Nauman Campsite to Mt. Washington

Day Eighteen
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Nauman Campsite to Mt. Washington
6.1 Miles

Today we met Mariposa.  She tented across the trail from us in the campsite but was up and gone before use.  We caught up to her at the Mt. Eisenhower Junction.  She hiked the from there to Mt. Washington with us.  She is a delightful 70’ish solo hiker (with a lot of nerve, in my opinion).  Her husband hiked some of the lower A.T. with her, but no longer enjoys it so he supports her while she is finishing it up.  He camps at nearby campsites and picks her up at trailheads along the way. 

The trail was very moderate immediately after Mizpah Spring Hut there are two ladders and some rock climbing to do.  Then it was very good and easier than any we have had in awhile.  Lots of people were coming south off of Mt. Washington.  It was a beautiful day.

As we approached Mt. Washington at 12:00 we say LOTS of people there.  We found out there was an 8-mile run happening coming up the auto road.  The road was, of course, closed to auto traffic and it was 1:45 before the shuttles were able to take us to the bottom.   So much for a short day. 

We called Bruce when we started down and he met us at the visitor center.  Of course, our first stop was Walmart, then to Royalty Inn.  We had called Top Notch Inn again for a room but unfortunately they were full because of Biker’s Week.  Royalty Inn was a little higher, but it was close to Mr. Pizza’s where we had a good dinner.  After doing our laundry we called it a night.  

YouTube of Nauman Campsite to Mt. Washington

 

Crawford Notch to Nauman Campsite

Day Seventeen
Friday, June 14, 2019
Crawford Notch to Nauman Campsite
6.4 Miles

Bruce shuttled us from Gorham back to Crawford Notch to begin our trek north back to Mt. Washington.  We had skipped over this section while we deliberated about how to tackle Mt. Washington a few days ago.  We did Mt. Washington north to Pinckham Notch first, now we have to go back to Mt. Washington from the south. 

It was a walk in the park until we started getting into Webster Cliffs.  We could look up and see Mt. Webster and look down and see Wiley House.  Looking up, I said, “Surely we are not going to walk right on that edge.”  Yes, we did walk right on the edge.

There were lots of mud bogs when we were inside the treeline. 

We reached Mizpah Spring Hut/Nauman Campsite at 4:15ish.  The campsite looked like it had been hit by a tornado, trees down everywhere from severe weather.  A group of young people came from Crawford Notch into the hut late in the evening on their way to Lake of the Clouds Hut.  They were concerned that they would not reach Lake of the Clouds before dinnertime as they still had 6.1 miles to go.  We thought, “That could have been us!”  That was part of our debate a few days ago, whether or not we could do 12.5 miles in one day.  Indeed, we are glad we decided to split it up into two. 

Unfortunately, the fuel canister we bought at Walmart in Gorham for our Jetboil was the wrong one, so we had to get hot water from the Hut for our dehydrated meal for dinner.  

YouTube of Webster Cliffs