Happy’s thoughts:
We hiked up Mt Madison yesterday and spent the night at the Madison Spring Hut. The croo was amazing and just made the entire experience so much fun. It’s stunning to me that they pack everything in to the hut on backpacks. The Hut sleeps more than 40 people. That’s a lot of food to pack in. They offered us Work For Stay. I cleaned out a freezer. Steve swept up the dining area. Their bunks are usually $159 each. I’m thrilled with the WFS option. They even fed us dinner and breakfast.
Two croo members arrived while we were there with what looked like 100 pounds of supplies strapped to their backs. Just amazing.
This morning we headed out towards Mt Washington. The wind started up and got stronger and stronger. By the end of 4 hours of battling wind, I didn’t think it could get any stronger. I was wrong. The weather station on the top of the mountains gave me validation. Sustained winds of 50 mph and gusts were up to 90 mph. I very seriously thought we would be blown off the mountain more than a few times. No photos of that — I was too busy trying to survive.
Rain started just before we reached the summit. It was hitting so hard that at first I thought it was gravel. Nope. Just rain hitting at 90 mph.
Our choices: We could hike on down to a closed-for-the-season hut that has a emergency shelter that will sleep 6 called “The Dungeon”, or we could find a way into the town of Gorham. We chose Option B.
We hung out at the snack bar on top of Mt Washington, warmed up and then were able to bum a ride down off of the mountain.
We are now tucked into a beautiful resort hotel, The Glen House, for the night. Tomorrow, we go back up the mountain and head further south. They do not have a laundry, so I washed my socks in the sink and then headed down to the bar for football and bar food.
Why we caught a ride into town from Mt Washington:
I didn’t get a summit picture. I kept getting knocked down by the gusts and rain.
Funny thing happened going up. We were overlapping a younger couple. They kind of sneered at us.
The rain hit fifteen minutes early and Happy and I suddenly accelerated and left them down hill in the dust. They were quite surprised.
Yes. Gusts to 80 mph, up on the mountain heavy rain hit at 1:45.
This wonderful couple gave us a ride into town.
We will take up on the trail tomorrow when it is supposed to be sunny and clear.
So we did Madison Hut to Mt Washington. Rain hit hard before 2:00. No pictures. Gusts knocked me over while I was trying to get my summit photo.
