The
NH Chapter
of the
Appalachian Mountain Club
held its spring get together at
Madison Hut.
Unfortunately the weather reservation was not made.
Instead of the expected bright sunny weather, saturday and sunday
resembled the inside of an automated car wash (the
Mt. Washington Observatory
recorded close to 6 inches of rain on saturday and
even more on sunday).
Boys and girls, can you spell "flash flood warning" ?
That's right, M-O-N-S-O-O-N.
Saturday
Because the weather was suppose to get worse, I decided to hike was up the most protected trail, called the Valley Way (maintained by the Randolph Mountain Club ). It's a moderate trail that winds its way up the valley to the Madison Hut where warmth, food, people, and a bunk awaited. At the trailhead, drizzle was falling (no reason to cancel the hike and the overnight stay). I donned the Gortex[TM], wrapped up all of the camera equipment in freezer bags, and headed up the trail (the bags are useful in keeping the photo equipment dry).
The Valley Way is a scenic trail to hike up. After crossing a road and passing under some power lines near the trailhead, the lowest part of the trail closely parallels the Snyder Brook for some distance. The trail runs between the Durand and Gordon Ridges that extend out to the north from Mount Madison in the direction of Randolph. As the trail ascends the north extension numerous small streams cross the trail.
There was clear evidence of the damage the winter ice storm did to the forest. There were numerous white birch trees broken or hanging in parts. The RMC had cut, tagged, or marked the more dangerous limbs that extended into the trail.
As I progressed up the valley the winds picked up and occasional heavy rain fell. During the hike the lower feeder streams I crossed were still within their banks. When I reached the upper 1/3 of the trail (getting closer to the scrub), the rain became constant, and the trail was now a running stream. This is when I came to the distinct realization that no amount of Gortex would help keep me dry (a wet suit might have helped).
Of the various stream crossings on the Valley Way, there is one spot that was somewhat difficult in the upper 1/3. There are two large trees laying across the trail at a height of 5 1/2 to 6 feet. Add the fact that one has to cross the stream while ducking these large obstacles and you can see why I remember that spot. the trees were 3-5 feet in diameter.
It was about this time that I was passed by one of the hut crew hiking up supplies to the hut. This particular fellow was zipping up the trail in a dress and a full pack. Sometime around dinner I learned that saturdays are dress-up days at Madison, and the hut crew abides by the dress protocol.
The last couple of hundred feet I had one of the hut crew coaxing me onward to the hut (the trail is its steepest close to the hut). Along with htis steepness, the rain was falling hard and the wind was blowing it in all directions. The trail itself has been eroded to the point where it is 1-2 feet below the surrounding mountain side. There are rocks (in step form) in the trail to step on. Unfortunately because of the pouring rain, the rock steps were underwater, making the trail resemble a roaring rapids (1-2 feet in depth).
Before finally sighting the
Madison Hut,.
I walked slowly in the
driving rain wondering why I was hiking that day.
Seeing the hut through the rain was a most pleasant experience.
The remaining level path to the hut was completely flooded.
By then it did not matter, my feet (and a good portion of my pack
contents) were throughly soaked.
Madison Hut
Stepping out of the driving gale and into the hut, into a warm room full of people and no puddles, I was in a bit of shock. The past three hours were spent with a almost constant drip-drip-drip on the head from the trees, a constant spray of rain, and howling of the wind. The chapter gathering bellowed a most pleasant hello but did not hand out a life preserver or rubber ducky. I'm not sure exactly what was said since my ears were water logged too.
It took some time to find a bunk (top bunk in the corner), to slowly remove all of the Gore-Tex and my soaked hiking boots and socks. Water had pennetrated my pack and anything not wrapped in a bag was soaked. I probably carried up as much water in my unwrapped clothes, as I had in the water bottles.
After a bit of recovery, I veggied in the main hut room and shared in the wine and food that was hiked in by fellow chapter members. About thirty folks made it up to Madison out of a total of forty. There were folks from New Hampshire (of course), Vermont, and Maine. Some were on their first hike. Most had hiked up earlier in the day before the rain turned heavy. Some had hiked up the Air Line trail, or had traversed up to Mount Madison. The view, I am told, was somewhat limited.
Dinner was the usual spread of good food, fun,
folks, and
surprise dessert.
The menu (if I remember
it correctly) was bean-rice soup,
salad,
fresh bread,
veggies,
lasagna,
and
a composite pie (sans carbon fiber or boron).
Our wonderful AMC hut crew ran through their
introductions during the dining experience.
John Morton's Presentation
Our invited speaker was John Morton of Thetford, Vermont. He spoke about the Outward Bound Project he conducted with 16 Vietnam veterans and 16 Soviet Afghan War veterans.
John covered his early days in the army (both in Vietnam and in chasing a position on the Olympics team as a cross country skier + shooter). His main topic was covering the Outward Bound program where selected Vietnam vets were sent over to a remote area to spend two weeks hiking and working with Soviets vets that had participated in the Afghanistan war. Where the US involvement in the Vietam war was on the television and newspapers every day, the Afghanistan war was hidden by the Soviet press. The Russian vets suffered the same problems that our Vietnam vets experienced. The goal of the get together was to share in the knowledge of post war people problems and how to talk out the problems and come to some understanding of what these people have been put through.
John's presentation was excellent (even without slides).
Very moving stories of the two week get together.
See his book (fill in TITLE here).
Saturday evening
The sleeping bunks are what you would expect - a comfortable bunk and three AMC blankets. With the rain, wind and cold, the blankets were just enough to make bunk comfortable.
The tiny radio I brought along helped me to understand
that parts of Boston were now flooded,
and that we could expect more rain over night and
into most of sunday.
This left me wondering how far the streams I had crossed
would rise overnight.
Sunday
Morning greeted us with more wind and rain, yuk. Breakfast was the predictable AMC breakfast. Hot oatmeal, followed by some hot plate serving (pancakes), and bacon. The food was great and the accompaning story about Raiders of the Golden Pancake covered the AMC morals: fold those blankets, carry out what you carry in, and fill out the surveys (tell us what we could improve). Results of last year's survey brought bacon up as a hot topic. Bacon was added to the menu as a result of the survey results.
After breakfast we all contemplated the hike down ( or where ever we were going next). The 8 am weather forecast was rain, heavy at times (no surprise there). Everything that was packed in for the get together was packed up for the hike down to the Appalachia trailhead.
Slowly each group packed up and headed out the door into the rain. The flat area around the hut was flooded. Hiking down the Valley Way trail was more like hopping from trail edge to trail edge looking for a non-puddled spot to step on. The entire hike down was a slow mechanical process of stepping and stopping. All of the small streams I had stepped over or around were roaring rapids. The trail itself was one long stream at times (thanks for the trail crews and the runoff bars every so often on the trail). The rain was running off the edge of the slope onto the trail, and down the trail to the runoff bar. Each stream crossing on the Valley Way was nontrivial. In most cases the rocks in the stream were submerged, making it very hard to judge where to step and not slip or slide off the rocks and into the running stream. More than once I slide off of one rock and onto another and barely missing a face plant in the stream.
The rain did not letup until I was more than halfway down the trail. The rain would cycle between down pour and light falling rain. The water was constantly dripping from the trees onto oneself. It was a surprise that the only slippery places on the trail were where the moss had accumulated on the rocks.
Down below where the Snyder Brook enters on the right, the noise from the brook was extremely loud. All of the rocks in the brook were completely covered. The width of the brook was completely filled, the edge of the flow was lapping the edge of the trail. It's hard to describe the sight of this huge volume of water flowing down the mountain (does the phrase boiling witch's cauldron bring any images to mind?). The water was white and brown in color with a fog hanging over the brook.
It was great finally stepping back into the Appalachia parking lot. Of course moments after taking off the pack and the Gortex, it starting pouring again. Somehow I did not seem to notice it as I normally would.
The rain poured down all the way to Gorham where I stopped for lunch, and the heavy rain continued through the trip to Pinkham Notch. The folks at PNC were mobilizing for several search and rescue missions (they were involved with at least three that weekend).
All of the streams in the area were at
the edge of their banks.
The Ellis River was flooding below
the Dana Place where the low river sections
are next to Route 16.
The Swift River along the Kanc was at or
above flood stage too.
All images on this page are Copyright © 1996-8, James Seagraves,
All Rights Reserved.
All text on this page is Copyright © 1998, James Seagraves,
All Rights Reserved.