7/25 "Highly" Ugly

14.1 hiked today, 1845 miles N, 329 miles left
The Perch Shelter

Todays weather was about as good as one could hope climbing Mt. Washington. They brag they have someting like 3 days of warm weatjer a year and 311 days of rain. There was certainly mist in the air but it was patchy and the temps were in the high 50s-60s.
I am getting ahead of myself. The day started at Mizpah, a shelter whose name I can't help to think is Yiddish. I made a lot of friends during my talk last night and this morning and while walking the ridgeline I was talking to many of the same people.
When I climbed above treeline the winds were brisk cooling me quickly inspite of the 60 degrees temps.
The vision of the AT is a trail that follows the ridgeline of the Eastern mountains. Here however, where every summit holds among the best views of the entire AT, the trail frustratingly only goes over about half the summits chosing to get within half a mile of several without going up. What is even more frustrating is that there are several loop trails where one can climb the south face of the mountain and come down the north face and rejoin the AT a mile or so later. I, however, hiking as a purest can't bear to miss that mile of the AT so if I was to summit all the Presidental mountains near the AT I would end up having to hike along a side trail for .4-.5 miles and then turn around a go back along the same trail to pick up where I left off. This ended up causing to side trip 3.4 miles today as I peak bagged Mts Eisenhower, Monroe, Clay, and Jefferson.
The middle of the day I arrived at Lake of The Clouds Hut also know by hikers as Lake of the Crowds as it is the largest, busiest Hut. There I caught up with Big Muddy whom I had mistakenly waited for on Monroe summit as he hiked by. He had decided to spend the night at the hut and I decided to push on as there was still plenty of daylight left.
Still we climbed together Big Muddy sans pack.
The weather on top, as I mentioed earlier, was great. For the last week I have been able to spot Mt Washington easily. For one it is the tallest summmit around. Another reason is the top has numerous radio towers. Finally there is the black smoke rising up from it due to the caol fired cog train that runs up and down its side.
Mt. Washinton is home to the first cog railroad ever and it still runs the same way it used to, via coal fired steam engine.
With the combination of the attenias and the trail with its whistel the top of the mountain was a huge disappointment. It was covered in ugly buildings, noisey, packed with tourist, and sported over priced gifts shops and cafe. Very very tacky. It is a shame the most imposeing peak in NH has to be so tastless.
I took advantage of what I could. I sent a couple postcards from the post office up there. The clerk turned out to be exceptionly unpleasent almost snearing at me and making a note to give me 19 dollars in change in singles and quarters. Fortunatly the cafe operator was very farmilar with his habit of trying to weigh down hikers and was happy to trade my change up when I bought a couple egg sandwitchs. The clouds cleared up and I got some pretty pictures of the presidental range streatching to the north and south.
As this part of the trail is above the treeline it ran up and down over sharp rocky terran making it one of the toughest days of hiking yet. The rocks here are metamorphic which means they are sedamentary rocks that have been heated until they melt into a solid lump. As a result they are not very homogenious and there are small lumps of various minerals such as quartz, feldspar, mica, and so on. The rocks have wonderful appearances with shiny, matt, rough, smooth, hard and crumbbly details. However this also leads to uneven wear where some mineral components weather faster than others. As a result many of the surfaces have very very sharp crystaline protustions of some of the sharper and harder minerals. This makes brushing them a very uncomfortable thing to do. In my case I managed well not falling and never dragging anything across the sharp surface. Unfortunatly at one point I leaned my right calf into a rock for balance and I ended up with a row of small punctures from t!
he razor sharp protrssions of rock. Still I fared better the many who had bloody lacerations from brushing or falling in the rock.
On the way north from Washington I first came across Monticello Lawn so named, I assume, as it lies just shy of the summit of Mt. Jefferson. It was an inexplicable grassy medow amongst a massive area where only scrubby pines can normaly survive. It was nice to again see green after spending so much of the days in rocks. After that I took the .5 mile side trail to the summit of Mt. Jefferson where I was rewarded with yet another stuning view.
The rocks of the day being both difficult to cross and stressful along with the sun served to slow and tire me. I was hoping to push on to Madison Spring Hut tonight but I decided to take a 1.1 mile side trail to a shelter called The Perch. James had spoken highly of it yesterday and after spending so much time in the increasingly unpleasent AMC run trail system I welcomed the break to be in RMC territory. I can rant about why I hate the AMC for hours but for now I will hold my tounge.
The shelter is very nice and I am enjoying hitting the sack early. Looking through my journal here I always tried to make a note of the positive but I can not help but feel it is largely negative. That unfortunately reflects how I feel today anyhow. I left James behind and McGyver is ahead so I am certainly lonely. I think it is more than that. I am exhusted which always makes me a touch cranky. In the end though I think it is Katahdin Fever. I have gotten so close but the trail is slowing me down here. Also being away from my friends, family, and Dana is wearing me down. With so much happening at home; Dana's defence and our moving to Tucson; I can not help feeling a little detached from the trail and the home all at once. I just want to be done but I am torn as I know Maine is just around the corner and is said to be a place worth savoring. I resolve I will not miss my oppertunity and I am sure I will enjoy it but just as firmly I know my emotions will always remain confus!
ed. I hope I feel better tomorrow.

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