Mizpah Spring Hut to Mt. Washington (6.2. Miles)

We did this hike on July 17, 2009.

The theme song for today is “Let The Sunshine in” by The 5th Dimension

Total hike time: 5 hours 44 minutes

Remember that the wake up time in the huts is 6:30 AM? Well the cook starts working around 5 AM and there is always some one who is getting up early. Of course we were both awake well before 6:30.

The breakfast this morning was oatmeal, pancakes, and bacon. A very nice guy from the AMC hiking group told us that they were going to spend the night at the Lakes of the Clouds hut tonight. He said that once they got to the hut, they were going to leave all their camp stuff at the hut and then ascend Mt. Washington. They were all excited about having lunch at Mt. Washington. After lunch they would descend back to the hut. The next day they would continue by hiking up Mt. Washington again to the next hut. Why hike up Mt. Washington twice? Silly peak baggers!

The croo skit was “Frankenguest.” Will (the dishwasher) was Frankenguest and he showed us how to fold our blankets, pack out trash, and tip the croo.

The weather forecast for today was “chance of thunderstorms.” We read in the guide book yesterday that the trail between Eisenhower and the Franklin col was completely above treeline.

Python’s sinuses did not ache this morning and she felt okay (but not great). She knew that today was an easy day and we would only have to hike 4.8 miles to the Lakes of the Cloud hut. She only filled her water bladder up half way to keep her pack weight down.

We were the first people to leave the hut. We know that we are slow hikers so we always tried to get out onto the trail as soon as possible each day. The trail started right off ascending to Mt. Pierce. We had to do some boulder scrambling and walk up a ladder during the ascent.

We had almost reached the summit of Mt. Pierce when the rest of the hikers from the hut started to pass us. We would leap frog the AMC hiking group most of the day.

Once we broke treeline the sun was shining and there was barely any wind. The ridges were absolutely beautiful! We could see Mt. Washington! We could see the Holy Grail!

Python kept thinking about the AMC hikers summiting Mt. Washington today. She thought that if the sun stayed out the rest of the day then today would be a wonderful day to summit.

Python asked Dirigo if she would be willing to summit Mt. Washington today (1) IF we were not too tired by the time we reached the hut and (2) IF the sun was still shining. Dirigo said “let’s go for it!”

If we did indeed summit Mt. Washington today, then we would have to end our adventure today. We did not feel comfortable with the idea of continuing on to Madison Spring hut today because (1) we did not have a reservation for tonight and (2) we did not feel comfortable hiking an additional 5.6 after summiting Mt. Washington.

The thru-hiker who did work-for-stay at Mizpah hut caught up with us and thanked Python again for the chocolate chip cookie. We asked him if he was going to do another 20 mile day in the Whites and replied “no, only 15 miles today.”. He was a very nice and humble guy – he reminded us of AWOL.

When we reached Eisenhower, we took the AT which goes around the summit while the AMC hikers went over the top of mountain.

The AT also skirts around the summit of Mt. Monroe. Thank you AT gods!

It took us just under 4 hours to reach the Lakes of the Cloud hut and the sun was still shining.

Python asked the croo if it was possible to purchase a one-way ticket on the cog train down the mountain. The answer was yes and the cost was $42 but get on the train before 4 PM. Python asked how long it took to hike to the summit. The answer was 1 hour.

So, we cancelled our reservation for the hut and decided to summit today! The Holy Grail was within our reach but still looked so far away. We prayed to the sun god to give us just one more hour of sun!

Dirigo treated her aching feet with that awful smelling “Neuragen Gel” and downed 3 vitamin I. We both ate a snack and got more water and away we went!

We passed the beautful lakes that you see in the pictures near the Lakes of the Clouds hut and we also passed a weather reading device

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A bunch of people were off the trail checking it out. There were signs all over the place stating to ” Stay on the trail, very sensitive vegetation”. Some people just don’t get the LNT rules. We were in the alpine zone and many of the flowers and mosses are just coming back from years of people walking on them and the harsh weather.

The hike to the summit is a climb up over boulders and nicely placed rocks.

It was a beautiful hike and we could see some clouds coming over the mountan from the west, but we kept praying that they would not produce any bad weather. It was still sunny on our side of the mountain, but you could tell that the other side was starting to become very cloudy. The sun was keeping us very warm.

Once we came over the ridge to the summit you could feel the difference in the weather. It was not real cold but it was more windy and you could tell that the weather was beginning to change.

It was so exciting to be at the top – a place we have dreamed about summiting for months now. To see the weather station up close and personal was so cool. The first thing we did was go to purchase one-way tickets on the Cog Railroad. We paid for the ticket and the guy told us that the last train was at 4 and everyone that purchased 2 way tickets had preference to get on the train first.

We each went into the ladies room to get out of our sweaty shirts. Dirigo went first and was appalled at the state of the restrooms. We have been so use to LNT for a week now, that once back into civilzation it was frightening. Both of us felt good to be dry and out of the wind.

We ate pizza and corn chower soup. Dirigo thought the soup would be like it was in the huts but was disappointed, but we were so hungry it didn’t matter.

After we ate we went to have our picture taken at the summit sign.

Dirigo wanted to go into the Tip Top house because she had read about it in the book” Not without Peril”. Lizzie Bourne had died about 3 steps from the house back in 1855.

While Python was in the Tip Top House a tourist, who was on a scavenger hunt, asked Dirigo if she could take her picture with her company’s logo. Apparently, the scavenger hunt required a picture of of them hiking with the company logo. The lady said they would never hike so she wanted to take Dirigo’s picture with her backpack.

Python came out of the Tip Top House and said some lady named Lizzie had died here. She said I thought she killed her parents. A couple of tourist said ” That was Lizzie Borden, not Lizzie Bourne”. Dirigo had to laugh. Those people looked at her like she was “not the sharpest knife in the drawer”!!!!

The cog train was heading up to the summit so we went over to stand in line to wait to see if we would have a seat. The people who purchased roundtrip tickets got seated first so we had to wait. After that the brakeman told us that we could come aboard but we had to take our packs off first.

The ride down the mountain took about 45 minutes and of course the scenery was gorgeous. People were oohing and aahing about the mountains but we took great pride in the fact that we actually climbed some of those mountains.

Python’s hike stats: 3,116 calories burned. Min HR 99, max HR 156, avg HR 133. # Vitamin I = 3.

Dirigo’s hike stats: 3,436 calories burned. 26,618 steps.