made it to New Hampshire

Slowly getting these posted.  Day 111.

the Green Mountain State

It's been awhile, and I've been too busy with school and work lately to push further ahead with the AT journal stuff.  Hoping to get that going again in the next couple weeks or so.  For now, why not link to my last AT post... Day 105, Manchester Center, VT.

dinner w/ the Friars

Camped at the Graymoor Friary in NY on Day 90.

halfway!

Just published Day 74, which means we're halfway into the trip in terms of days (more than halfway in terms of miles... whether intended or not, I slowed down a bit near the end).

midway through the SNP

Day 60 is up.  Almost halfway there :-p

We got a treadmill a few weeks ago and I've been starting to work on my fitness again.  Been thinking about trying to train for a 5k.  I've run a handful of 5ks in the past, though without much dedicated training beforehand.  I'd say my PR is probably 21/22 minutes, so the bar is pretty low.  I'd hope that with some focused training I could break 20 minutes (6:27-ish pace) this first try and then go from there later on.  I'm thinking something like Hal Higdon's intermediate 5k training plan should get the job done.  It's only 8 weeks, and the longest run is 7 miles, so most workouts should be under an hour... certainly not the time commitment for something like a marathon where you disappear for 3-4 hours each weekend to do the long runs.  Should be more palatable all things considered.

taking a break at Snowshoe

Just published Day 40.  Have not done anything golf-related since this.  Had our second child a few weeks ago and it's been hectic around the house to say the least.  But these are good problems to have... "Man, I'm all stressed out because I can't find the right color suitcase to hold this giant pile of $100 bills I found."

just left Hot Springs

Still primarily focusing on getting the AT journal entries written up and posted.  Latest published one is Day 21.  I admittedly have a bunch more written but unpublished... my dark secret is that I like to keep a healthy reserve buffer of posts so I can publish at a more periodic / steady rate.

stuff

I've started posting entries from my AT journal (Day 1 here).  Hope to eventually get all of them up and add pictures, as well.

Been watching a crapload of the Olympics this week.  Loving the extra channels.  With all the coverage, we've been able to see some of the more obscure sports like:

• skeet shooting
• table tennis
• handball
• badminton
• fencing
• archery

Awesome.

got in 18 holes yesterday

Shot a 109 (58 out, 51 in) yesterday on a 70.1/133 course.  Handicap has dropped 0.2 to 32.4 (per my spreadsheet tabulations).  I decided at the outset of the round that the longest club I'd play would be a 7-iron... wanted to really focus on reducing penalties (following the scoring outlined in this post).  And that worked out well... only had 6 shots lost to penalties (ie 3 bad shots, 3 drops) for the round which is much improved vs. the 16 lost shots I racked up playing 15 holes on the same course a couple weeks ago.

The score kind of shows it, but it seemed like I spent the front nine "warming up" for what ended up being a decent back nine.  I had a good run on the first six holes of the back nine:  5 bogeys and 1 par.  Blew up a bit the last three holes.  Anyway, on the whole, I feel like I'm improving, just need to keep plugging away.

Some things to think about for next time:

• Before playing, hit a full token's-worth of balls on the range AND spend at least 10-15 minutes on the putting green to get a feel for speed.  Will probably need at least an hour for this kind of warm-up, so maybe think about playing only 9 holes vs. 18 (don't want to get fatigued on the last few holes; also can't be out there all day).  Generally want to avoid "warming up while playing".
• I'm liking the penalty-avoidance approach, so I'll probably stick with the idea of playing 7-iron and below (or at least leave all drivers, woods, and hybrids in the car).  Will add length over the long-term as distance starts to become one of the longer poles.  For now, consistency and side-to-side accuracy are my biggest issues.
• It'd be good to get in a double-token range session at some point before the next scoring round, focusing on long game side-to-side accuracy (no slices!).

I brought our new iPhone (first smartphone), intending to log shots, check yardage, etc, but ended up not using it after the first hole.  Will try again next time, as it's good to be able to check yardage to various points while playing... just need to get used to feeling it in my pocket.

Still need to find those AT journals.  They're down in the basement somewhere, just need to go digging.

launch monitors and simulators

Per my layman's spreadsheet calculations, my handicap is 32.6.  I have quite a few things to work on with my golf game, but I think the biggest one is improving long game accuracy.  I think my distance is reasonable... it's mainly the side-to-side (hook-to-slice) spray that chews up strokes (especially when it's into the trees, lateral water, etc).  One of the things I really want to get a handle on is shot dispersion per club... ie the bell-curve-like distribution for each club in terms of distance AND spray.  This information would no doubt help confirm club selection and target line for a given shot during an actual game.  With a rich set of distribution statistics, I'd have a better idea of my chances of hitting a specific target (like, oh I don't know, the green) with a given club, and how hard I should swing that club.  These stats would also provide a performance baseline to compare to later on, allowing me to actually see measurable change in accuracy over the long term (hopefully for the better!).

Anyway, so I can take this baseline dispersion measurement by going to the driving range and whacking 100 balls per club (not in one session... talk about rubber arms) and get a "rough idea" of both distance and side-to-side spray, but "rough idea" just ain't my style.  I need something ideally electronic and easily log-able (something transferable into a spreadsheet) and accurate in terms of measurement, though to-the-inch accuracy isn't super crucial to me, as we can always increase sample size to eliminate the noise you get with inaccurate measurements.  So I started looking up golf simulators.

Now, before I get knee-deep into the golf simulation discussion, I hope it goes without saying that, after a few hours of googling, I'm certainly no expert in this.  I may have some terminology wrong, might not have seen all of the various simulators out there, etc.  But I would think a recap of this sort would still provide some benefit.  Anyway, continuing...

In a general sense, I think of a golf simulator as being a "launch monitor" hooked up to a golf video game... where the "launch monitor" portion consists of all the hardware and software involved in determining club and/or ball movement characteristics shortly before/after time of impact.... and the "video game" is the environment into which the "virtual" ball is launched (terrain, wind, water, hole location... basically the course map).  In other words, with each stroke in the simulator, the launch monitor ultimately provides ball data (speed, direction, back spin, side spin, etc) to the video game, and the video game can then present the human player with the visual arc of the ball flying through the air, bouncing/rolling on the green, and so forth.

Some points about launch measurement technology:  A number of launch monitors/simulators sense only a portion of the club/ball parameters and make best guesses (via physics equations, etc) as to the remainder.  It really depends on the type and arrangement of sensing hardware involved.  I would tend to think that the more characteristics that are directly sensed vs. estimated, the more accurate the results.  From what I've seen, most launch sensor technology boils down to 3 groups:  infrared, high-speed camera, and Doppler radar.  The club-mounted Insight iTrainer is one exception that comes to mind, using (I think) accelerometers and gyroscopes to track club movement, essentially estimating (vs. directly sensing) most of the actual launch parameters.

Some companies sell launch monitors as stand-alone products (eg Trackman, Flight Scope, Zelocity), where the club/ball data is output to, for example, a laptop or smartphone.  However, the majority of the companies I saw sell full-up golf simulators, where the launch sensing stuff is only a portion of the full package, and you often get to choose from dozens of virtual courses to play, have the ability to control weather, play other people, etc.  Some companies (eg GSA) offer simulator sub-components for people who might not want to fork over a large chunk of their life savings for the complete package.  Speaking of which...

A lot of these products cost a lot of money.  Many cost multiple tens of thousands of dollars.  The intent and likely result is that most of the customers are probably commercial businesses (golf bars, pro shop fitters, etc) or wealthier individuals who want a top-of-the-line experience.  However, there are also some products that you can get for under $1000.

Anyway, here's a quick list of companies:

Full-up simulators:

aboutGolf
bogolf
DeadSolidGolf
Full Swing Golf
GolfTek (not sure if Greens On Screens owns GolfTek or is merely a reseller)
GSA (sells whole packages or piece-meal components)
High Definition Golf
Holiday Golf
P3ProSwing
parTgolf
ProTee United
OptiShot
Sports Coach Systems
TruGolf
Visual Sports
X-Golf


Launch monitors:

Accusport
Electric Spin (Golf Launchpad features a tethered ball, interesting)
Ernest Sports
Flight Scope
Foresight Sports
Insight
Sports Sensors
Trackman
Zelocity


For my specific needs, I'd be more inclined to go with a stand-alone launch monitor, and a lower-end one at that.  Currently thinking along the lines of the Insight iTrainerMini.  It doesn't directly measure any golfer-relevant statistic, but it estimates many of the ones a golfer would care about, most importantly (at least for me) the shot dispersion components of distance and spray.  And I can take it to the range or on the course.  At $200 it might be a risk worth taking.  Something like the Trackman III would obviously do a fantastic job, but at $15k or more, that's way out of my price range given my current commitment level with golf.  Maybe one day...

For folks who want to be able to play an actual round of golf anytime, but can't afford to spend $10k, $20k, or more, a product like the OptiShot might be the way to go.  It measures club and ball data via infrared sensors buried in the swing pad (where you tee the ball), and at $400, doesn't seem like a bad choice.  Only downside is you can't take it outside.... well... I suppose you could, but don't expect to play long in the rain!  The Par2Pro site has some good comparisons of the more "affordable" golf simulators like OptiShot.

Speaking of Par2Pro, as I was looking around, I ran across a few pages/sites which had some great information or were otherwise interesting.  Here's a last link dump of those:

GolfLink article
great GSA physics discussion
Hacker's Paradise review of Optishot
iGolf: general discussion on simulators
Livestrong article
Par2Pro
Ottawa Golf forum
Wikipedia: "indoor golf"
WWIGA

In a nutshell, there are a lot of options out there and lots to research if this is something you'd be interested in.  Personally, if it costs substantially more than an annual membership at a local club, I'd be having second thoughts... but for the more hard-core golfers out there who are looking to shave only a stroke or two (vs. 30+ in my case), paying for that extra level of accuracy/detail could certainly be worth it.

in the works

A couple items:

·        I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail (Georgia to Maine, 2167 miles) back in the summer of 2001.  It took me nearly 5 months and was a fantastic experience.  I kept a hand-written journal of the trip as I went along and I’ve been thinking that it might be a good idea to get the whole thing typed up on the computer for better preservation, etc.  So one of the things I hope to begin (once I can find those journals!) is transcribing those entries here.  Supposedly there’s a way to back-date a blog post, so, by the end of this effort, there should be 120-something new blog entries dated between May and October 2001.  Coming soon.

·        I’ve been looking into golf simulators for the past couple days and hope to have a post shortly relaying some of what I found.  There’s actually a pretty wide variety in terms of price and what you can get.  In the meantime, here’s a cool video for a simulator which is way out of my price range (though, as Ray says, the way computer hardware goes, this level of capability might be pretty cheap in 5-10 years).

some practice ideas

I played what I'm calling the "fairway game" for the first time yesterday at a local course. Basically, at each tee I'd whack 5-10 balls, then go pick them all up and head to the next hole, keeping a log of how many fairways hit vs. missed. (For par 3 holes, I'd count the ball as being "on the fairway" if I got the ball on the green or on the fairway-type cut in front of the green.) So in 9 holes, I hit 55 tee shots, and got a whopping 18 of those 55 shots on the fairway. That's less than 33%. Normally, I would've expected something closer to 50%, but I don't know, I just wasn't feeling the swing yesterday. So I've set the bar low for next time :-)

I've generally been wanting to focus practice on long game -type shots recently, as I think that's the weakest part of my game... mainly because I lose so many balls with the longer shots, and the penalties add up. Another few long game practice ideas:

• Tee-to-green shot count: For each hole, how many shots necessary to get on the green from the tee? In other words, this is like normal golf minus putting. The hole is done once we’re on the green. This would probably be a 2-baller, maybe 3 if it’s not a busy day at the course.

• Green-in-regulation game: Same as tee-to-green count, but balls are dead once a Y/N is determined for GIR. So, eg, on a par 4 hole, each ball is hit a max of two times. If it’s on the green in two, that’s a Y for GIR, else, N. This could probably be a 3-baller.

• Approach-only GIR game: Make every hole effectively a par 3. In other words, begin par 4 and 5 holes on the fairway with 100-200 yards to the pin. One shot to the green per ball. Count up the number of balls that end up on the putting surface. This could probably be a 5-10 baller, depending on how badly I’m spraying that day.

Of course, there always the driving range, as well. If I could find a driving range with green-like targets, that’d be awesome.

One overall goal here is trying to figure out shot distribution per club type. Mainly so you know which club to use when, and how hard to swing that club. But then you can track that distribution over time to (hopefully) see improvement… ideally it gets more and more focused/narrow.

As an example, say time/resources were no object… on a 120-yard par 3 hole, shoot 100 balls off the tee and then go measure each ball’s birds-eye-view X/Y location in feet vs. the pin (where, say, a coordinate of [-5,+20] means 5 feet left of and 20 feet behind the pin). Plot that distribution. Then, at some later date, do that shot test again to see if your distribution has narrowed (it’d be great to have the same pin placement, but that’s unlikely). But, obviously, finding the time/resources to do that sort of thing is hard, so we do what we can with what we have.

The Dan Plan

A few weeks ago, I stumbled on The Dan Plan (excellent CBS Morning Show segment here) and was instantly hooked. Portland, Oregon resident, Dan McLaughlin, quit his job in April 2010 so that he could work on his golf game with the ultimate goal of earning a spot on the PGA Tour. Sure, that sounds cool enough, but what pushes it beyond thunderdome is that he had virtually no experience with golf beforehand. Living off of the $100k he had saved from his job, along with minor donations from followers on his site, Dan spends 30+ hours a week practicing/playing golf, ultimately aiming to make the Tour by the 10,000 hour mark (a duration of 6 years). As of this writing, he has roughly 7,000 hours remaining in The Plan and has dropped his handicap to 6.1.

A potential dark cloud on the horizon, however, is that apparently his savings nest egg has been burning faster than he originally planned. Last I saw, he thinks he has enough money to get through at least one more year with no problem, but given that he’s only 2 years into this, seems like he’ll have to come up with a solution fairly soon to see this thing through within the originally planned timeframe.

So, given all that, what are his odds of actually making the Tour? Can he do it? And within 10k hours?

My take: Dan appears to be working his tail off trying to improve his game, and he has made a significant amount of progress in just two years. Coming from having never played golf to a 6.1 handicap is tremendous. He obviously has massive amounts of determination, and has arranged his lifestyle around this single pursuit (as the video said, he only has two pairs of pants). That's fantastic. I’m also on board with the idea that "talent" (circumstantial genetics) is overrated, at least with the game of golf, and that making the Tour is actually possible for a lot of people via nothing but extended, focused practice. So, do I think he can do it? Yes… BUT… there are two critical resources I think he'll need more of to make this dream a reality: money and time.

This dwindling funds issue could be a big showstopper if he doesn’t start addressing it now. He has mentioned ideas of starting a Kickstarter campaign, but I have my doubts that would raise the amount of money really needed. Seems like at least a part-time job is almost unavoidable at some point in the next year or two, as much as he might not want to face that prospect. This will no doubt slow the rate of progress, as that's 20ish hours less per week to spend focused on golf. Which leads to my next point:

Even if money weren't an issue, I still think 6 years from zero to hero is just not enough time. If "success" is becoming a PGA Tour rookie, then consider how many years it took for an average PGA Tour rookie to make the Tour. 10-15? Maybe more? How many hours of deliberate practice? Napkin math says 20 hours a week for 10 years gives you 10k hours, but I suspect 20 is a low weekly estimate. Eg, as a golfer nears PGA Tour rookie status, I'd think hours per week starts approaching 40... especially for the mini tour circuit (eg Gateway) and Web.com level (and how many years are spent at those levels by average PGA Tour rookies before reaching the PGA Tour?).

Maybe this is too conservative, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being the case that, if Dan does eventually reach the PGA Tour, the first HALF of his training years will have been spent lowering his handicap (like he's currently doing) with the second half having been time spent playing tournaments in the minor leagues. Any chance Dan will be playing mini tours by the 5k-hour mark? You can technically start entering these tourneys once you get below a 2ish handicap, so I suppose he has a chance. But then to get from there to the PGA Tour in 3ish years? And what about all of those intangible non-practice hours (the ones outside the 10k number)? Don’t they carry some importance? How many more of those would be needed beyond what could be crammed in the originally planned 6 years?

I would think a more realistic approach (one with a higher probability of success) would be to, as I said, 1) get a part-time job to have a steady income stream and take care of the money issue and 2) be prepared (mentally, financially, otherwise) to train for a longer time than originally planned. Even if it took him 15 years to make the Tour, that's still a fantastic story (book deal, eh?). How many 45-year old Tour rookies have there been?

Best of luck to Dan. It’d be great to see him succeed.

500 words on golf penalties

So after a death-by-penalties round at local course a few days ago, I looked at the official rules on hazards, drops, etc:

The way I understand it now:  Aside from water hazards, anytime you can’t find a ball, you should technically take a 1-stroke drop at the same spot from which you originally hit.  If that spot happened to be off the tee, then you can re-tee it.

Thus, to keep play moving along, if you hit a ball in the woods, tall grass, etc and worry you might not be able to find it, it’s probably a good idea to immediately hit a provisional shot to act as your penalty drop shot in the event that you end up not finding that original ball.

In the event where you take a shot without hitting a provisional, but then can’t find your original ball, not sure of the official ruling, but it seems like most people say, to avoid having to walk back to the spot from where you originally shot, you can just take a 2-stroke drop within a couple club lengths from where you suspect the ball exited play.  This is effectively the same result as hitting a provisional to your drop location (in terms of stroke cost and ball location).

As an example, say you shank a ball into the woods off the tee (stroke #1).  You place a new ball on the tee (stroke #2), and then hit another shot out onto the fairway (stroke #3).  At this point, you’re laying 3 on the fairway and will be shooting your 4th shot from there.  However, if you happen to search for your original ball and actually find it in the woods, you can play it from there and just pickup your provisional ball and pretend like you never hit a provisional shot.

Second example:  You hit your ball off the tee a good distance toward the hole but it lands in some tall grass (stroke #1).  For whatever reason you choose to not hit a provisional shot.  When you get to the grass, you realize there’s no way you’ll find your ball, so you take a drop where you think the ball entered the grass (strokes 2 & 3).  At this point you’re laying 3 in a playable area just outside the tall grass, about to shoot your 4th shot.

Balls lost in water hazards are apparently one exception.  You can either re-hit from the same spot (effectively the first example above) OR take a 1-stroke drop close to where the ball crossed the plane of the water.  Your drop shouldn’t advance the ball beyond that hazard entry point, though (eg dropping on the other side of the pond is illegal).  So, replacing “tall grass” w/ “pond” in the second example above, once you take your drop, you’re laying 2, about to shoot your 3rd shot.

Anyway, that’s my current understanding / interpretation of the rules.  I’m certainly no USGA rule pro, but I suspect this approach is closer to true penalty scoring than what my group typically does.

intro

So, yeah, "roots of grass". I had a list of names but nothing was really standing out... I started thinking about "grassroots", "indie"... that sort of thing. Not going for the Mary Jane angle or delving into the world of lawn care service provision. Anyway, we'll roll with it and see how it goes.

I've had the idea of starting a blog for awhile and finally thought I'd give it a whirl. I've been mildly active on Facebook for a couple years and thought a blog might be a better way to post my thoughts in a more passive way (ie you have the option to come here and read rather than having my posts presented to you whether you wanted to see them or not... though friending / de-friending [Facebook] is an option, I suppose). This is also maybe a better arena to write longer posts, go into deeper detail, etc.

Anyway, my general thought at the outset is that I'll just post whatever I fancy at a given time. Very open-ended, few commitments. Not sure of frequency. We'll just let the dogs run and see what happens. Am I looking for fame? I don't know... it might be more the case that I feel like I can express myself well via writing and want to dabble with the notion of "being a writer". Another avenue to a more fulfilling life... and maybe a water tower filled with gold coins. I like trying new stuff. Anyway, babble, babble. On with it!...

day 124, Gorham, NH (The Barn)

Start:  Imp Campsite
End:  US 2 (The Barn)
Miles:  8 today, 1868.6 total

Post-hike note:  This page was unintentionally left blank.  I simply never got around to writing anything for this day.  From what I remember, I came down the mountain and stayed at The Barn in Gorham (the other hostel in town).  Being a few days after 9/11, just about all of the fast food -type restaurants and other establishments had "God Bless America" displayed on their signage (instead of the typical "$1 cheeseburgers!" -type advertising).

day 123, Imp Campsite, NH

Start:  Pinkham Notch VC (Hikers Paradise)
End:  Imp Campsite
Miles:  13.1 today, 1860.6 total

Had an extremely bad episode this morning involving the Hikers Paradise staff.  Bruce woke me up at 5am, like we had planned last night.  I started getting my stuff together by the light of my headlamp.  The plan was to depart for the trail at 5:30, but I figured it would be no big deal if we left at, say, 5:35.  I mean, we're on the trail and, in general, people are pretty easy going (and slow to get out of bed at 5am!).  So at 5:30 I'm brushing my teeth when I hear the car start.  I grab my stuff and get down to the planned meeting location at 5:33 or 34.  No car.  I set my stuff down, look around a bit, and then head to the front of the building to see if the car was up there.  Nope.  I look in through the window at the "bird clock" and it reads 5:35.  So Bruce had left without me (Logos was the only other guy going at that time) and didn't bother to check if I was almost ready.  So then I ring the bell at the front door.  The door's locked, but there's two signs saying the place is open (this is maybe 5:45).  The other male staff member (2 males, 1 female) comes out in his robe saying he doesn't know where Bruce is and that I shouldn't have woken (is that a word?) him up.  Anyway, some time goes by, I wait some more.  A little after 6am I go to the front.  The door's unlocked so I go in and sit to warm up while I wait.  The guy comes out again and asks me to go outside.  I start to say that the "Open" sign is up, and he starts screaming for me to leave.  I pack up, argue with Bruce, get half my money back, and hitch back to the trail.

Post-hike note:  I had to cram the last few sentences as I was running out of space on the journal page.  Obviously, this wasn't a fun way to start the day.  I'll certainly take the blame for being a few minutes late down to the meeting spot, and, yeah, I knew I was pushing some buttons by considering the "Open" signs as indicating the place was legitimately open that early in the morning... despite the likelier cause being that someone had just forgotten to flip them to "Closed" the night before.  But, I was nevertheless a paying customer, and a certain level of friendly or at least professional service... receive I did not (to say the least), from two different staff members.  I had initially paid them to stay two nights, and after the various arguments that we had, I was glad Bruce at least agreed to reimburse me for the 2nd night.  Regardless, there was no way I was going to stay there again.

To be fair, I have no doubt many other hikers have had better experiences at Hikers Paradise, and I certainly wish the hostel success going forward.  However, being that this is a journal of my personal experiences hiking the Trail, and that the events of the morning were, by far, the highlight of the day, it seems appropriate, at least to me, to include in the blog.

day 122, Pinkham Notch VC, NH

Start:  Madison Springs Hut
End: Pinkham Notch Visitors Center (Hikers Paradise)
Miles:  7.8 today, 1847.5 total

Post-hike note: This page was semi-intentionally left blank in my journal due to the day's terrible events elsewhere in the nation.  I'll re-cap what I remember, despite it now being 12.5 years later:

The morning at Madison Springs Hut was somewhat uneventful.  I'm pretty sure I had hut-prepared breakfast, and then helped the staff with various cleanup duties for awhile.  I vaguely remember someone playing music from a radio, but at that time of morning, I don't think the news had broken yet.  I eventually got my stuff together and headed out.

Compared to the night before, the weather coming down the mountain was fantastic.  I remember it being fairly clear and I passed people lounging in various spots as I neared the base of the mountain.  At some point between, say, 10am and noon, I found myself at the bottom at Pinkham Notch Visitors Center.  I called the Hikers Paradise hostel in Gorham and asked for someone to come pick me up.  Sometime later, a guy pulls up in a pickup truck and I throw my stuff in and we head toward Gorham.  Along the way, he mentions that the World Trade Center towers had been attacked and F-15s were patrolling around New York City.  I thought he might've had a screw loose, but when we got to the hostel, everyone was glued to the TV.  I spent pretty much the rest of the day watching TV, though at some point I did laundry and called my parents.

day 121, Madison Springs Hut, NH

Start:  Mt. Jackson campsite
End:  Madison Springs Hut
Miles:  13.5 today, 1839.7 total

Wow.  Today was a day of extremes.  For one, I've found my new favorite part of the trail: the Whites.  The scenery, when visible, was amazing.  I spent all but 2 or 3 miles above treeline.  If the weather is decent, I could stay above treeline all day.  You can see forever.  Like, there will be people off in the distance that you won't pass for 10-15 minutes - but you can still see them!  And the mountains look so neat.  Orange and green and grey, rather than all green trees.  I took 3 or 4 pictures of just scenery.  Now that I think about it, I think I took (or had someone else take) 7 pictures today.

Stopped by Lakes of the Clouds Hut, nothing too special there.  Saw the "Dungeon" thru-hiker shelter in the basement.  Then I made my ascent of Mt. Washington.  The wind whipped by, clouds rocketed past.  I had a passer-by take my picture halfway up the mountain.  Some touristy museum and concession-stand stuff on top.

And then I hiked on... and proceeded to endure the worst weather I've had all trip.  Hard driving rain to a light misting mixed with heavy gusting winds to stillness.  And a cool temperature.  I was soaked and cold, but I just kept on walking.  Still above treeline the whole way to Madison Springs Hut, where I managed to snag my first (and last?) work-for-stay.

Post-hike note: That 5-ish-mile portion from the Mt. Washington summit to Madison Springs Hut was, in hindsight, probably the most dire moment I had on the trail.  Being above treeline with nowhere to hide from the rain and wind, and with the temperature being cool, my guess is that hypothermia would have readily set in were I forced to stop walking.  Numerous opportunities to slip on the wet rocks and break something, and being alone with no one else out walking in that weather and often zero visibility, it could have been a pretty bad situation.  Looking back, I feel pretty lucky that I made it to the hut that night relatively ok and that they had space for me to stay.  I would've done anything to avoid having to camp out in that weather.

day 120, Mt. Jackson c, NH

Start:  Galehead Hut campsite
End:  Mt. Jackson campsite
Miles:  19.4 today, 1826.2 total

Almost a 20-miler in the Whites.  I was trying to do 21 from Galehead Hut to the Mizpah Spring Hut / Nauman Tentsite combo, but I couldn't make it (at least in the daylight).  The wacky thing is, I can see the Mizpah Spring Hut from here.  It's only 1.7 miles away.  I'm camped up on top of Mt. Jackson tonight.  The weather is supposed to be good for the next few days at least, so I feel relatively safe throwing down my bag right up on the summit (knock on wood).  The stars are out all over the place, and I can see the Milky Way.  I hope it doesn't get too cold tonight.  One other consideration is that the closest water source north of here is the hut.  I tried to push as far as I could late in the day so I wouldn't have far to go in the morning.  I've got about half a quart left for the 1.7 miles to the hut, so I think I'll be ok.

At some point tonight, the moon will come out and blind me.  It's been pretty bright the last few nights.  And I think I can see Mt. Washington from here.  One of the buildings up there has its lights on.  I'll be up there tomorrow!  I'm really liking the Whites so far.  It's fun clambering (is that a word?) around on the rocks, though it can get pretty dangerous, too.  Still obsessed over pack weight reduction.  Hasta mañana.