Mountains Under Foot

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 108: August 25, 2009
Travel:
From: ME 26; Grafton Notch, ME
To: Hall Mtn Lean-to, ME
Beginning: 7:20am
Ending: 3:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 16.3
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 1927.7 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Cool morning.
PM: Sunny and beautiful.
People: Peter, Harvard freshman orientation group.
Animals: Moose scat.
Money: $5 breakfast, $1914 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: We had to get moving pretty fast this morning. We cleaned up all the mess we made, tidied up, and consolidated all of the trash we inevitably create from repackaging food and stuffing our boots full of newspaper. Peter went to retrieve our clothes left in the dryer overnight. We were having trouble getting them dry last night and they ended up staying a little moist which Peter apologized for, but was really unnecessary since it wasn’t a problem at all. I put on my moist clothes and they were dry by the time I got to the trailhead where I would end up soaking them with sweat anyhow. We piled into the truck and headed back towards Grafton Notch. We stopped at a gas station to grab some quick breakfast food. I picked up a breakfast biscuit and a Gatorade to scarf back in the truck. At the parking lot at Grafton Notch we thanked Peter for taking care of us and all of his hospitality. Seriously, thank you Peter for rescuing us out of our funk. The previous four days really drained our spirits and this was exactly what we needed to keep moving through Maine. We threw our packs on and made our way up the trail which would take us straight up to Baldpate Mtn. Just like many mountains before this one, the beginning of the climb was really gradual and then turned into a super steep climb up what felt like a vertical river bed. The ground and rocks still soaked from the day before and the sun breaking through the trees helped it get really humid on our climb up to the top. Once on Baldpate’s west peak we could clearly see across the saddle to the higher east peak. I could see the trail snaking across the saddle but couldn’t figure out where it went once it passed tree line on the east peak. Spoon, Nick, and I cruised over the saddle and spotted Crocstar beginning his climb up the treeless mountainside. The trail traversed diagonally across the side of the mountain but it still felt like we were going straight up. At the top we made up some drink mix (really cool crystal light stuff) and had a snack while taking in the beautiful views and soaking up the best weather we had seen in a really long time. We all left at slightly different times from the top and as I came down the backside of Baldpate a bunch of hikers were headed up. I smiled and said “Hi” to them as we passed and then a guy stops me and says, “You must be Hazard.” He said his name was The Rabbit who we had been following for months and enjoying his drawings in the trail registers at the start of our trek. He had come off the trail and was now flip-flopping, intent on finishing the trail. After chatting with him for a bit, I continued down the steep, wet rock, descent to Frye Notch Lean-to. We had an early lunch while lounging around the shelter. The privy had an interesting anomaly where the bottom was covered with chicken wire but after reading the sign posted on the door, “Latch the door when leaving or porcupines will eat this building”, it all made sense. Nick went down to the spring to fill his water and didn’t bother to take any bleach with him. I asked him if he wanted to treat his water with anything and he figured that with all the antibiotics he was taking to kill his Lyme that he was immune to Giardia. All of us joked around at the fact that Nick was saying that anything entering his stomach would die on contact. After leaving the shelter we hiked over a small hill to end up at the top of Dunn Falls where we took another short break before moving on to East B Hill Rd, which most hikers hitch into Andover.

PM: Since we took the stop at Grafton Notch we no longer needed to go into Andover. The rest of the day was fairly easy, walking around Surplus Pond, and then gradually making our way over Wyman Mtn. then crossing over to Hall Mtn. where we would stay at the shelter sitting on the side of the mountain. We got to the shelter relatively early in the afternoon because we usually don’t want to do heavy miles coming out of town. This gave us plenty of time to rest, cook dinner whenever we wanted, and build a fire. A few other groups of thru-hikers dotted the camping area around us leaving the shelter entirely to us for the night. That evening a freshman orientation group from Harvard came wandering into camp from the north and made a bunch of noise setting up their gear behind the shelter. Crocstar poked fun at them for wasting their time doing their undergraduate degree at an Ivy League school. We joked that they certainly didn’t get into Harvard for their wilderness skills. It was a relaxing evening where it felt good to be back on the trail, not having to hide and suffer from the elements.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 107: August 24, 2009
Travel:
From: Carlo Col Shelter, ME
To: ME 26; Grafton Notch, ME
Beginning: 6:30am
Ending: 4:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 14.1
b) other – .3 back to trail
c) AT Mile Marker – 1911.4 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Rainy all morning. It rained three separate times during the day.
PM: Sun finally came out late in the afternoon.
People: Peter Bingham (Crocstar’s second cousin)
Animals:
Money: $0, $1909 cumulative
Notes of the day:
AM: Another dreary day was in the making as the sun came up and revealed the gray clouds still hanging over us. For a minute during breakfast someone thought they caught a hint of blue sky, but it quickly disappeared. I always dread the moment in the morning when I have to put back on my wet clothes from the previous day. You really can’t expect anything to dry on the east coast no matter what the conditions are. Our stuff was so wet that for the first time Spoon decided to just wear his board shorts and stuff his soaking long pants into his pack. Our crew was the first group out of camp, leaving the rest of the hikers still asleep in their warm sleeping bags. We still had a few mountain tops to clear before we faced the infamous Mahoosuc Notch and Arm. The rain started to come down as we made our way over Mt. Carlo and continued on through Goose Eye Mtn east and north peak. All of the rain turned the trail into a string of deep puddles and soaked the many wooden platforms, stairs, and ladders making them slippery and dangerous. By the time we got to Full Goose Shelter the rain had almost come to a stop, but the damage had already been done. Nothing on us was even remotely dry and while I was taking care of business in the privy I wrung out my shirt and even my underwear to try and make a small difference in my comfort situation. I almost didn’t want to leave the funky privy just because it had four walls and kept the wind from cutting through me. The rest of the guys were sitting under the roof of the shelter while 6-7 hikers from the night before had hardly moved from their sleeping bags and were really reluctant to get started hiking that day, many of them joking about taking a zero day in the shelter. Before falling into the trap that a warm and dry shelter becomes we continued down the trail, descending into the Notch. The Mahoosuc Notch is widely considered the hardest mile on the entire AT because it sends hikers under, around, and through car and house sized boulders that had fallen into the notch from the steep walls on either side. It is famous for having ice throughout the year hidden in deep crevices and for moose falling down into the notch and getting stuck, eventually dying and decaying, leaving a nice pile of bones and hair. While you are traversing the notch, you have to follow the white blazes painted on the rocks to find the best/safest route from boulder to boulder. Trekking poles were pretty much useless in this section of the trail where it was really important to stay low and use your hands to stabilize yourself on the wet rock. So I guess it was a good thing I slipped earlier this morning, coming down on my left knee and breaking my only pole left. We saw some ice hidden under some rocks and a pile of moose bones that hikers seemed to have picked through for the coolest bones. The temperature changes through the notch were really out of control. It would be freezing cold one second and then you lift yourself over a rock and it would be unusually hot and humid the next. Spoon was having difficulty maneuvering over the rocks without his pole getting in the way so he collapsed them down and stuffed them in his pack. The problem with these poles was that they only had one section that was collapsible and fully retracted were still taller than his pack and continued to make his life difficult. He came to the decision that he would rather snap his poles into pieces and buy a new set of Leki poles while in town than deal with the ones he had any longer. He found a sturdy tree and broke the poles down into jagged pieces he could stuff in the side pockets of his pack. As we continued through the notch, crawling through gaps in between and under the rocks, the jagged bits started to tear holes in his pack cover just to make matters worse. It took us an hour and fifteen minutes to make it the one mile across the notch. As we were leaving a guy and his dog were just starting and it concerned me that this guy expected his dog to make it over such rough terrain. There are a few places that he would have to lift or lower his dog himself just for it to have a chance to make it over an obstacle. As we started to make our way up the Mahoosuc Arm we ran into another large group like the one we met last night and could only wish them luck through the notch because it was starting to rain again and things would only get more hairy.

PM: The Mahoosuc Arm is the 1600′ climb straight out of the canyon that also doesn’t hold back the difficulty level. We had to use the exposed roots coming over the trail like stair steps to make it up the waterfall coming down the smooth rocks. As we approached Speck Pond and its shelter the rain really picked up and pounded us for a good couple of minutes before we could reach the shelter. The sun had come out for a little while coming up the Arm and I was closing in on a reasonable level of comfortableness before the rain came down and ruined that. Soaked once again, we sat in the shelter eating the last scraps of our food for the final push of the day which would take us up Old Speck. There was another hiker in the shelter who was going SOBO and told us that the section ahead was pretty easy and that we didn’t need to worry. Boy was he a liar. The rain backed off again and we left the shelter hoping it would stay away for good. Right about the time we broke treeline and started our steep climb up the exposed face of the mountain the wind and rain picked up, wrapping us in a dark shroud of suckitude. I could barely see where I was going and the wind cut through my clothes like there was nothing there. Spoon who had been moving pretty slow earlier was now behind me and out of my sight. Crocstar and Nick had sped up the mountain and I lost sight of them as they went over the peak. Thankfully, once I was off of the exposed mountainside, the trees blocked most of the freezing wind and it was only 3.5 miles downhill to Grafton Notch. I basically just let my mind wander while I hiked down the mountain and then I pulled out my iPod because I still had Crocstar’s earbuds from him letting me borrow them last night. A little bit of heavy metal really helped take the edge off of the day and make the last part of the hike go by much faster. I must have been really tired or a little disoriented because I miss-stepped multiple times, ending up on my back at one point, just before reaching Grafton Notch. When I popped out of the woods into the parking lot, Crocstar introduced me to his cousin Peter who would be putting us up for the night in his ski condo. Spoon arrived shortly afterwords and in the interest of time we piled into the truck and headed towards town. We got to the outfitter with just enough time to pick up some supplies; Croc got some fuel, Spoon bought his new poles, and I attempted to get my broken poles finally fixed. The guy at the outfitter had only non-shock bottom sections and he couldn’t get the broken piece of pole out of the middle section of the shaft in one of my poles so I ended up leaving with only one pole fixed and the piece to complete my other pole if I were to ever get the metal out of the middle section. We then made our way to the pharmacy so Nick could get a refill on his Lyme pills since what he had were water damaged coming off Mt. Madison. Next was to get resupplied at the grocery store. Spoon and I also bought Crocstar a wicked cake and ice cream to properly celebrate his birthday. We then made our way to Peter’s ski condo where we had some issues in finding a key to get us inside the building. But once that was all taken care of we split off to take showers and get laundry going so we could go out for dinner. Peter treated us to some food and spirits at a popular restaurant at the bottom of the mountain, which for being in the off season, wasn’t very crowded. I had some pretty excellent barbecue for being in Maine and Peter shared some of his ribs with us. It was really cool to hear some of Peter’s stories of his own personal travel as well as relating our own adventures. After dinner we smashed back into the pickup to eat cake and ice cream at the condo. We repackaged food and watched a little TV before retiring to our bunk beds. We would need to get up at dawn to make sure we were ready to go for Peter to give us a ride back to the trail in the morning.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 106: August 23, 2009
Travel:
From: US 2; Gorham, NH
To: Carlo Col Shelter, ME
Beginning: 7:30am
Ending: 4:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 16.9
b) other – .3 to shelter
c) AT Mile Marker – 1897.3 cumulative.
Weather:
AM: Overcast with bursts of sunlight periodically.
PM: Drizzle starting just before we entered Maine. Tapered off by the time we got to the shelter.
People: Hitch to trail (owner), trio of French Canadians, Old guys, large crew of newbies.
Animals: I think they were hiding from the rain.
Money: $0, $1909 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: The owner of the hostel told us last night that if we wanted a ride back to the trail we needed to be ready to go at 7:00 am. By 7:30 am, we were setting out from Hogan Rd to finish what was left of New Hampshire and enter our final state of Maine. Sadly, for the third day in a row, the weather had no sympathy for our milestones and we expected rain to fall at any time. It was really just a race in the morning to see how many miles we could do at a reasonable level of dryness before we got soaked and miserable again. It seemed to take forever to get to the top of Mt. Hayes and the start of the Mahoosuc Trail. The rest of the morning we snaked our way over Cascade Mtn. and around Dream Lake and past Moss Pond until all four of us ended up at the sign for the side trail to Gentian Pond Shelter. Crocstar was waiting there eating one of his hourly snacks with Nick when Spoon and I arrived. Just as we broke out the peanut butter and crackers it started to drizzle. Frustrated with the timing of the whole thing, I stuffed some crackers in my pocket and a spoon full of peanut butter in my mouth and got my pack cover on to continue hiking. The only thing worse than hiking in the rain is sitting in the rain.

PM: From there it was a long three miles to the exposed summit of Mt. Success. On a day like this, it was hard to feel successful while the cold rain fell. On the way down Mt. Success we passed a huge group of hikers that were lead by a guy that seemed to know very little about backpacking and the area around him. It was a classic case of the blind leading the blind. After we passed them, there were a few sections coming down that we had to just throw our poles over the edge of the rocky cliff and lower ourselves down with our arms. There just wasn’t a super safe way to negotiate the trail when it’s wet and slick. At the base was a small sign that marked our arrival to our last leg of the trail. It stated, “Maine – The way life should be”, which seemed like a big joke given the current conditions. Crocstar took a few blind pictures since the LCD on his camera was broken for the second time on the trip and my camera was still out of commission from the storm off of Mt. Madison a few days back. While we had intended to go another five miles to Full Goose Shelter, we all were just done with the day and decided to cut it short and stay at Carlo Col Shelter instead. When we arrived, the rain took a break because it knew we had shelter and there was no reason to keep raining when there are no hikers to get soaked. The shelter already had a trio of French Canadians cooking dinner and conversing in French. It became apparent that we were really close to the Canadian border at that point and that Canadians actually like to travel to the US for a week long vacation in the woods. A couple of old guys were also staying at the shelter tonight but were out on a trip that was a lot longer and more open ended. They were very vague about where they started and where they were headed. We peeled off our wet stuff and hung everything up the best we could inside the shelter. Spoon and I made about 6 people’s worth of food, completely filling our 1.5 liter pot with pasta left over from our resupply in Lincoln. Since we stayed in the huts two nights and made it through the Whites really fast and were set to resupply tomorrow night, we didn’t want to carry more food than we had to through Mahoosuc Notch and Arm. After about two hours the large group that we passed maybe two miles from the shelter finally came into camp looking really burnt out. Thankfully they chose to set up their tents on the tent pads behind the shelter rather than disturb the people in the shelter. That night I played around with my camera because I felt like I had nothing to lose since it wouldn’t turn on in the first place and monkeyed around with the lens cover such that the lens actually extended when I pressed the On/Off button. I guess the moisture created a seal such that there was enough resistance for the lens to not extend on its own. Once I pried it open, it operated normally. One small victory in an uneventful day. Crocstar and I checked out his pictures by putting his memory card in my camera (since his LCD was broken) and then I made a call to my Mom and Catherine before calling it a day.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 105: August 22, 2009
Travel:
From: Pinkham Notch; Gorham, NH
To: US 2; Gorham, NH
Beginning: 9:30am
Ending: 6:00pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 21.1
b) other – .2 to and from Carter Hut
c) AT Mile Marker – 1880.4 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Overcast in the morning with the sun poking through occasionally.
PM: The sky opened up and I got drenched for a good couple of hours.
People: Hitch to White Birches, Hostel folk?, two hitches,
Animals: a Poor dog
Money: $6 breakfast, $10 for pizza, $13 hostel stay, $4 Ben & Jerry’s, $3 laundry, $1909 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Rolled off the top bunk and went down to the office with the guys to get breakfast. In addition to running a motel, the owners operate a restaurant to serve guests in the morning. It’s open to the public, but if you stay at the motel you get some minor discount on your meal. We needed to get out of town, but also wanted to find a better place to stay because this was no Hiker Paradise. We received a recommendation for the White Birches Campground Hostel on the other side of town so I gave them a call to see if they had room for us tonight. The owner said to come on down, but they couldn’t offer us a ride so we had to walk. Luckily we needed to hit the post office so Nick could get his mail drop of food. We packed our still slightly moist gear up and headed down the main street of Gorham to the post office. While Nick was getting his package, a hippie looking guy in a beat up pick-up truck pulled up and attended to some business inside. Nick came out with his package and started sorting through it and ate a few things. He was still recovering from Lyme disease which meant he was taking antibiotics that required him to not eat before taking them and not eat for a certain time afterwards. This made it so that almost every breakfast and dinner Spoon, Crocstar, and I were scarfing food while Nick had to sit and watch miserably. When the hippie fellow came back out of the post office we asked if he could give us a ride down to the hostel and he told us to hop in the bed of the truck. At the hostel we were told that they offered a slackpack, which we definitely wanted to take advantage of today since it was forecast to rain this afternoon. Only hitch was that they needed to find a driver and and they were missing one of the small day packs and I didn’t want to carry around my own pack with only water in it. I found out that some girls that slackpacked yesterday and had come back to camp at 11pm still had not returned their packs so I found out where they were camping and went to go fetch the pack. By the time I got back, someone staying at the camp volunteered to give us a ride granted we were ready to go immediately. I grabbed my Camelbak and some snacks and jumped into the Jeep with the guys. The hostel owner’s main concern was that it takes the average hiker 10-12 hours to complete the difficult trail over Wildcat and the Carter range and we were getting a really late start. We all agreed that it would be in our best interest to just hike non-stop once we got to the trail and not have any kind of formal breaks or lunch. Once we got dropped off at Pinkham Notch, it would be the last time I see them all day. The trail had maybe a quarter mile of flat following the road and then turned sharply straight up the mountain and for the next couple of miles I would hit peak after peak on the way up to the highest most point at Wildcat Mtn. Peak A. From there we lost over 1000′ in less than a mile to reach Carter Notch Hut. I decided to take the short detour to the hut in anticipation of meeting back up with the rest of the crew, but was surprised to find that none of them were there or had checked in. I filled my water inside the hut and pulled out a few snacks to eat on the trail before continued on my way. If the trail coming down into the notch wasn’t steep enough, the trail coming out of the notch surely was. A 1500′ climb just over a mile to the top of Carter Dome was really tough, requiring a lot of rock climbing and endurance. A five minute breather and a snack was well deserved at the summit. The sky had been nasty all morning with the clouds rolling over the mountain tops and I occasionally got a clear look at the top of Mt. Washington. A clear view on the day before and after Washington – just our luck.

PM: Besides not being able to find the trail for a good 10 minutes on top of High Mtn, the afternoon was just one mountain peak after the other. South Carter, across the saddle to Middle Carter, across another saddle to North Carter and all the while the weather churned in the sky foreshadowing the mess on its way. As I made my way down North Carter towards Imp Shelter the sky opened up and the weather proceeded to piss all over my fun. The trail coming down the mountain was already treacherous with long sheets of rock coupled with jagged steps. Add in the rain and you have great conditions for a slip or a fall, which is exactly what I did. My feet just came out from under me and I landed square on a protruding piece of rock with my tailbone. I writhed around on the ground in pain for a minute before realizing there was no comfortable way to sit while I waited for the pain to go away, so I stood up and propped myself up on my trekking pole dizzy and feeling the urge to vomit. After a few minutes I felt well enough to continue walking. Every step I took reminded me of the fall and when I almost took another dive after stepping on a wet boardwalk I yelled out in frustration, “Come on!” Needless to say, while tromping through the late afternoon downpour I was not having a good time. By the time I crossed the Rattle River I just wanted to get the day over with so I did what most wet and tired hikers do – I started to run. Granted running along an uneven trail in the rain with water logged boots wasn’t the best idea in the world, but it did get me to my destination a lot faster. When I ran up to the Rattle River Shelter situated in the middle of the trail, the two guys taking refuge inside were really surprised to see me run up and ask which way the trail went. I ran all the way to US 2, probably close to a 3 mile run in total and found that no one was waiting at the road so I assumed they all got a hitch on their own in some form or another. I walked up the road to an intersection and basically stood in the road in the pounding rain trying to flag down any car I saw in traffic that was surprisingly light. Finally a girl in a compact sedan rolled up and I told her I was a thru-hiker and needed to get in town. She was very hesitant but eventually agreed right as a pickup truck pulled up from the opposite direction and also offered me a ride. I had never been in a situation where I had to choose between two hitches, so I saved the poor girl from having a wet and nasty hiker in her car and jumped into the bed of the pickup truck. When I got back to the hostel I found Crocstar and Nick lounging around, but Spoon was nowhere in sight. I asked them where he was and they hadn’t seen him and were surprised I made it back before he did. Somewhere on the trail I managed to get in front of Spoon without either of us knowing. Thankfully, he showed up not too long afterwords having had no trouble getting a hitch back to town. I got a shower, did laundry, and we ordered two massive pizzas to share amongst Crocstar, Spoon, and I. After dinner, we sat around watching Batman Begins while I scarfed Ben & Jerry’s with some other hikers until a grumpy old man yelled at them to turn the volume down. Unable to compromise they just turned it off and I went to sleep.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 104: August 21, 2009
Travel:
From: Mizpah Hut, NH
To: Pinkham Notch; Gorham, NH
Beginning: 6:15am
Ending: 6:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 19.6
b) other
c) AT Mile Marker – 1859.3 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Misty this morning, when we got up on in the alpine zone it seemed the sun would burn off the clouds but it got denser the closer we got to Washington.
PM: Between Jefferson and Madison Spring Hut, the day was looking like every other day this week. While sitting in the hut eating lunch things got much worse. Just after starting our decent down Mt. Madison it got dark and a huge thunderstorm broke out with lighting striking everywhere and intense rains.
People: Crocstar’s Birthday! UCOC (Nick), Don’t Panic & Wing it, Hammock, plus many more for the party hats.
Animals: Just party animals.
Money: $6 for chocolate cake square, M&Ms ice cream sandwich, and nachos on Mt. Washington, $2 shuttle, $20 hostel stay, $10 for Mr. Pizza, $1873 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up with a mist fogging the windows and the sun struggling to pierce the air. The Croo had left a pot of water on the stove for us, so all I had to do was crank the heat to get it hot for breakfast. The other guys slowly crawled out of their bags and we ate breakfast excited because today we get to climb Mt. Washington and it was Crocstar’s 23rd birthday. Croc pulled out the party hats that he had been carrying since Lincoln and placed one proudly on his head. I took a party hat and tried to somehow combine it with my own hat without any success so I affixed it to the top of my pack such that it poked out behind my head like a steeple. Spoon followed suit. We had hoped for good weather going over top of Mt. Washington, but as we left Mizpah Hut the skies were looking pretty uncooperative. We were hiking what is called the Presidential Range which extends from Crawford Notch to Pinkham Notch. As the party posse cruised over Mt. Pierce, around Mt. Eisenhower, over Mt. Franklin, and around Mt. Monroe the sun danced in and out of the clouds repeatedly giving us hope and then worry. The clouds hammered the mountain range giving us more and more cloud cover, eventually blotting out the sun completely. By the time we reached Lakes of the Clouds Hut, we were walking in a thick cloudy mist with visibility reduced to 50 feet or less. We got there so early that the hikers from last night were still hanging around including our old friend Nick (UCOC). We sat around and caught up with him and met some new hikers Don’t Panic, Wing it, and many others. They were all waiting around for the left- over food from breakfast, but there wasn’t much left so the Croo made them a big pot of oatmeal which Spoon and I were offered. After second breakfast the newly dubbed team consisting of Spoon, Croc, Nick, and I called “The May-ers”, having started in the month of May, began our hike to the summit of Mt. Washington. The mile long stretch of trail from the hut to the top of Washington is a grueling climb up a rocky slope where the trail is not defined by the ground but by traveling between rock cairns. The visibility was so low at this point that I could barely make out each cairn as I hopped from rock to slick rock. The closer we got to the top the more the wind picked up such that by the time we came up to the peak I was practically getting knocked over. Supposedly there were a couple of buildings on top of Washington but when we got there we couldn’t see a thing and had no idea where the summit sign was. It was like fumbling around in the dark, except the dark was a cold and wet wind tunnel. Yelling back and forth to each other we found the summit and got some awesome pictures next to the sign and then found our way to the visitor center for the impromptu birthday party. We got a bunch of snacks from the cafe and Crocstar made an announcement to the growing crowds that today was his birthday and he needed volunteers to wear a party hat for a big group photo. After the festivities died down we gathered ourselves to try and find the trail down the mountain with little luck. Good thing there was a Park Ranger in the visitor center who was able to orient us in the right direction. As we came down the backside of Washington the wind pounded us so hard that it was moving my feet on each step. The fog and water collecting on my glasses made it even harder to see the cairns and I think I felt a hint of sleet at the start of our descent. All in all the weather was pure insanity and the wind gusts made hiking over the rocky ridges dangerous.

PM: We hiked across the appropriately named Thunderstorm Junction making our way in between Mt. Clay, Jefferson, and three different Adams. I was quite thankful we didn’t have to go over all of those peaks and that the weather seemed to be making a turn for the better. The clouds drifted off the top of the mountains and the sun shined brightly again. As I rounded the last Mt. Adams, I could see Madison Spring Hut at the base of Mt. Madison and the near vertical trail leading to its summit. When I entered the hut, Spoon and Crocstar were feasting on some soup and fresh bread which they coaxed out of the Croo because it was Croc’s birthday. I pulled out some food and gave Catherine a call but it got cut short as those nasty clouds came blowing back in killing my cell signal and bringing the rain. We were all feeling pretty apathetic about hiking onward since it was so warm and dry inside the hut but the weather broke just long enough to convince us to get back on the trail. This would prove to be a poor decision. By the time we got to the summit of Mt. Madison, the weather was getting really hairy. The wind had picked back up and the rain got heavier. Coming down the mountain we got in a human traffic jam with some other thru-hikers right about the time lightning started to strike all around us. It was a mad scramble to get out of the alpine zone and below treeline. The torrent of water coming out of the sky turned the trail into a shin deep stream of water, everything was soaked within minutes. The rest of the day on the trail was pretty miserable hiking in the pouring rain, sometimes not knowing exactly where the trail went at trail intersections, and going over what felt like one of the most pointless uphills to Low’s Bald Spot. When we finally reached Pinkham Notch myself and others were spent and ready to call it a day. We sat on a bench trying to figure out our next move as the other group of hikers came off the trail. Nick made a call inside Joe Dodge Lodge to Hikers Paradise Hostel at Colonial Fort Inn where the owner agreed to pick us up for a fee. When he showed up we packed 7 hikers plus their gear into a Honda CRV and drove into the town of Gorham. The hostel was four small rooms with bunk beds for four people in each room, one shared bathroom, and a common room/kitchen. I got cleaned up and tried to dry my gear out by hanging things off every inch of my bed. Then Spoon and I ordered a giant pizza from Mr. Pizza and I stuffed myself while I talked to my mom on the phone. I told her it would be a good idea to put the blog on hold while we concentrated on finishing the trip and that my camera lens won’t open (after getting wet today) so I couldn’t take any pictures until she sent my another camera from home. It was a rough day so I went to sleep as soon as I could get off the phone with my mom.

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 103: August 20, 2009
Travel:
From: Galehead Hut, NH
To: Mizpah Hut, NH
Beginning: 6:15am
Ending: 4:30pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 21.1
b) other
c) AT Mile Marker – 1839.7 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Brisk and crisp morning.
PM: Sunny and hot, just perfect.
People: Rockdancer, Annie, Hammock, Gates, Chomp, Half-full
Animals: Not a lot at this elevation. Some buzzards and birds of prey.
Money: $0, $1835 cumulative
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up before the sun and tried to quietly pack up so not to disturb the other hikers. I noticed that the Croo had not removed anything from the table for old guys last night and there was still a hunk of bread and butter remaining. Ravenous, I sliced a chunk off and indulged while I drug my stuff out into the porch. I figured it would be quieter than packing my backpack inside on the loud hardwood. Soon the Croo were stirring and someone heated some water on the stove for us so we could have hot Carnation Instant Breakfast this morning. Spoon and I were the first ones ready to go and since Croc still needed his morning smoke we had a little head start. Yet, in true Croc fashion, he had caught up to us before we got to the summit of South Twin. It was early enough that the sun was still creeping over the mountains and blasted us in the face as we came over the peak. From there we walked north along the ridge, just below treeline, before heading east toward Mt. Guyot. We almost missed a turn and walked for a minute down the Bondcliff trail before realizing we had come off the AT. While you are in the Whites, the AT isn’t labeled as the AT on most of the signs. The trail goes by the local name such as the Franconia Ridge Trail but on most of the signs hikers have come through carved the AT symbol next to the trail the AT follows. After navigating some funky trail intersections and poor blaze marking we made it to Zealand Falls Hut. It was still really early in the day, so much so that some of the thru hikers who stayed here last night were still hanging around. We had a third of the day finished by mid-morning so we were making great time. After a quick snack and water resupply, we headed back out. The next 8 miles were the easiest miles we encountered in the Whites where the trail was virtually flat until it descended into Crawford Notch.