stay. We decide to try again when we hit the hut. I move a little quicker then the girls and make the hut 15 minutes faster then they do. The plan was to try and stay the night at the hut. Mary Anne is here as well. Come to find out there is 1 work for stay left and 1 pay for spot left. It's 5:45 and dinner is at 6, the girls about 10 minutes away. I drop my pack and hustle back up the trail and explain the situation. We get down to the hut with about 5 minutes to decide how we are going to handle this. We try to sweet talk the "croo" so we can all stay, but they hold their ground, someone has to descend half a mile to the tent site. The scene turns into Lord of The Flies. Since I have the means I was going to pay the 90 bucks for the pay for spot. Come to find out Tumble Weed wanted to stay as well, and was willing to pay. Now a few days ago I made a deal with the girls, that I would not break them up, over a situation like this. They started this journey together, and should stay together. I go and fill up my hydration pouch, and in the distance you can hear thunder. I leave the hut for this tent site that's a 1/2 mile down in the treeline. I start my descent and maybe make it .3 miles down and find a stealth site. Pitch the tent and make some dinner and I'm out by 7:30.