#29 Glencliff to Gorham

8/30: I caught a shuttle at 7:30 back to trail and started hiking with a purpose. I was determined to do about 13 miles to the first hut in the Whites, Lonesome Lake Hut. The huts will only let thru hikers in if they have work for stay options open or some will let you sleep on the floor for $10. Either way, they serve food! Then I hit Mt Wolf. It’s not even technically in the Whites yet, but I slowed way down, and not for lack of effort either. The trail was swampy and there were giant mud puddles that I tried to dodge along with rocks of all shapes and sizes. I couldn’t get a stride in. Down wasn’t easy either. It was, if possible, even more muddy and swampy. I reached an open area with some power lines and did some quick math. I had gone 7 miles, and it took me 5 hours. Oh no. Usually it would’ve taken 3.5 hours. At the pace I was going and considering I had over a 2,000 ft climb straight up, my hopes of making the hut in time started to dwindle. The trail was even for a little bit and I filled up on water before climbing Mt Kinsmen. At first it was a steep climb, but nothing I hadn’t seen before. There were rough stone steps that I trekked up. At one point I hit a beaver dam, which flooded part of the trail and my shoes got wet. Then the climb got harder. I stopped to collapse my trekking poles so I could use my hands to pull myself up the rocks, and checked my phone to see how far I had left. Only .7 and I decided to time myself. The problem was the trail was a wall. There were giant rock slabs that went over my head and I had to figure out a place to put my foot so that I could climb over. I was literally rock climbing. It was slow, but it was also so much fun! It was a constant puzzle of which path to take, and I enjoyed the challenge of using my arms more. It wasn’t really walking, and that was refreshing in and of itself. When I made it to the south summit, I felt like I was on the top of the world.

The views were expansive and gorgeous. I checked my watch- it had taken me 50 minutes to go 7/10ths of a mile. Less than 1 mile an hour. Yeesh! My favorite part was seeing the Franconia Ridge clearly just ahead. It was a giant mountain and I was going to be hiking it in 2 days! I love being able to see where I’m going! I butt scooted down some rock slabs and made it the shelter where Sunshine and I ate dinner together and I chatted with a lot of weekend hikers. Someone gave me extra cheese that they had left over! And some hikers from Michigan who had to cut their trip short gave me 2 Mountain House dinners! Then I went to stargaze by the pond and it was incredible! I could see the Milky Way stretching over the sky and millions of stars. It was a wonderful night to end one of my favorite days on trail so far.

8/31: Overnight, the guy next to me kept scooting into my personal space while he was sleeping. But in the morning, he offered to give Sunshine, Otter, and I a ride into town when we got to the parking lot. That was awesome because we needed to stop into town to resupply and head back out on the trail. We tried to hurry up so we didn’t keep him waiting and took a quick stop at the Lonesome Lake Hut to eat some lemon poppy seed bread that they had available. I saw a sign that said moose were active in that area, and about 10 minutes later, we found some moose poop right beside the trail.

The last couple of miles were pretty easy compared to the rest of the Whites! We made our way down and took a side trail to the parking lot where our friend was waiting for us! As we were heading off to town, he told us about this great burger place and that he would treat us to lunch. So of course we got some burgers! I ordered a monstrosity- it was a turkey burger but instead of a bun, it was stacked in the middle of 2 grilled cheese sandwiches. Oh the things I do to eat enough calories. After lunch, we resupplied at a grocery store and got a shuttle out of town. Our packs were heavyyyyy! Even when the grade wasn’t that bad, we struggled to move, and then when the grade got really bad, we really struggled to move. It was like climbing a never ending flight of stairs, but uneven, and the stairs are rocks. Anyway, we finally made it to the campsite where the caretaker told us that 1) all the tent platforms were taken so we’d have to find a creative place to pitch our tents and 2) there was a feisty bear that had already destroyed 3 people’s packs today around the area. At first I was going to cowboy camp, but then it was cold and windy, so I did my best to pitch my tent with limited space. Its certainly creative. Anyway, no bear sightings so far, and I struggled through eating the dinner I had packed out because I was full from the grilled cheese burger. Here’s for hoping I get out of here before any bears show up again!

9/1: I had every intention of seeing the sunrise this morning, but my alarm went off at 4 and I was cold even without moving from my sleeping quilt. So I went back to sleep. I did get up at around 6 and was cold until I started back up the mountain. I walked up to a blue blaze and took it to see Liberty Mountain. I had an awesome view of the Franconia Ridge and I stayed up there for a while. Then I went back down into the woods and hiked to the ridge itself. That was one of the coolest sections of the AT that I hiked.

The ridge was exposed and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. I could see for miles and miles, including the path up the ridge to the different peaks. It was super crowded with day hikers though, but I took it slow and enjoyed the moment as much as I could. It felt like magic. I even met a volunteer who thru hiked in the 70s! I even got my first look at Maine in the distance. It was a truly spectacular section. Then I went down into the trees again and realized I had to hustle if I wanted to make the shelter- but hustling is relative in the Whites. Based on my pace, I might be able to make the hut, which was 3 miles closer. After much attempt at hustling, I got to the hut and asked if they had any work for stay options or if I could crash on the floor. They said no and that they were full. But it’s cold at night! And it was supposed to rain, too. So I hung out with other hikers who did get work for stays outside until a croo member (hut employee) let us in, not knowing that they had told me no. So then I sat there, stealth like, until they turned out the lights in the main room and the hikers could set up their sleeping pads and whatnot. Hahaha! I get to stay warm and dry tonight! I feel like a maniacal rebel. What an exciting time!

9/2: I woke up to the sound of rain outside, and was immediately grateful for sneaking into the hut. I packed up my stuff with the other hikers and slipped out the door as the guests were getting served breakfast. Some SOBOs (people who started in Maine and are hiking to Georgia- southbounders) told me that the next mountain I had to climb had some of their favorite views in the Whites so far. I got up to the top and I got an amazing view of the inside of a cloud.

It was white. The weather was great for hypothermia- 40 degrees, windy, and rainy. Ugh. I kept moving because if I stopped, I got even more cold. I was grateful to get back under the tree line after the top of the mountain because at least the wind subsided a bit. About 2 miles in, I ran into Sunshine, who was about to head out on the trail from a stealth camp spot that she stayed the night before. I told her about my shenanigans in the hut and she was jealous that I stayed warm and dry. We decided to hike together for the day because including the wet rocks, the weather could be dangerous if exposed for too long. We made the slow trek down to the next hut, where we were planning on getting lunch and warming up. Each step had to be calculated as which rock was the least slippery and provide the best balance. At one point, we were above tree line for maybe 2 tenths of a mile and the wind whipped at any exposed skin. It was intensely brutal. In our misery though, we had to laugh. All we could do was inch along and whenever I checked our location, we were always farther away that we thought. We eventually got to the hut and I got soup and a pastry from the cook there. Looking ahead, to avoid bad weather we needed to summit Mt Washington and complete that section above tree line a day later than we were on track to do. So we just stayed at the hut. It was so nice to be warm and inside- and we got work for stays, so we did dishes with dinner. Along with doing a work for stay, they fed us dinner, so that was cool! To pass time during the day, we played rummy with some other hikers, and I won! Overall, it was nice to stay someplace dry again and to do it legally this time.

9/3: Sunshine and I got out early and started hiking around 7:15. We were excited because we were about to hit a relatively easy section for the next few miles and we were planning to head into the AMC Highland Center for lunch and to hang out. So we were a little extra motivated. Everything was wet and slippery though, so we still had to be careful, but the trail was shockingly easy! We cruised our way down to the road. I even saw some moose tracks in the mud as I was walking! We got a hitch after a few minutes and the person who picked us up was from Detroit- and lived on 7 mile growing up. So that was really cool. We hung out with Snake Eyes and Lucky Penny at the center and ate lunch. I got a free grilled cheese because the person at the register didn’t know what she was doing and rang up my whole order for $6. Hahaha I am on a roll! I hung out there for a few hours and enjoyed the weather while my phone and gps charged. Then I cheated and took a blue blaze up to the next hut because tomorrow is supposed to be terrible weather and I wanted to get as far as I could. So instead of hiking 7 miles, I only hiked 2 and a half. I’m sure I’ll get a chance to do that section again in the future. I made a ramen bomb for dinner, chatted with the caretaker who goes on awesome hiking trips every winter, and then went to bed full and sleepy.

9/4: Another short day. The trail goes over 12 miles of above treeline mountains. The highest point being Mt Washington and the peak of that mountain has some of the worst weather in America because it is subject to 3 different weather systems. Anyway, we knew the weather wasn’t looking good for today, but the weather report confirmed in the morning that there were high winds and possible storms and rain starting in the late morning. To get to the next hut, I had to cross a few miles above treeline, but it was only 5 miles total. I got a pancake for breakfast by sweeping the dining room in the hut that I camped by last night. Free pancake! When I started hiking, it was very foggy and wet, but not raining too much. I tried to go quick so I wouldn’t get caught above treeline with any lightning around. Then I came across an older guy who was walking unsteady on the rocks. I offered to hike with him in case anything happened or he needed help. I slowed way down and kept an eye on him to make sure he was ok. It turns out that he’s been doing sections of the trail since he was 58 and now he’s 71! We slowly trekked over some rocks and it was so misty that the only way we could see the trail was by the rock cairns. It was eerie. At times it started to rain, and the wind was blowing hard while we were above the trees. We were almost to the hut when I heard some thunder. And then a louder boom. And then I saw lightning flash in front of me and a crack of thunder soon after. Oooooohhhh boy! I could see the hut too! I quickened my pace to get next to the structure and watched my friend to make sure he made it too- and we did it! It felt so good to get dry again and be safe from the storm. The croo was super nice and they played games with us before the guests came in. Sunshine was already there so we hung out for the rest of the night.

Some thru hikers even tried to summit Mt Washington today but had to turn around and come back because it was so bad up there. So we relaxed and Sunshine and I got work for stays so we planned to do chores for the hut in return for a free stay and breakfast. Tomorrow is supposed to be a good day though, so here’s to hoping that I get some great views tomorrow!

9/4: The wind was so bad overnight that the hut was literally shaking. I was very happy to be inside! Sunshine and I ate a big breakfast with 6 pancakes each and a lot of oatmeal. Then we swept up the bunk rooms and were out of the hut around 9ish. So it was a late start, but we were fueled by pancakes. We hiked 1.6 miles up to Mt Washington where we were engulfed by tourists. It was a beautiful day! Mt Washington has an average of 40 clear days a year, and we totally lucked out! We wanted to keep moving though, because we knew we would get some other great views on the ridge with less people around. As we were climbing down, we saw the train that goes to and from the summit slowly make it’s way down towards us. It’s a tradition for thru hikers to moon the train, so, to not break with traditional AT practices, Sunshine, another hiker, and I dropped our pants as the train went by and got some thumbs up from the passengers on board. We all laughed so hard. And as we got closer to the tracks, another train came by! Sunshine chickened out because we were pretty close, and I waved, to be polite of course, and then mooned my second train that day, which is a personal record. We thought we were so funny. I hiked next to Sunshine because she is deathly afraid of heights and wanted a buddy for the exposed section. The trail was a boulder field and we did our best to stay around the cairns. Wow it was a gorgeous day though! We were going at about 1mph, which is terrible, but it was sunny and we could see expansive 360 views of the mountains and beyond.

Sunshine kept her eyes on the trail. Anyway, we hiked and hiked until we got to Madison Springs Hut, which was 7 miles away from where we started. And it took us 7 hours to get there. They didn’t have any work for stay options, and instead of going forward to Mt Madison, which is a beast, we decided to tackle it earlier in the day when we had fresh legs. As we were heading out, we chatted with some weekend hikers who gave us each a shot of some high quality scotch they had packed out because they were impressed with our hike. That was awesome! We climbed down into a trail that went below treeline and camped at a little campsite .5 off trail. Sunshine and I stayed up and chatted about human robots while we watched the stars appear until it got too cold and we settled in our tents for the night.

So far the Whites have been spectacular but have really slowed us down. We hiked 8 miles into town today over Mt Madison, which was the worst maintained section of the Whites that I’ve been through so far- and that’s saying something! We have been so lucky to be able to enjoy the gem of the AT on beautiful clear days. Otter is a little bit behind us and hopefully he’ll stop taking so many naps and catch up with us soon! On to the Wildcats, and then to Maine! :)

Happy trails!