egilbe
Member
I say modified because the original plan was to peak bag and section hike the AT starting in Pinkham Notch.
After dropping our car at the Crawford path parking lot July 4th, we took the AMC shuttle to Pinkham Notch to start our hike to the Osgood tent site. Crossing the auto road was a noisy surprise since it is in the middle of a Wilderness area. We encountered an unhappy/grumpy AMC trail crew working on Old Jackson road. It looked like we had interrupted an argument. Awkward hello's and thank you's were exchanged and off we went. We ended up sharing a tent pad with a nobo going by the name of Whistler. He arrived pretty late at night, after we had gone to sleep, and woke us up asking if he could use the rest of the pad to set up his tent since all the others were full. I was thinking dark thoughts about ending his life prematurely after he bounced me out of sleep several times. We planned on getting up pretty early the next morning and decided that would be revenge enough. We woke with the birds, quietly started packing our stuff when he woke and apologized. He turned out to be a pretty nice guy after we talked for awhile. I forgave him. He warned us that the trail up Osgood was pretty tough. He said the descent off Madison absolutely wiped him out. We figured it would take us three hours to the summit. It took us three and a half. Another half hour to the hut and checked the weather report and decided to push for Washington. How many sunny days does Washington get? We took the Gulfside trail all the way to the summit on a picture perfect day. It was aggravating having to stand in line to get our summit picture taken with tourists in polo shirts who road the train, or drove up. As if that's some kind of accomplishment. We chatted with a few hikers, marvelled at the tourists, then headed for Lakes of the Crowds to see if we could get a bed. We got the last two. Couldnt stand all the noise and heat in the dining area so we skipped supper. Watched a gorgeous sunset and went to bed. Had oatmeal for breakfast and hit the trail before the crew was done serving pancakes and bacon. Hit all the Southern Presidentials, save Franklin, stopped at Mizpah hut and took Crawfird path back to the car. Couldnt ask for better weather and glad we decided to skip Adams, Jefferson and Clay to get good weather for Washington. Looking forward to doing it again.
https://goo.gl/photos/kNqHkgBrE5XdFTGRA
After dropping our car at the Crawford path parking lot July 4th, we took the AMC shuttle to Pinkham Notch to start our hike to the Osgood tent site. Crossing the auto road was a noisy surprise since it is in the middle of a Wilderness area. We encountered an unhappy/grumpy AMC trail crew working on Old Jackson road. It looked like we had interrupted an argument. Awkward hello's and thank you's were exchanged and off we went. We ended up sharing a tent pad with a nobo going by the name of Whistler. He arrived pretty late at night, after we had gone to sleep, and woke us up asking if he could use the rest of the pad to set up his tent since all the others were full. I was thinking dark thoughts about ending his life prematurely after he bounced me out of sleep several times. We planned on getting up pretty early the next morning and decided that would be revenge enough. We woke with the birds, quietly started packing our stuff when he woke and apologized. He turned out to be a pretty nice guy after we talked for awhile. I forgave him. He warned us that the trail up Osgood was pretty tough. He said the descent off Madison absolutely wiped him out. We figured it would take us three hours to the summit. It took us three and a half. Another half hour to the hut and checked the weather report and decided to push for Washington. How many sunny days does Washington get? We took the Gulfside trail all the way to the summit on a picture perfect day. It was aggravating having to stand in line to get our summit picture taken with tourists in polo shirts who road the train, or drove up. As if that's some kind of accomplishment. We chatted with a few hikers, marvelled at the tourists, then headed for Lakes of the Crowds to see if we could get a bed. We got the last two. Couldnt stand all the noise and heat in the dining area so we skipped supper. Watched a gorgeous sunset and went to bed. Had oatmeal for breakfast and hit the trail before the crew was done serving pancakes and bacon. Hit all the Southern Presidentials, save Franklin, stopped at Mizpah hut and took Crawfird path back to the car. Couldnt ask for better weather and glad we decided to skip Adams, Jefferson and Clay to get good weather for Washington. Looking forward to doing it again.
https://goo.gl/photos/kNqHkgBrE5XdFTGRA
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