July 22 - 14.0 / 1,845.2

Like many times before, the plan before going to bed was to get up early and hit the trail. However, it was still raining. Neither Sam or I wanted to move. I pulled myself out of my sleeping bag and got going. The next three or so miles were downhill to the road. I figured we might see the others camping down there. We didn't see any tents in the woods though. We did see a piece of paper for one of the locals offering trail magic in the form of shower, supplies, and shelter. Sam and I were convinced that all the others called the girl the night before and ended up sleeping in an actual house.

The next few hours were an experience. We ascended up to Webster Cliffs. It began to rain and the trees got smaller. The terrain also turned from a path into rock climbing. Soon the trees disappeared, and there was nothing to block the wind. It had to have been wind gusts over 50 miles an hour. Not only was the rain going sideways, I was too. I would be blown one direction and then the opposite direction 2 seconds later. I would try to lean into the wind. It would then stop causing me to almost faceplant.

On the climb up, I also met two older ladies. One of them told me that they were thru hiking and started April 1st. I was baffled by how they had been doing such great timing. Plus, I had never heard of them. She then mentioned that she hiked 900 miles last year and skipped those miles this year. No wonder she is already in the Whites. Like the gentleman who also said he was thru hiking but started in 2008, it irritates me that they call themself thru-hikers. There is nothing wrong with being a section hiker. Personally, I think it would be a lot harder to hike over multiple years, both on your body and on the social aspect. We are all hiking the same trail, and it doesn't matter how one does it as long as they hike it all. Calling yourself a thru hiker when you are not only diminishes the accomplishments of those who complete the trail in under a year.

With the weather and terrain, it took an extra long time to make it to Mizpah Hut. Lola, Sunrise, Longshanks, and Maple were there when we arrived. Turns out that Maple somehow faceplanted during her hike. He face is pretty bruised around her eyes, nose, and lips. Her nose and lips are pretty swollen too. She mention she has a condition in which she bruises easily and her blood is slow to clot. That makes her injury look worse than it is.

I warmed up at the hut by getting some hot chocolate, soup, and some apple crisp (aka apples topped with oatmeal left over from breakfast. The croo also gave each of us some tangerines. The hike after the hut was along a ridgeline. I crossed over Mt. Pierce and Mt. Franklin. The trail went around the peak of Mt. Eisenhower and Mt. Monroe. Sam and I were talking about how the AT will go out of the way just to go over a peak. But we going through the Presidentials in the Whites, the trail will go close to the peak and not take us over the top. We could have taken side trails up to the top, but that is not the AT.

As we came around Monroe, the clouds started to lift and parted every once in a while. It was quite a sight being at cloud level and then all of a sudden being able to see other peaks and down in a valley. The top of Mt. Washington was still covered by clouds even though we were just a 0.1 or so away.

The stopping point was the Lakes of the Clouds Hut. It is the biggest in the Whites as it holds over 100 guests. Lola, Sunrise, Longshanks, and Maple were already there. Sam and I got settled and then asked for a work for stay. The croo was cool with it. The croo was a volunteer croo of older folks. They come in for a weekend and allow the original croo to have a break. Luckily for us, all the volunteers were really nice to us. Also, the two cooking were cooks in their normal life. Therefore, dinner was excellent. We had to wait for the guests to finish, but there were still plenty of leftovers. We joined the croo in the kitchen afterwards to chow down on some beef stroganoff and corn soup. I think I had four plate fulls.

Lights out were at 9:30. I was grateful for that since I was pretty exhausted. The wind was blowing very strong and the temp inside the hut was 55. It felt great to be in my sleeping bag and took me no time at all to fall asleep.