Into the White Mountains
We're now getting into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This is the most difficult section of the Appalachian Trail to hike, but also the most scenic. I've hiked all these sections before, so I know what to expect. I've never hiked them continuously end-to-end, so I'm not sure how well I'll handle it. Time will tell.
7/11 Glencliff,NH to Kinsman Notch - 9.1 miles
We have a short day mileage wise today, but we are going up and over Mount Moosilauke which is 4800 feet with steep ascent and descent. The day starts out overcast and there's a possibility of showers in early afternoon, so if we get an early start we can try and beat the rain.
We get to the trailhead where the ascent starts immediately. Not long into our hike we pass the 1800 mile mark once again commemorated by an earlier hiker.
As we approach the top the trail starts to level off and the clouds are starting to burn off. At the summit we get some views of the nearby peaks, but there's still a lot of cloud cover. We stop at the top for a snack before continuing on to start the descent.
Angelika is waiting for us at the trailhead. We're resting at a picnic table there and share a cold drink and pretzels with Tigger when he gets there.
Back at the campground we get cleaned up and I prepare for starting an overnight section tomorrow. This is Bruce's last day with us, so we head over to the Warren Old Home Days celebration and enjoy chicken barbeque put on by the local fire department. We stayed for a while to listen to music and have some strawberry shortcake for dessert.
It's been great hiking with Bruce these last few days and getting caught up on what's been happening in our lives since I saw him last year. He's been doing some epic hiking on the Camino de Santiago and to Machu Picchu. We talk about doing the Rheinsteig together in the near future.
7/12 Kinsman Notch to Kinsman Pond Shelter - 11.5 miles
Bruce was kind enough to drop me off at the trailhead on the way home. There were two climbs to get done today.
The first was Mt Wolf which was a relatively easy climb after the steep, but short, ascent out of Kinsman Notch. Then it was down to the Eliza Brook Shelter where I stopped for lunch. Tigger joined me here just as I was finishing up. He was slack packing south today from Franconia Notch. That's more terrain than I can cover in a day. This is probably the last time I'll see him on this trip. He's moving ahead much faster than me.
From Eliza Brook the ascent up South Kinsman is extremely steep with lots of large rocks and ledge to negotiate. This is really slow going and not untypical terrain for the White Mountains. There's lots of this kind of climbing to do in the days to come. It's about a 2000 foot climb over 2.5 miles which is quite strenuous. At the summit, everything is socked in so there is no view as a reward. That's OK, because I've been on these summits several times in the past and enjoyed the view on those occasions. Most recently when Guido and I were working on his 4000 footers.
It's a quick hike from South Kinsman to North Kinsman and then down to Kinsman Pond. The shelter and campsites are very busy today according to the caretaker Tol. She has a special deal for through hikers that gives me discounts at the shelters and snacks at the huts. That will come in handy in the days to come.
While I'm wrapping up my business with the caretaker, Metro and Alphagal arrive at camp. I haven't seen them since New York, so it's nice to catch up and see how things are going for them. We agreed that the climbing today was very challenging.
I climb into my sleeping bag in the shelter around 7:00, but my shelter mates aren't interested in getting to bed early so I don't really get to sleep until 9:30 or so.
It took 8.5 hours to cover the 11.5 miles of trail today. That makes my pace less than 1.5 miles an hour now. The miles will be going by a lot slower for a while.
7/13 Kinsman Pond Shelter to Franconia Notch - 4.6 milesI planned a short day today as a nero (nearly zero) to rest up for the next section across Franconia Ridge and around the Pemigewasset Wilderness. I woke up early, made breakfast, packed up, and was on the trail before my shelter mates were even out of bed.
The descent down to Lonesome Lake Hut was steep, wet, slippery and slow going. It's less than two miles from Kinsman Pond to the hut, but it took an hour and a half to cover that distance today. The weather is still overcast, so the nice view of the Franconia Ridge you'd normally get from the hut was totally obscured.
We're lucky to have lived close by for so long that we could wait for a good day to visit here. The view is spectacular on a clear day.
From here the trail down to Franconia Notch becomes much more reasonable. I feel like I'm hiking more normally again, at least for a few miles.
Angelika meets me at the trailhead parking lot which is on a short side trail. I'm planning on doing my resupply and catching up on bills while we're relaxing at the campground in Lincoln today. When I check the weather for tomorrow there's a high chance of thunderstorms in the forecast. This is not the kind of conditions you want to be out on an exposed ridge in. Angelika is able to rearrange our camping reservations so we can take a rest day tomorrow instead. I could use some extra time to recover in any case.
I took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep by getting up late. I slept in until 6:00...what a sleepy head! After breakfast we headed over to North Conway to get some new boots for me (yes, I'm now on my third pair of boots on this trip), do some food shopping, and grab lunch at a small Asian bowl restaurant in the outlet mall there. By the time we got back to the campground it was getting close to dinner time. We needed to cook early because the thunderstorms were threatening again. I'll get to bed early again tonight and hopefully be well rested to be back on the trail tomorrow.
7/15 Franconia Notch to Garfield Shelter - 10.5 milesAngelika dropped me off at the Liberty Springs trailhead in the morning which begins immediately to climb up to the ridge. This is a relatively steep climb getting up to the Franconia Ridge Trail past the Liberty Springs Campsite. On the way by the campsite I see on the kiosk whiteboard that there was a bear encounter here last night. More on that later.
The weather is hazy with a solid line of clouds off to the north. On the ridge, it's clear and I'm enjoying great views. Even though it's the middle of the week, the trail is crowded with day hikers, but that's pretty typical since this is a very popular trail. The views are really the highlight of the day and the pictures tell the rest of the story.
The view south from Little Haystack Mountain looking at the peaks of Mount Liberty closest and Mount Flume just behind it.
The view west from Little Haystack Mountain. You can see North and South Kinsman which is where I just came from.
The view from Mount Lincoln south back toward Little Haystack Mountain. You can still see Mount Liberty and Mount Flume behind it. We're hiking above treeline now.
The view from Mount Lincoln looking north towards Mount Lafayette. That's where we're headed next. You can just make out Mount Garfield in the distance to the right. That's our destination for the day.
If you look closely you can make out the Greenleaf Hut which you pass on your way up Mount Lafayette on the Bridle Path. That's not on our agenda today.
The view south from Mount Lafayette looking back over the ridge we just hiked. The peaks that were so close before are now off in the distance.
I stopped for lunch on Mount Lafayette at the spot Angelika and I got engaged over 21 years ago. It's a nice memory and I'd marry her again without a second thought.
From Mount Lafayette it's a long descent and a few more miles before reaching the base of Mount Garfield. At Garfield Pond I meet up with a through hiker named Potter I hadn't see since the Shenandoahs. She had to get off the trail for her brother's funeral and then skipped ahead to do the huts with her friend Kathy before continuing on the Maine. She'll go back and fill the gaps after reaching Katahdin.
From Mount Garfield, it's a short hike down to the Garfield Shelter and campsites. When I arrive I find hikers AlphaGal, Metro, The Wizard of Ghee, and a couple others they've picked up along the way. We've been crossing paths since Pennsylvania, so it's good to catch up with them.
They have a story to tell about the bear encounter at Liberty Springs the night before. They were tenting there that night when a bear came into camp and tried to break into the bear box where hikers store their food overnight. It rolled the bear box down the trail about 30 yards banging on it trying to get the goodies inside. The caretaker came out and tried to shoo him away at which point he ran downhill into Metro's tent and over Metro sleeping inside. See his YouTube video here. He has a few holes in the side of his tent to back up his story. Apparently this has been a nuisance bear in this area for a while and now something is going to have to be done to deal with him. It's a sad thing when a bear gets so habituated to humans that it becomes a threat and has to be dealt with.
7/16 Garfield Shelter to Zealand Falls Campsite - 9.8 milesIt's another excellent weather day heading out from Garfield Shelter. Heading down the trail the next point of interest is the Galehead Hut. I know from experience that after the hut, the climb up to the summit of South Twin Mountain is steep and strenuous so I stop at the hut first and grab a piece of blueberry coffee cake and a cup of real coffee to get my juices flowing before taking on the climb. I have a nice chat with a southbound section hiker there while I enjoy my treats.
One of the highlights today is the view from South Twin Mountain.
From South Twin Mountain we head over toward Mount Guyout. I've been this way many times hiking the Pemi Loop and I'm meeting a lot of other hikers doing the same on this trip. On this day, I'm turning towards Mount Zealand and the Zealand Falls Hut which is the goal for the day. This is the first time I've been down this trail past Mount Zealand, so I'm looking forward to seeing some new terrain. Before that, however, I stop for lunch near Mount Guyout and enjoy the view back over the ridge I came over yesterday.
Along the way I again pass Potter and her friend Kathy on their way to the Zealand Falls Hut. They're travelling first class hiking hut to hut. At the hut you get a bunk with a mattress, dinner, and breakfast prepared for you by the croo. It's expensive, but allows you to travel much lighter without having to carry food or shelter.
I stop for water at the Zealand Falls hut and head for a campsite about a quarter mile down the trail. This is a nice established campsite with a good water source and I'm the only one here. That's a nice break from the busy shelter I was at yesterday. I'm enjoying a nice quiet night in my hammock, although the coffee I had this morning is keeping me up later than I would have liked.
7/17 Zealand Falls Campsite to Crawford Notch - 7.6 milesI planned a short day today to meet Angelika in Crawford Notch and recover. Just past the campsite there's a good view back towards Zeacliff which I hiked over yesterday on my way to the hut.
Just past this point I see coming up the trail straight toward me a moose. She sees me coming, stops short, and hightails it back the other direction. These are really big animals and impressive animals. But now a minute later the moose is coming back towards me. She stands her ground and gives a loud snort when she sees me again. I stop and stand aside thinking she's going to charge me, but instead she lumbers down the slope off the trail crashing through the woods. What I didn't know until shortly after is there was a southbound hiker coming in the other direction. He was driving the moose towards me and I was driving it back towards him. That made for an interesting encounter for all of us.
The trail past the hut is much more gentle and smooth than what I've been hiking on the last few days, so it's a nice change to be able to walk at faster pace. There's lots of water along the trail today including passing by Thoreau Falls.
There's no cell service along the trail or at the trailhead, so I can't tell Angelika I'm about an hour and a half ahead of schedule. Luckily when I get to Crawford Notch trail angel Steve and his wife Mimi have some excellent trail magic on offer while I wait. They set me up in a camp chair to enjoy cold drinks, a breakfast burrito, and lots of other yummy snacks. We enjoy chatting for a good long time even after Angelika arrives until it starts to rain. We help them pack up and then head to our campsite for the night.
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