Day 4 NH White Mountains 8/7/08

Today, an A-Ticket ride.

Got up this AM and it's cloudy, not raining. The weather report is the same as always; cloudy, 40's, chance of showers, possible thunderstorms. I decide to go to Madison Hut. I eat, pack up and get out of the hut by 8am. The trail is good at the start. By that I mean it's not wet, not a running stream, not too rocky. I trudge up Mt. Washington, just a gentle breeze on an overcast, foggy day. I get to the summit right behind a mother/son team. He's peak bagging NH 46 highest mountains. They took a pic of me at the summit sign and I took one of them. They're taking a diffferent trail down than I am so we said our good byes.

An older gentleman, Mike, who was in the Lakes hut last night was at the summit too. We started down together, but he soon out paced me. I met the church youth group at the bottom of Mt. Washington. They had taken the cut out path around the mountain and we met where the two trails link back up. I seesawed back and forth along the trail with them and with Mike, all day. I re-met Mike at the foot of Mt. Clay about 1130 when I had stopped for a quick lunch break. He had taken the loop trail to summit the mountain and was rejoining the main trail. He pulled ahead again and I rejoined him again after he summitted Mt Jefferson. I passed the youth group at this point too, having a lunch break.

At about 1pm I started hearing thunder but the trail; a never ending boulder field since Mt Washington, cannot be gone across quickly. By now my toes are really protesting. Mike left me to go on the Mt. Adams loop trail and summit that mountain. At the 1 mile marker for Madison hut, the AMC trail maintainers did a lot of work arranging the stones on the trail so they were almost like paving. Sweet! A half mile went quickly. Finally, from high on the ridge, I can see into the little valley where Madison Hut is snuggled, still 1/2 mile away. It was clear enough for me to snap a pic from the ridge. One minute later the fog rolled back in. I got to the hut about 1515 and my 3 new trail friends, Patty, Lisa and Luana, were already there. This hut has two main bunk rooms, no assigned rooms with 2 - 6 bunks in them, and we just pick any empty bunk.

Let me note here that each evening, the huts were pretty much full of guests. Many families with children, youth groups, scouts, etc. The AT is not the only trail to the huts, there are several and most are only 3 - 5 miles long. Makes it easy for families to reach the huts. This hut had 4 tier bunks and the kids were having a blast racing up and down the ladders.

I hung out all my wet stuff from the day before so it can continue to dry more. I know I've taken more than my fair share of pegs but I'm hoping the wet clothing doesn't mold in the plastic baggies before I get home. The stuff I wore today is mostly dry and will be only damp in the morning. I have 1 pair of dry socks and sock liners left. The boots are mostly dry. I'll at least start the day relatively dry.

I met several thru hikers this evening. SOBO- MacGyver (girl) and Godzilla (they're a couple) NOBO - Tangent and Leonidas Shadow Caster.