[at-l] Ready's Journal : Aug 29 TD 77

[kahley7@ptd.net (kahley)]

You can write to Ready    readyhiker@pocketmail.com


It was a very restful night in the "dungeon." The wind had
howled all nightlong, the rain for most of the night, too.
Still, we were warm, dry and cozy in our little wooden bunks.
We got up and packed up quickly, stopping only for a short
time upstairs to hear the daily weather report, to gobble down
our breakfast drinks, and to say our thanks and goodbyes to
the croo. The weather report called for 50 mph winds, 37*F,
and 50' visibility. The cloud cover was directly on the mountain,
but there was a chance that it would clear.
The 1.5-mile climb up Mt Washington to the visitors' center
seemed longer due to the high winds - 45 mph by the time
we got to the summit. Visibility was improving too. We were
literally in a cloud that was being swept along swiftly by the wind.
Bradley had set out a short time before us and we were the first
3 to be at the Center. It was so quiet up there!
The rangers at the front desk were friendly and talkative. They'd
been talking amongst themselves about the incredible winds that
had blown overnight. They also were quite upset about the death
of Rabbi Abraham Hauer of NYC. A massive search mission had
been launched only to find his body near Franconia Ridge. He'd
apparently had a heart attack on the mountain during what was
to be a short hike. What a shame.
Within 1/2 an hour the first trainload of passengers from the cog
railroad descended upon the place and the peacefulness was
decidedly broken.
Spur and I visited the gift shop and the little museum, had some
hot soup, posted some mail and sent our emails. While waiting
in line at the cafeteria, we ran into Caesar and Maud, whom we'd
met during Trail Days. They had been members of the panel for
the publishers' workshop. They'd written a series of newsletters
describing their travels through each of the 50 US states. They
are now on, not a thru hike, but a "thorough" hike - hiking the trail
and visiting each trail town and trail icon along the way. They're
interviewing hikers and town residents as they go. They were in
fine spirits in spite of Maud's severe cold. It was so great seeing
them again.
The weather seemed to clear. Clouds continued to speed by the
huge windows at the Center, but in between were patches of blue
and the sun seemed to be making a real effort to break through.
We visited the observation deck before heading up the trail, but
because of the cold, biting winds, remained only a short time.
The climb down was long and over very precariously placed rocks
and boulders. It was often difficult to discern where the intended
footpath was, but we painstakingly walked from cairn to cairn,
the wind making each step a challenge.
As I hiked ahead of Spur, one of the passenger-laden cog trains
headed down the mountainside. I turned to see if Spur had seen
it too. Apparently he had for there he was "saluting" it in true
thruhiker form! What a hoot!
We made it to Madison Hut for a late lunch of chicken soup.
We enjoyed 2 steaming bowls each, and ate turkey sandwiches
that we'd packed out from the Center's cafeteria. The lone staff
member was as accommodating and pleasant as could be. As
nice as this break was, we were back to hiking after only 40 minutes.
We still had almost 8 miles to go if we were to reach Pinkham
Notch tonight. It was a steep ascent away from the hut, followed
by a long stretch in which we walked along the spine-like ridge of
Mts Madison and Adams.
It was slow going. We were in and out of the clouds, but mostly
we were seeing clearing trends. Patches of blue sky appeared
and the views were often sharp, with sun breaking through frequently.
We encountered only day and short term hikers today. We passed
most who were northbound, in spite of what I felt was a slowed pace.
It was over 2 hours before we were suddenly and definitively back
at, and then under, tree line. Pine forest and thick, soft duff underfoot!
It had felt like a very long time since we'd been in the woods even
  though it had been only yesterday morning.
We continued our descent for some time longer - there's a lot of
"down" coming down off Mt. Washington!
We also marveled at the number of brooks and streams we were
seeing. There'd been none way up there in the sky these past 2 days.
We were at the Pinkham Notch Visitor's Center and Dodge Lodge
around 7:30 PM. It was already getting dark, so Spur secured bunk
space at the lodge for us instead of trying to find a tentsite in the dark 
and chill.
The Center's restaurant had already closed, but we were able to
collect our food drop package and cook a quick meal of spaghetti
and hot chocolate, supplemented by soft drinks from a vending machine.
Also at the lodge tonight were Little Engine, PopPop and Opto, and
Sticks and Patches. Due to the late hour, we didn't have much chance
to chat with everyone, but it sure was good to see that everyone was
  making their way to Katahdin, only some 320 miles north of us now.
We showered and wrote our journals, and were ready for sleep by 11:15.
We want an early start tomorrow. We'll be eating a buffet breakfast at
the Center before heading out.



--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/mixed
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
---