I am in Meredith, NH at Paul and Peggy’s lake house tonight; warm, clean, dry and well-fed. The hike down from Madison was pretty rough, especially the first half but we made it by 4 pm.

Yesterday’s rocks and mist continued this morning. The ascent of Madison was steep and slippery, but could at least be called a trail. The descent was just a wet pile of rocks with an occasional blaze. By the time we started down the real steep drop down the ridge we were already tired. Luckily the Osgood Trail portion wasn’t bad at all and we were able to make good speed to Pinkham Notch.

Paul cooked up some pork loin with broccoli, pilaf and salad and we all ate well.

The coolest bit of the day was coming over Madison and seeing the Carter Mountains on the other side of Rte 16. There were clouds all around us and the Carter peaks stuck out above a the bright cloud bank. Folding blankets turned out to be my work-for-stay, a fast and easy job from a Croo that we liked.