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🧵9/9
I was becoming seriously chilled, and walking became almost impossible as I was tossed about like an old newspaper.

From my book Then the Hail Came (A Humorous and Truthful Account of a 1983 Appalachian Trail Thru-hike). Available in paperback, audiobook and eBook: www.amazon.com/dp/B09QFG4ZR6

🧵8/9
A final surprise awaited when I broke out onto the flattish summit area at 7:00. It was a howling madhouse up there. The wind doubled.

🧵7/9
I ascended through a dark, desolate landscape of black rock and dark gray cloud as a hellish wind screamed around me. It was beautiful, in a strange way, but it was a perilous beauty. I might have been on another planet.

🧵6/9
The view of distant mountains faded gradually into the golden mist, and then was gone. I was entering another realm that most definitely was not heaven. As I climbed, the fog thickened, and the golden light faded until most of it was blotted out.

🧵5/9
Slowly, I approached the sharply-defined bottom border of the vast cloud as the sun, sinking low in the sky beyond distant Franconia Ridge, tinted it with gold and orange. It was like ascending into heaven. I reached the fringe of the cloud and stepped inside.

🧵4/9
I began the final assault on Mount Washington. The mountain’s summit resembles a huge, barren pile of loose rocks, and those rocks make the steep climb somewhat tricky and time-consuming.

🧵3/9
It was getting rather late, so I stayed on the Appalachian Trail as it bypassed Mount Monroe, which I have previously climbed, and did not stop at Lakes of the Clouds Hut, located in the col between Monroe and Washington.

🧵2/9
I got some great shots of Mounts Monroe, Washington, and Clay (how did he get in there?) along the trail ahead. The few clouds remaining in the sky had lifted well off the mountaintops, save one — the cloud that blanketed the top of Washington, covering just the very tip of its summit cone.

I'm disappointed, but I learned a lot for the next hike. I have lots of great pics and some stories to share. This will put off my sequel AT hike until 2027, but there will be new hikes next year.

Note: I'm finally starting to work on my hiking blog for my aborted August hike. I'll have a link soon. A hard fall on the steep descent from Jug End did some damage to my right shoulder. I'll be fine eventually, but it did cut short my plans for a 6-week hike after 1 great week.

🧵7/7
A note was tucked up on a tree where the Appalachian Trail reentered the woods on the other side. I knew its contents before I read it: bad news about Beechy Bottom Brook, the “reliable” water source.

More of My 1983 Appalachian Trail Hike in Photos: www.georgesteffanos.com/places-i-ve-...

🧵6/7
making for an exciting experience of picking an opening and darting across the two southbound lanes with a fifty-pound pack on my back. I was immediately treated to a repeat of that adventure while crossing the northbound lanes from the center island a moment later.

🧵5/7
After a rather steep descent, I arrived at the crossing of the Palisades Interstate Parkway. It was an extremely busy, four-lane, divided highway, but the Appalachian Trail did not go over it or under it — it went directly across,

🧵4/7
This one rewarded the effort. There were beautiful perspectives to the south and west from the top, followed by comparable views to the southeast a bit farther along. The humidity cut down on the visibility, however. I could barely make out the Hudson River less than ten miles away.

🧵3/7
After an hour of resting and staring at that daunting climb, I plodded doggedly back out on the trail.

The climb was rough. A short while later, I hit another climb similar to the first, but longer.

🧵2/7
Then, I discovered I had to push it farther to water that probably did not exist. It was a somewhat discouraging prospect. A more immediate physical hurdle also confronted me: the depressingly impressive rock climb just past the shelter. I wanted no part of it.

I miss mid October. Most sunny days are still shorts weather. Hard to believe that was only 6 weeks ago.

I recently saw a headline about a 90-year-old guy attempting to thru-hike the AT. My takeaway was I guess I still have some time to recover and get back out there.