Kathy’s cousin, Mark, came to hike with me on the weekend of 8/10. It was so great to meet up with him and his dear wife, Maria, We met on US 302 trailhead on Saturday morning after I hiked 3 miles from my campsite. After greetings, packing some goodies from home we were off. Our goal was to begin the ascent of Mt. Washington. He only had the weekend so I would continue on to the summit the day. After several hours of hiking we could see US 392 far far below.Along the way was a lookout so I snapped a picture. We are still far from our goal of our tentsite
After hours of hiking we arrived at Nauman Tentsite . We had option of going even farther but 6 miles was all we could handle. The climb was steep, wet and slippery. Nauman Tentsite is next to the Mizpah Hut. We set up our tents next to each other on a platform. While cooking dinner it started to rain so we each ducked in to our tents. We had barely talked on the ascent. It was hard to hear over the noise of the rain. We were cold, damp and exhausted and soon got into our sleeping bags. That night a cold gusty wind blew all night. I put on my puffy jacket and gloves while in my sleeping bag to stay warm. By morning everything was damp or wet – my sleeping bag, and my tent. Regardless I packed it up. My tent weighed more with all the water in it. Since Mark had to work the next day we said our goodbyes. I was sad to see him go. It was just too short and the weather was icky.After leaving Mark I then continued the climb in rain and fog and wind. On the way I started to worry about getting too cold. In the lee of some rocks I put on my puffy under my rain jacket. That and gloves helped keep my core warmer. The wind was so strong and the fog was thick. On I marched. At the Lake of the Clouds Hut after only 4 miles I stopped to rest from the gale outside and re-evaluate my goal. Typical of me I decided to press on but skip the side trail to the summit of Mt. Washington, which is known for awful weather. It took me 12 hours to get to my goal the Madison Hut. I was beat and my body was aching but I made it. There I washed dishes so I could stay the night (work-for-stay) and sleep on the floor of the dining room.
