NH AT section hike #2, day 3

Start: AMC’S Highland Center/Shapleigh Bunkhouse
End: Lake of the Clouds Hut
Mileage: 11.1 (+3 extra)

 

Morning view from the bunkhouse

Last night, I went to bed at 10:30pm. I slept fairly deeply until 4am; from then until 6am when I got up, my cold kept me from sleeping deeply again. I have daily cold meds and cough drops but I neglected to bring any nighttime cold meds. At 5am, someone's watch alarm went off for a full minute before turning itself off.

I grabbed breakfast as soon as it opened at 6:30am. I was out by the road at 7am. Unfortunately, almost no cars were going the direction I was and none stopped. In retrospect, I would have asked one of my dinner mates for a ride for the 3.6 miles since they were peak bagging and had a car. I ended up walking 3 miles before some NH park maintainers stopped and took me the remaining 0.6 miles to the trailhead.

I finally got started on the trail by Crawford Notch (1277') at 8:30am. From there, I hiked up Webster cliffs (3350'), Mt Webster (3910'), Mt Jackson (4052'), and then stopped at Mizpah Spring Hut (3800') for lunch. 

View from Webster Cliffs

Mt Webster

First view of Mt Washington, from Mt Jackson. You can see Mizpah hut as a white speck on the left hand side below the first ridge.

Unfortunately, they only had turkey soup but Jared, the croo's cook for the day, let me have the hut's leftover oatmeal for no charge. From there, it was up Mt Pierce/Mt Clinton (4312') and Mt Franklin (5004'). 

Mt Pierce/Mt Clinton

View of Mt Eisenhower 

View of Mt Washington

After that, it was a short hike to Lake of the Clouds Hut (5012').

Lake of the Clouds

Lake of the Clouds, the hut, and Mt Monroe

 I got here at 3pm. So far, I'm alone in my bunk room; it would be nice if it stayed that way. Perhaps my boots will help with that. :)

Afternoon sunlight seen from the hut

Sunset seen from Lake of the Clouds hut

Tomorrow, I'll be going up and over Mt Washington. From the hut, it's only 1.4 miles to the summit. I'll go by Madison Spring hut around lunch time and then end out my day and hike at Joe Dodge Lodge at Pinkham Notch.

It has been an amazing hike. The elevation has been substantial but the views are so rewarding as to make the climbs almost negligible. It's also really interesting to find myself looking at a mountain and feeling afraid, of not knowing if I can do it, and then remembering that -pfft, I've gotten this far, I've done similar before, and it won't be that difficult.