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I
shouted up to Erin to make sure that she turned onto the Airline Cutoff. I
didn’t want her to continue up to Mt Adams. She appeared to have heard me,
then disappeared behind a rock outcropping. As we were approaching the end of
King Ravine where its headwall rose to meet the Mt Adams summit ridge, I
stopped to take a picture.
This
section of the trail was covered with myriads of tiny alpine flowers,
including diapensia and moss campion. Instead of trying to catch up with
Erin, I decided to slow down to take some pictures. After getting a too-distant shot of
some moss campion, the rain began to fall a little harder, and the
batteries fell out of the camera. I couldn’t manage to fix it out on the trail, so I gave up and headed toward the hut.
At the top of the ridge, I looked back to see the entire
Durand Ridge and the route of the Airline Trail.
After
turning left onto the Airline Cutoff, the trail began to meander slowly
downhill toward the hut. The rocks were getting a bit slippery, and I was
definitely ready to reach the hut, eat lunch, and relax for a while. I had given up
on getting to Mt Adams, but was still hoping to climb Mt Madison, about
500 vertical feet above the hut.
About
ten minutes later, I reached the hut where Erin was outside waiting for
me. Inside the hut, we found a spot at one of the tables and relaxed.
It was fairly crowded as a lot of hikers were seeking refuge from the bad
weather. In addition to the food we had brought, we purchased some nice
hot minestrone soup from the hut croo. I also bought a tee-shirt and
a postcard of the hut.
While
resting, I managed to get the camera working again, but just barely. I was
only able to take a couple more pictures, including this one of Erin in
the hut, before it stopped working again for the duration of the trip. |
Looking
across the headwall of King Ravine. |
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