Stacking Washingtons

• Today I traveled 15.9 miles on the AT with 4541 feet of ascent and 5121 feet of descent.
• Today’s the day for summiting Mount Washington. I had about 6 miles to make it to Washington and then another 10 to my next campsite. I left my campsite around 6:30 and stopped by the Madison Hut at 7 for a cup of coffee.
• The weather was perfect today! Sunny and in the 60s with a slight breeze. Virtually all of my hiking was above the treeline along rocky ridges. I had great views all day and it made the hike and miles buttery smooth.
• The top of Washington was sweet! There’s a visitors center up there and many trails, a road and a train all lead to the summit so there were over a hundred other people up there. I was probably one of a handful of AT hikers. The snack bar in the visitors center provided a nice reward for my hike so far with a ham sandwich and some sour patch kids.
• Descending Washington, the weather stayed perfect and the trail was rolling hills along the ridgeline for the next 8 miles.
• I stopped in at Mizpah hut around 2:30pm where I got a bowl of soup and filled up on water.
• I ended up stealth camping as a storm rolled in a little less than 3 miles away from route 302 where I’ll be getting a ride into North Conway tomorrow. I had a pretty successful camp setup in the rain and waited in my tent for about and hour and half for the rain to clear up to make dinner.

Peace!