Day 57 On the Trail

I have corrections to make.  First, I'm going to post them to today's blog entry. I'm going to edit Dave's 8/11/11 info, so if you reread it, it will be different.

I was correct in saying he was at the Mizpah Springs Hut on 8/11, but he was at Crawford Notch the previous night.  He is at Lakes of the Clouds tonight, 8/12.  I also will be correcting the miles to date on yesterday's post.  The following should be correct.

As of 08/12/11:
Miles today - 4.8
Miles to date - 631.5

I asked about Boulder and Bahama Dave.  Boulder, who is in his late twenties or early thirties (a little older than Dave thought), decided to speed up his hiking again and catch up with another young twenty-ish hiker, Frosty.  Frosty wants to get to Katahdin before he goes back to college and spend time with his family before that, so he is high-tailing it through the White Mountains.  Frosty and Boulder plan to hike 20-25 miles a day, and they've left the older (and wiser?) group behind.

Bahama Dave left the trail to go home to Decatur, GA.  He wasn't injured, it was his plan to leave at this time.  Dave will be sure to be in contact with him in the future.

Lakes of the Clouds AMC Hut

Dave and Rich approached the Lakes of the Clouds Hut manager about work-for-stay, and after some hesitation, she said okay, but they would have to wash dishes!  They were at the hut early since they hiked less than 5 miles, and they washed leftover breakfast dishes, for hours.  The hut holds 90 visitors and 8 residents which makes for a lot of dishes.  I find it kind of funny that a guy like Dave is willing to wash dishes in return for being able to sleep on the floor.

Fortunately, the manager also accepted 4-5 other hikers who also were willing to work-for-stay and they will be doing the dinner dishes.  Dave thinks his work is done for the day.  He thinks he'll be sleeping on the dining room floor tonight.

The hut was full and that's the only way Dave and Rich could find a 'room.'  The Lakes of the Clouds Hut is the most popular hut in the AMC system and is so booked up the hikers call it the Lakes of the Crowds.  It is often full in summer, especially on weekends.  I guess Dave and Rich are lucky to have claimed a spot.

For you Georgia hikers, Dave said the hut is similar in concept to the Len Foote Hike Inn, but nicer and bigger.

Dave said they were socked in on their hike from Mizpah Springs, being able to see 100 yards at the very most at one point, but more often it was about 25 feet. It was cold and raining, on the verge of turning to sleet.  So much for the sunny weather report, but this is Mt. Washington with very unpredictable weather.  He said it was good they had a short hike as he had pulled a muscle in his leg a few days ago, and didn't want to hike much longer.  He said he wore his winter hiking pants and kept his leg warm, so it was feeling better.

He is 5,050 ft up on the shoulder of Mt. Washington and says he has about a mile and a half to the summit.  He's hoping the weather will be better tomorrow so he can hike easily and get some great pictures when he's on top of the world!