July 30, 2013 - Day 1
Start: Mt. Washington, NH
End: Pinkham Notch, NH
Daily Miles: 13.4
Total Miles: 13.4
Throughout the day, my thoughts and emotions were about as bipolar as the Mt Washington weather! Happiness, excitement, sadness, frustration, peacefulness, exhaustion, anger, embarrassment, worry and relief are just a few.
We woke up full of excitement to start our journey. The journey we have been counting down until for 11 months!!! The original plan was to start yesterday, but true to Mt. Washington fashion, there were thunderstorms on the ridge all day. Since there was no need to spend the day playing hide and seek with bolts of lightening on the exposed ridge for almost 7 miles, we delayed our start one day. We packed up with food, water, and lots of extra clothing and headed out. It was a warm 75 degrees and sunny in the valley, but weather reports called for 45 degrees with a "feel like" of 36 and foggy at the summit and along the ridge. We arrived at Pinkham notch and called the Mt Washington Stage Coach to drive us to the summit so we could meet the AT where we left it last year (even though we had done this section on a trip in 2010). By the time we arrived at the summit, it was 11:00. Much later than we intended to start. It was cold and we were hiking in the clouds, but we were still excited. Our views were limited to just about the next carin. We started the descent off of Mt. Washington and could hear the cog nearby, but could not see it. Our plan to follow AT tradition and moon the cog was ruined. We followed the AT past Mt Clay and Mt Jefferson and eventually started to have views of the valleys below and the ridges in the distance. Somewhere along this stretch, I lost my balance, fell, and face planted into a bush. Better a bush than the surrounding rocks, I suppose, but my shin and trekking pole were not so lucky. I stood up, brushed myself off and looked at my pole that was now shaped like an "L." I don't think an "L" shaped pole is conducive to hiking! As a fellow hiker commented, it definitely wasn't "a happy looking pole." In an attempt to bend it back into shape for me, Brian snapped the pole in half. I stuck both pieces in my pack and continued with one pole. I didn't realize how much I relied on my "extra legs," until I was down one! After Jefferson, we continued to Mt Adams and eventually made it to Madison Spring Hut. We took a much needed break. My right knee started to hurt suddenly about a mile and a half before the hut. The descent into the hut was excruciating!! After about a half hour break, we climbed Madison and started the descent to Pinkham Notch. The descent was so painful! I was pretty emotional on the way down as a million thoughts flooded my mind. I was upset that I was injured on our first day, especially since I was so optimistic that we would avoid injuries after learning from last years mistakes. I was worried about what I did to myself and how long it would take to heal. I have never experienced pain in my knee like this!! My mind wandered to thoughts of "If these pains and injuries are happening now at 30, how will I ever thru hike later in life?" "Is this the end of our much anticipated hike this year?" "Is it smart to continue with such a painful injury into one of the most, if not THE MOST, remote part of the trail?" I was sad. I was hurt. I was mad. I was disappointed. I was even embarrassed. We finally made it out of the woods after dark. I was never more relieved to be done for the day. We got in our car (we had left it at Pinkham Notch) and went directly to Mr. Pizza for dinner. It took all we had to keep our eyes open long enough to get food in our mouths. As soon as we were done, we went back to our room, showered, and fell asleep almost instantly. I miss that feeling of being truly exhausted at bedtime!!
Peace Be The Journey
~Flicka
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