Sept 4

Mad

Morning wake up was 5:30am.  We had to get up and moving, and packed up, and out of the way for the paying hut guests to start their breakfast at 6.  After helping wash up after the meal, we were able to eat leftovers as part of our work for stay.  Hiking out, we had an immediate climb up the rocky slope of Mt. Madison.  The air was chilly, and damp.  A moderate breeze was soaking us in mist, and making the rocks extremely slippery.  Hard to tell if we were just walking through a cloud, or if there was a weather system passing over.  To say the trail down from Madison was steep, or treacherous, would both be understatements.  It was fun in a way, just due to the physical challenge.  I saw several places where the trail seemed to just drop off straight down a house sized boulder, and it took a bit of investigation to find the correct way around the obstacle.  The fog and mist made the task of getting off this mountain much more difficult.  We finally made our way down into the protection of the tree line.  The mist turned into more of a drizzling rain.  The boulders ended, but the trail became no easier.  Slick rocks, slides, and mud, on a ridiculously steep grade.  Coming down from Madison has been the toughest hiking I've encountered so far.  If you can call that 'hiking'.  When the trail began to flatten out, my knees and ankles were killing me, and my mind was numb.  All I wanted to do was to get to Pinkham Notch, stop walking, get something to eat, and warm up.  We crossed several streams, and rolled up and down for a while on our way to the Notch.  There was a massive lodge and visitors center.  We hung around for a while, just to get warmed up.  I didn't get anything to eat at the restaurant.  I was holding out to get a ride into town for something cheaper and more filling.  We stood out on the side of the foggy highway.  With the low visibility  I put on my bright orange rain jacket, one for warmth, but also to help oncoming traffic see me.  After 8 miles of hiking this morning, and about of hour trying to get a hitch, we finally made it the 10 miles down the highway to Gorham, NH.  We met up with Slims and Rainbow Eyes, and all got checked in to a cheap hotel room, and headed across the street for Chinese buffet.  Surprisingly, this was a really good buffet.  The rest of our day was a typical town day, eating a ton of food and relaxing.

On Mt. Madison, looking back toward  Mt. Adams.