Lake of the Clouds Hut where we stayed last night.
The original station that observed the record setting 231 mph. This building is literally chained to the ground.
The mountains we went over. The back side of that peak on the right is where it started to lightening and hail.
That smoke is coming from The Cheater Choo Choo bringing people to the top.
Weather starting to roll in. Mount Washington is over my left shoulder.
Miles Today: 13.1
Mile Marker: 1,868.5
I made it to the top of Mount Washington by 7:15 and was the first one there. I got to see everything while the sun was still coming up and the sky was clear. I hung out for the rest of the crew and we waited for the snack bar to open. Then we began the almost all day exposed ridge walk. Around 3:00 we started getting thunderstorms. We tossed our trekking poles and hunkered down a few times while we waited for some of the lightening clouds to move past. Nothing ever came super close, but no reason to be risky. On one of the bigger descents we got a blast of heavy rain and quarter inch sized hail. Boulder hopping down a 300 foot drop is always sketchy, but that was particularly unnerving.
We all made it safely below treeline and the weather eventually broke. Cheese, Einstein, and Cousin Eddie all went into a hostel tonight. Cheese and Cousin Eddie will be back out tomorrow while Einstein let's his knees rest. On Friday we'll hit another road crossing that leads back to the same town they went into today. I'll go in then for a much needed nearo, shower, and laundry.