The first challenge of the day was the famed  Mt Washington.

The morning started off cold, windy and very foggy with a threat of thunderstorms and hail.

Not ideal conditions for trekking up a mountain renowned for its extreme weather (highest recorded wind speed in the world at 231 mph), but we couldn’t wait all day for it to clear up.

Rabbit and I climbed through the fog and reached the summit. Visibility was only around 25 ft at the top so we didn’t hang around long.

We continued on down the back side of the mountain and started working our way across the ridgeline towards the Madison hut at the base of Mt Madison. The weather stayed foggy for a while but later cleared.

The terrain became very rocky and reminded me of the dreaded rocks of northern Pennsylvania. With no place to paint blazes, the trail was marked by rock cairns, basically pyramid shaped rock piles to help guide you.

In the afternoon, I finally came within sight of Mt Madison and the hut beneath

I hiked down and found that Rabbit (who had hiked on ahead earlier) had already passed on. I was trying to decide whether to stay, when thunderstorm blew through. My mind was made up pretty quickly and I secured a work for stay spot. Karaoke, Spice and Luna later came in and did the same. They had gotten caught on the ridgeline and got hit with rain and hail.

As we settled in for the night, we were treated to a fantastic sunset. A fine way to end the day.