July 23 - 7.1 / 1,852.3

I was woken up pretty early to the croo starting to cook breakfast. Also, guest were starting to come out of the bunk area and into the dining hall. That caused me to get out of my sleeping bag pretty quickly and clean up my stuff.

Lola and Sunrise left before breakfast since they had to get through the Presidentials to meet up with a couple they met earlier in their trip. The couple was taking them in, in Gorham, NH, for the weekend. The rest of us ate breakfast, again after all the guests. Maple and Longshanks headed out shortly after while Sam and I stuck around to perform our work for stay chores. We had to sweep the bunk rooms, fold/check the blankets on the bunks, and sweep the dining hall. It took quite a bit longer than we planned for it to. There were two families that consisted of nine or ten kids. I was sweeping the dining room and I think all of the kids took their turn walking right through my dirt pile. They were oblivious to what was going on. Finally, Sam and I made it out of the hut around 10.

The weather was perfect for our ascent over Mt. Washington. The mountain holds the record of the highest land speed recorded by man, and second (man or machine) highest land wind speed ever recorded. The mountain is in the clouds about 2/3 of the year. To have a clear day was pretty remarkable. The climb up was not too bad. I actually enjoyed the rock scramble. It is also a little nicer trail since a lot of hikers go between the hut and the summit. I met a lady, Alison, and her daughter on the way up. Alison mentioned that it was her daughters idea to be out their hiking and even was interested in hiking the AT. I believe he daughter was only nine too. How amazing it is to have someone that young and interested in hiking the trail. Alison said they might even hike it next year.

I continued to the top where I was overwhelmed by tourists. Most of them had driven or taken the cog railroad up to the top. They would then walk 100 yards to the summit or restaurant. It was quite amusing yet sad. Sam and I grabbed a bite to eat at the snack bar even though we had only been hiking for about 30 minutes. I saw Alison again and passed my blog on to her. I also saw some people who had stayed at the hut and some southbounders. I spoke with one girl, who I originally thought was thru hiking. She mentioned that someone died a few days ago after falling down one of the trails. She mentioned that they were not allowed to hike up the trail until 3 days later. The summit keeps a lists of all those who have died in the area to be a reminder of the dangers associated with the Whites.

Sam and I left the summit and went by Mt. Clay, Mt. Jefferson, and Edmands Col. The hike wasn't too bad as most was just along the ridge. It was also some nice rock scrambles. We also passed the two families with the kids. I have to give it to them for having all the kids out there. We made it to the Madison Springs Hut at the base of Mt. Madison. Maple and Sunrise were there. Maple's nose was bleeding again as she had accidentally blown the blood clot out. We did get a good laugh. A lot of people would ask if Maple was ok or if she wanted medicine. I would say 95 percent of those have no medical background. Longshanks is a wilderness EMT, and I am a wilderness first responder. Between the two of us, we were keeping an eye on her. As we were sitting outside the hut, a gentleman kept pacing by. He finally stopped and asked what had happened. He then mentioned he was a head and neck surgeon. We all got a kick out of it since his training is way above ours. There wasn't much he could do, but he did recommend for her to see a doctor since he bleeding was not stopping.

Also while we were sitting there, LS mentioned that he was meeting his family at the notch the next day. He said Sam and I could join them. Almost instantly, Sam and I knew we were done hiking for the day since the notch was less than 8 miles away. We inquired with the hut croo about a work for stay. They said they would allow two. Therefore, Sam and I stayed while Maple, LS, and Chewy hiked on. They were planning to keep moving anyway. That made it a really short day for Sam and I. We enjoyed the down time that we now had. We sat in the hut while all the guests were tended to. We got a few leftovers of chicken pot pie. We also ate some cheesecake brownies which were quite good. Our work for the evening was to clean the brownie pans and clean out the frig. The frig took some time. I wasn't too happy with them assigning that one to us.

Again, lights out was at 9:30. I was out shortly after that.