Day 153 – Madison Springs Hut to Pinkham Notch

“Good God! Consider yourselves fortunate that you have John

Adams to abuse, for no sane man would tolerate it!

John, you’re a bore;

We’ve heard this before.

Now for God’s sake, John, sit down!” – Sit Down from 1776 the Musical 

Up at 6:00. Packed up and had breakfast. On trail at 8:00.

Perfect weather again. 70s, no clouds, no wind. It’s hot today!

View of the Madison Springs Hut as I was departing with Adams in the background.

Not quite straight up, but close.

Summited Mount Madison at 8:25. Amazing views.

YouTube video from summit of Madison

Now I follow the ridge for a while.

Called The Barn hostel and made a reservation. Bad phone connection, but I think I’m good.

Looking back at Mount Adams and Washington. Cool clouds.

Auto road going up Washington.

Dropped below tree line and exited the presidentials at 9:45.

Reached Osgood Campsite at 10:40. Cool bridge and waterfall.

Stopped at the Mount Washington auto road at 12:30. I have 1.9 miles to go. This has been a very rough hike as advertised. Very rocky, steep, tons of tree roots below tree line, etc. At the end of the day, 7.8 miles will take me 6 hours.

Arrived at Pinkham Notch visitor center at 1:50. Call it just under 6 hours for the 7.8-mile hike today. Shuttle will be here at 2:30. Cool relief map of the Whites! I’ve hiked the vast majority of it so far.

Checked into The Barn hostel at 3:00. Cool place. They are closing for the season on Monday. The owner said it’s his worst season ever, hence the early close. Gravy and Sprawl decided to stay here also. I’m contemplating a zero. My knees are beat up after the last 5 days plus my fall today.

Got my plan for the next 6 days figured out. The only wild card is if I take tomorrow off or not. I went to the gas station market across the street and resupplied for the next 3 days at which time I’ll do another small resupply if necessary. I showered and did laundry. I REALLY needed the laundry. I smell bad. The weather has been warm-to-hot and sweaty. It’s near 80 today! WTF.

Did the Friday happy hour video call with Jon and Trish and company. Very nice. I went to dinner at a local brew pub with Sprawl then talked to Dana for quite a while.

Overkill was here tonight. She is 2 days ahead of me and came in here from the other side of town. The AT loops around Gorham.

Good day overall. I need to figure out my plan through the Wildcats and into Maine.

Technical Notes:

• Oatmeal 200
• Apple juice 300
• Bacon 200
• Pancake 220
• Scrambled eggs 200
• Oreo 160
• Snickers 250
• Cheese crackers 190
• Oreo 160
• Oreo 160
• Grilled cheese 400
• Hershey bar 190
• Dr Pepper 320
• Dinner 3000
• Water 1.4
• Miles 7.8
• Time 6
• Elevation gain 997
• Calories consumed 6000
• Calories burned 5500