north conway to valley way campsite

we had a late wake up in the hotel. the guy who shuttled us to and from town had offered to shuttle us to the trail head at 09:00.

we packed up and cleaned up and piled into the truck. 20 minutes later we were on trail. the first hour was rough. my legs felt like molasses and my bag as heavy as it’s ever been. eventually it passed though and i was able to move freely again.

we climbed mt. webster and then mt. jackson. the higher we got the better the views. from jackson we were able to see mt. washington, but it was shrouded in clouds.

everyone but bugs made it to mitzpah spring hut for lunch. we ate inside to get out of the wind and the sun. kick, maestro, and i headed out leaving lyric and rocket.

the three of us headed up mt. pierce, officially entering the presidential range. we then continued on, summiting eisenhower and monroe, both blue blaze trails that added some mileage and elevation.

we arrived at lake of the clouds hut around 14:30. we checked out “the dungeon”. it’s an emergency shelter that thru-hikers can pay $10 to stay in, but it really looked pretty dismal to me. this was supposed to be the place we stopped for the day. the other factor was that the weather on washington was perfect. the weather forecast for tomorrow was a little less rosy.

after some discussion, we decided we’d push over washington and hit the rest of the presidential mountains, clay, jefferson, and adams, all blue blazes off the AT. washington was mobbed with people. to be honest it was pretty depressing. someone took the tallest mountain in new england and turned it into a snack bar for people that rode to the top. so. lame.

the rest of the afternoon however was amazing. the weather was absolutely perfect. cool temperature, not a lot of wind, and the sun getting lower in the sky casting shadows and sun over the mountains.

we summited adams and shortly afterwards the sun set. we kept hiking to madison spring hut arriving just after it got dark. we were hoping the croo would let us sleep on the floor after the guests went to bed. thus far, the croos we’ve talked with at other huts have been really friendly. at two huts they’d told me that they never turn away hikers after dark. well the croo at madison spring was not friendly. we nicely asked if we could stay and offered to pay or do some work. they told us it was $177/night or we could leave. they wouldn’t even discount the rate since dinner was already done.

maestro decided to pay. he had wanted to stay in a hut, and so had i, but i was so dismayed at thier refusal to even discount the rate put me off. they sent kick and i .5 mile down a treacherous, wet trail in the dark. both of us fell a couple times, thankfully avoiding injury.

we ended up missing the sign to the campsite and had to hike back up the hill. when we got there the site was empty. it was late. after 22:00. the first thing we saw however was a pretty new privy, and it was going to rain. go-go gadget hiker trash.

it was pretty nice actually. we had a dry place to sleep and it was frankly more inviting than the shelter. all in all. an incredible day with a shitty ending. (ba dum tss!)

some additional images from today: