The weather was fine last night. The clouds dissipated and the skies cleared up. Woke up early and had a huge all you can eat breakfast in the dining room here. I started hiking toward Mt. Washington right after breakfast. The trail was good then turned very rocky. It reminded me of some of the trails in both the Franklin and Organ mountains that I've hiked on. The trail was basically crossing talus slope after talus slope.
It's overcast with light winds, not near as nice as when I did the Franconia Ridge. I reached the summit before noon, enjoyed the view, and took a bunch of pictures. The summit can be reached by both car and an old cog train, so it's just not the same as the other peaks. It's very commercialized with a store etc. and tons of tourists. Of course they have an elaborate weather station located here.
I continued hiking toward Madison Spring Hut which I reached by 5 pm. I'm going to do my first work for stay here. Work for stay means you do odd jobs around the hut and they allow you to stay for free which includes dinner and breakfast. The regular price for a night here is $75 a night so work for stay is a great deal for thru hikers. Those of us doing it won't get a room to sleep in. We will sleep on the floor of the dining room when it's cleared out. Just like camping in a shelter but much better.....no bugs or rain to deal with and it looks like it just might rain.
