Goodbye White Mts!

After 8 days of hiking we dropped out of the White Mountains late yesterday afternoon. It was a spectacular run across the toughest terrain I've had the pleasure of hiking.
Monday morning Bluegrass, Squirrel, Wolfpack, Cotton and I began our climb up the boulder strewn side of Mt. Washington. We were extremely lucky to have views from the notoriously cloudy summit. It was a great moment to reach this Mountain which we had been talking about for months but I was quick to make an escape from that tourist trap. The summit has a weather observatory, museum and restaurant. There were tons of tourist that rode the Cog railroad up the mountainside. Yes, a train that spits a plum of black smoke a hundred foot high delivers weekenders up this huge peak every hour on the hour. There is something extremely annoying about tourist when you have spent consecutive months in the wilderness.
Leaving the summit, the rest of the northern presidential range loomed ahead. That afternoon was spent hiking across the ridge in perfect weather crossing Mt. Jefferson and Madison. No less then an hour before we hit the peak of Madison a hiker had to be air lifted off the peak. One missed foot hold and the older hiker fell a number of feet onto huge boulders which caused a dislocated hip and severe head lacerations. Only two nights before Bluegrass and Wolfpack delivered water up mt. Webster to two section hikers who had misjudged the terrain and hadn't been able to locate water. They slept by our fire that night and hopefully learned a valuable lesson. Another hiker, Tom who stayed with us last night, dislocated his hip this morning and is currently being carried off Wildcat mountain by rescuers. I'm feeling lucky to have left the Whites with only sore knees.
Maine is less then 15 miles away now. Everyday anticipation is growing. There is a feeling that nothing can stop us now. There is still plenty of tough hiking left though. The Bigelow Mts. of southern Maine, Mahoosuc Notch and the 100 mile wilderness are still out there. Roughly 20 days until our expected summit of Katahdin. Living the dream!!