|
Aug
25 , 1983 Thursday (335.6 mtg) From
Gonzo!s Appalachian Trail journal
Up
early to take advantage of the nice weather, and to be able to travel
the 14.4 miles to Pinkham Notch Basecamp. Fourteen miles with the
type of terrain that I had to cover today would be quite a bit.
I ate my own oatmeal for breakfast this morning rather than staying
for the meal. If I stayed for the meal I would have had to stay
for the cleanup. Managed to get some hot water from the crew for
my oatmeal. I asked if I was "all settled" as far as having
done enough to compensate for last nights stay and meal. They said
yes, so off I went for my second climb up the cone of Mt. Washington,
this time with my pack. (I apparently signed the guest register
this morning as seen in a photo
sent to me twenty-five years later by an inspired hiker who read
my journal before his hike. He remembered me when he went through
Lake of the Clouds hut where he took this photo. I believe the drawing
to the right may have been drawn by "The Mill Hunkey",
another thru-hiker, who used to draw a lot of characters in the
registers. My reference to "Go Winston!" refers to Winston
Lumbsden, "the Great Appalachian Trail Athlete" as he
called himself. I knew he had a long way to go to get to Springer
Mountain in Georgia. Someone has dated an entry incorrecly since
the one below me is dated the day before mine. Perhaps I signed
the day before and put the wrong date? Could be, since I would have
wanted to leave as soon as I could in the morning. However, my short
entry and reference to "Go Winston!" seems to indicate
a morning entry made as I was on my way out the door. Anyway, Thanks
for the photo, Arius)
It was another beautiful morning, and there was no one to speak
of on the top when I arrived. That was nice, except I had a hard
time finding someone to get into the one room post office for my
package. I had been eating so good at the huts that I really did
not need any of the supplies that I had sent to the summit, but
picked them up anyway. I packed up the supplies and headed down
the trail, descending from the cone toward the Northern Presidentials
surrounding the Great Gulf Wilderness Area.
Dropping off the cone, the trail crosses the cog railway and turns
sharply to the left to follow the Gulfside trail. Once again the
trail skirts the summit of the major peaks on its way around the
gulf. I passed to the left side of Mt. Clay and continued on toward
Mt. Jefferson, but passed to the side of it too. At the junction
of the Airline Trail, which leads .8 miles to the summit of Mt.
Madison. There was a particularly impressive view of Madison, which
the trail then continued toward. Madison Springs Hut is reached
before passing over Madison summit. I stopped in at the hut and
saw Dick and Lan, a couple of thru-hikers going north. They had
decided not to go up Mt. Madison, I guess they were going to take
a different trail down the mountain that began at the hut, rather
than the official trail that lead over Adams and followed the Osgood
Path down the mountain. I opted for the official route. I was happy
that the official route actually passed over the summit. This seemed
like a novel thing since all the other peaks had been skirted. The
view was great. The climb was short, but steep, and a couple of
"goofs" were at the summit in t-shirts and shorts and
no other gear to protect themselves should the weather change. The
descent to Pinkham notch from Madison was long and involved much
downhill. Over three thousand feet ticked off before I reached Pinkham.
The last few miles after Madison Gulf Trail Junction were not as
bad, just a walk in the woods so to speak.
At Pinkham camp, I asked if they needed help. They welcomed me and
set me up to work in the kitchen washing dishes in exchange for
room and board. Everyone was very nice, one girl even got me some
cherry chip ice cream while I was working. I had to stop washing
in order to finish it off. After the dishes were all cleaned and
everyone was done cleaning the kitchen, one of the boys took me
to a nearby beaver pond just before sunset to see if we could see
some beaver activity, but unfortunately we were not lucky that night.
Gonzo!
Appalachian Trail Journals ©1983
|
