[at-l] Pt 8 Pittsburgh is HIKING!!!

[kahley7 <kahley7@ptd.net>]

new england hike - day 8 - lakes of the clouds hut to madison springs hut

today was an entire "above treeline" day, so anything could happen, and did.
the first part of the hike was the much anticipated 1.5 mile assault of mount
washington.  the weather was crisp and the summit was in and out of fast moving
clouds.  the climb was easier than anticipated and took us about 1-1/4 hours.
we watched the smoke from the cog railway as it ascended the mountain, bringing
its first load of tourists to the summit.  it arrived as we arrived and peter
pan and richard (the ladies husbands, and our support staff) unexpectedly
emerged from he train.  much mirth ensued...

after about an hour in the clouds at the summit, we began our descent.  the
trail (rock hop) just down from the summit was particularly tough, and timmy had
the misfortune of falling and sustaining a small brush burn below the knee.  it
was the first official fall (butt must hit ground) of the hike within our small
group.  much mirth ensued...

soon after, the hike took on a euphoric feeling.  the weather was perfect, the
trail was sedate, hawks were dancing on the winds, the views were orgasmic, and
all was right with the world.  this lasted for a long time.  we snapped out of
it during one particularly tough descent that had us all laughing with
irritation (if you can't learn to laugh at everything out here, you will have a
miserable time).  we determined that it is a tough descent when you must take a
break at the bottom due to fatigue...

eye had a big kick during my lengthy rest break.  two northbound thru-hikers
came along, named twig and log.  turns out that we had met early on in their
hike at mooney gap in north carolina.  much mirth ensued...

the sound of thunder could be heard in the distance shortly after eye started
hiking again.  this eventually became cold showers, then stinging hail.  the
ironic part was that the sun was shining the whole time.  the rain and hail
stopped after a bit, but the rocks were wet.  this makes for dangerous hiking,
but i arrived at madison springs hut unhurt.  supper was all mexican.  much
methane ensued...

pittsburgh


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