The days here are long this time of year, it starts getting light around 5:00 a.m. and doesn’t get dark until 9:00 p.m. It was a good night, even with the church bell ringing on the hour and the trains that passed through a couple of times in the night. I woke around 5:30 but laid in the sleeping quilt since it was cool. Hunger finally got the best of me and I enjoyed a breakfast of champions, well, at least of hikers, five Ding Dongs and two cinnamon buns, for total of around 1,200 calories. I’ve never done that before and don’t plan to get in the habit of doing it.
The day passed quickly, going through my gear and sorting through the food box, taking walks through town to try to keep my legs from getting stiff, walking to the China Dynasty Buffet for lunch, talking to Karen, and getting caught up on the posts. I’m planning to go to Subway for dinner and am trying to decide whether to have one foot long sub or two.
I didn’t hike any miles on the trail today, but it was a good day. Gorham is a beautiful town.
The rain predicted for yesterday came in a thunderstorm during the night. The trail today alternated between rocks and boggy places. It lost about 3,800 feet from the high point to low point today with only one climb of 800 feet for a total descent of 4,600 feet. Prior to the descent the trail went over large rock slabs that provided great views of the surrounding mountains. The descent was long and rocky, and steep in a few places. At the bottom of the mountain the trail paralleled the Rattle River and passed by the Rattle River Shelter before crossing US 2. I met a thru hikers named Defib early in the day, but he got ahead of me when I stopped for lunch. I caught up with him later and hiked the last couple of miles with him. He was meeting friends, Professor T and Landslide for dinner at a barbeque restaurant and asked if I wanted to join them. First we stopped at the Rattle River Hostel where I picked up a food box, and then we took Uber to the restaurant, stopping at The Barn Hostel to drop off our packs. It was good to have dinner with 3 other old guys and the food was great. We walked back to the hostel. I’ll sleep in my tent tonight in the back yard since all of the beds were taken. I took a shower and did laundry and the hit the sack. I’m planning to take a day off tomorrow to rest. My quads and knees are so sore I’m not sure I could go far without a break.
I hiked 11.4 miles today and finished the White Mountains. I’m glad to have them behind me.
Looking at the trail up the mountainCarter Notch Hut
This was another day where I was glad I stopped earlier than planned the day before. While I was thankful to be able to take a shower and get a good dinner and breakfast, the climb out of Pinkham Notch was steep and rocky, not something I’d try to do late in the afternoon. In all honesty, it was not a climb I would want to do at all. The trail climbs 2,000 feet in 2 miles, up rocks and along boulder faces. After a couple of miles the trail descends 1,000 feet in a little over a mile. The climb down was every bit as hard as the climb up.
I stopped for second lunch of black bean soup and bread at Carter Notch Hut. I wish I could have spent a night there it was so beautiful. The trail to the hut passes two lakes surrounded by mountains.
As with all notches the trail descends into the them and then climbs back out. The climb out was 1,200 feet over 1.2 miles. Once the trail reached the top of Carter Dome it was relatively mild for a bit. I was able to find a nice campsite at mile 1,883.4 (according to Guthooks). I was thankful that the rain that had been predicted for today didn’t come. I can’t imagine what the climbs and the descent would have been like on wet rocks.
I hiked 9.7 miles in 10 hours today and didn’t get off the trail once. It was a good day.
I found out that spending the night at Madison Springs Hut was a good decision after hiking only a short distance this morning. The trail climbs 550 feet to get to the top of Mount Madison and the descends 2,700 feet, all this over 3 miles before it starts climbing again. The bad part is that there is no trail since this is a boulder field with cairns to mark the direction you are supposed to go. Getting to each one was a challenge. To make matters worse, when I got to the top of Madison I mistakenly took a side trail down the mountain a ways. Thank God for Guthooks, or else who knows where I would have ended up.
It only gets worse. After I made it to the bottom the trail split. Wouldn’t you know, I took the Osgood Trail instead of the Osgood Connector Trail. Eventually I realized my mistake when landmarks on the paper map I had (Guthooks wasn’t any help since I was in a valley) never appeared. So I turned around and started hiking back to the AT. This trail had a side trail that I mistakenly got off on. The only reason I knew this was that it had things that I didn’t remember seeing before. So I turned around again and went back to the Osgood Trail, and then returned to where the Osgood Connector Trail was and got back on the AT. I was mad at myself for being careless, not once but twice today, but thankful that I was able to find the AT again.
Well, the travails for the day weren’t over since it happened a third time. This time the trail sign was confusing. I knew it was confusing and spent at least 20 minutes trying to figure out which way to go. I chose the wrong way. Again, Guthooks was no help. I climbed back up the trail and took the right path. After that I decided I wasn’t going to get off trail again. However, the trail wasn’t marked with white blazes. At times the trail would come to a stream and disappear. I finally figured out that the trail followed the stream by looking for boot tracks in the mud on the sides of the streams. At this point I realized I could get hopelessly lost in the woods of NH and might never be found. This was not a comforting feeling. After a long and trying day I made it to Pinkham Notch where I decided to stay at The Joe Dodge Lodge. I had a room to myself and was able to dry out my gear since I had hiked in rain, heavy at times, for a good part of the day.
I hiked 7.8 miles on the trail today in 12 hours. I have no clue as to how many total miles I hiked. But thank God I’m not lost somewhere in the woods of NH.
Sign at the Top of Mt. Washington (behind the people)Rock Cairns Marking the TrailMadison Springs Hut
The huts serve meals family style. I ate more than my share at dinner last night and again at breakfast this morning. After breakfast one of the Croo gave the weather forecast for the day, highs in the 40’s with rain and strong wind gusts. For the afternoon, heavy rain and a chance of thunderstorms.
Breakfast was served at 7:00 and I was packed and heading out the door around 8:00. The Lakes of the Clouds Hut is 1.5 miles from Mount Washington. The trail, which was made mostly of rocks, climbs 1,200 feet over that distance. By the time I made it to the top I was soaked, due to a combination of rain and sweat. I stopped at the Welcome Center, which was heated, for a while in an attempt to dry out and figure out what to do. I called Karen and we went over my options. My original plan was to hike to the Osgood Tent Site, a little over 8 miles away. On the way I’d pass by the Madison Springs Hut after about 5 miles. I decided to head out and stop at the hut to decide whether to continue or try to get a bunk for the night.
It was raining, windy and cold when I left, so bad that I didn’t even bother taking a picture of the sign on top of Mount Washington. On the way down the mountain I saw the Cog Railway train going up. It’s a sad thing, but AT hikers have a tradition of mooning the passengers. While I am traditional in many ways, I do have my limits, and chose to wave instead.
The trail for most of the day was rocky. The only way to make sure you were going the right direction was to follow the cairns (rock piles). There were many places where other trails crossed the AT. I had learned a lesson at Lakes of the Clouds Hut that morning by almost getting on the wrong trail. When I wasn’t sure which trail to take I would open the Guthooks app on my phone to make sure I took the right one. Several times while hiking I would open Guthooks just to confirm I was on the AT.
There were several steep climbs and descents during the day, but the wind and rain, and the constant walking on rocks wore me down. I made it to Madison Springs Hut around 3:30 wet and tired. The thought of hiking another 3 miles down the mountain and setting a tent up was more than I could bear, so I asked and found out bunks were available. The hut had had a lot of cancellations due to the weather. That settled it, I signed in, selected a bunk, and started unpacking my pack trying to dry everything out. I hiked 7.2 miles today in a little over 7 hours. While it isn’t what I had hoped for I’ll take it.
I was dropped off at Crawford Notch at 7:15. The trail climbed 2,600 feet over the first 3.3 miles and then another 1,200 over the remainder of the day. The climbs today were steep and difficult. At times it appeared the trail ended at a rock face, when actually the trail went up the rock. The longest of these climbs was around 70 feet, but there were several that were 40 to 50 feet.
I stopped at Mizpa Spring Hut around noon for lunch and enjoyed free leftovers from breakfast, cold scrambled eggs and oatmeal. It started raining shortly after I got back on the trail and continued through the rest of the day. I was able to enjoy the views until the clouds and rain came. From time to time the clouds would break and I’d get some nice views. Toward the end of the day I was able to see Mount Washington, long enough to get a picture.
I made it to Lakes of the Clouds Hut, where I am staying tonight, a little after 4:00. It took me 9 hours to cover 11 miles. I’ve been dreading this section of the trail for 3 years. I’m glad to finally have it behind me.
Today I flew from Atlanta, GA to Portland, ME and then caught a shuttle from the airport to the AMC Highland Center at Crawford Notch, NH. The Highland Center is located about 4 miles from where the AT crosses US 302. The road crossing is at mile marker 1,848 of the AT for northbound hikers. This spot is where I ended a section hike 3 years ago. For this trip I’m hoping to make it to Mount Katahdin, approximately 345 miles away, and finish a series of section hikes which started in 2013 at Springer Mountain, GA.
Crawford Notch is located in the White Mountains, one of the most rugged sections of the AT, but also one of the most glorious, with grand views on clear days. After that is southern Maine, which has been described by some as the hardest part of the AT.
I’m spending the night in the Shapley Bunkhouse with 4 others, 2 volunteers, a day hiker and another that joined us after the lights were out. One of the volunteers offered to drive me to the AT in the morning after breakfast. Today was a day filled with answered prayer, my friend Andy took me to the airport, the flight was on time, my backpack made it to Portland without any issues, the shuttle was also on time, and now I won’t have to walk an extra 4 miles tomorrow to get to the AT. God is good, all the time.
Prone To Wander's Epic AT Journey 