Today was about a 17 mile hike. Went down a seriously steep descent out of camp for a ways and then up a pretty steep climb and over North Twin Mountain. The sky was clear and the views were great. From there it was mostly downhill.
Over the last few days there has been talk about a weather system that will be moving into the area tomorrow and sticking around at least a week to some degree. I have been trying to figure out what it means for the hike. The next leg of my hike is climbing Mt. Washington. It is a big mountain and hikers are totally exposed above treeline for a long time. Main concerns are lightening, really high winds, wet slippery rock and risk of hypothermia. Mt. Washington is one of those places not to mess around with. It has recorded wind speeds of 231 miles per hour on it and is known to have the worst weather in the country, over 150 people have died on it. I will be fine, but want the best weather window I can reasonably wait for. I may not get any views however due to clouds and rain.
I made the decision to rest and see what the weather does for two days in town.
Made it to a trail head parking area near Crawford Notch. Another hiker and I stuck our thumbs out to hitch a ride into North Conway, NH. Within 2 minutes a nice older lady pulls over and asks if we were thru hikers, we say yes and she gives us a ride into town. She immigrated to the US from Poland in 1978.
J's Blog 
Hi Jason,
How are you able to stay on the trail without getting lost with all the adverse conditions you are hiking on? I’m assuming the trail is marked in some way but how can it be marked on solid rock? Stay safe Jason – I still look forward to hearing from you every day!
Aunt Nancy
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Hi Nancy. A tree is marked with a white rectangular blaze that is about 6 inches by 4 inches. They paint a blaze on some rocks. But where the trail is just rock, rocks are piled up into trail markers called cairns. Trail markers are maybe every half mile on average.
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Wow those really are real mountains! Not having been there I had no idea they were that beautiful. Or dangerous. Stay safe my friend.
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They are beautiful and to be respected for sure. Thanks for the well wishes, I will do my best. If I do not survive, look after Lisa and Ryan for me…
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Don’t even joke about that.
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You’re bequeathing Toso to take care of us? We’re all doomed…
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haha…doomed maybe/maybe not. But that dude makes the best sticky buns ever.
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Stay safe and stay in town as long as you need to. Wait for good weather.
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Beautiful views and photos! Be safe
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Thank you. Have some fun and have a great meal…but tell me all about the food!
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