I'm in Gorham, NH right now, which is the last town that the trail passes in NH before it enters Maine. It's the first town I've been to since my last post. For the last week, I've been hiking the White Mountains, which has been very tough and very rewarding.
My week got off to a pretty good start as I was leaving Frankin, NH. I was at a breakfast diner last Thursday, eating with a couple other thru-hikers. I came into town via Kinsman Notch, but most of the other hikers had come into town via Franconia Notch - which was another 15 miles or so ahead of where I had gotten off of the trail. The other hikers were waiting for a shuttle to take them back to the trail, and when it arrived, they paid their bills and took off - leaving me there by myself. I took my time and enjoyed my meal. I was in no hurry since I was planning on hitchhiking back to my notch. When it came time to pay my bill, the waitress informed me that it had already been taken care of by a group that had been at one of the other tables. Unfortunately, they had already left, so I didn't have the chance to thank them. What a great surprise! Once I get off the trail and have income again, I'm going to have to make sure I pay it forward.
After that, I walked down the road for a mile or two before I got to a part of the road that takes me to where I got off of the trail. I set my pack down and stick out my thumb and I've got a ride within five minutes. That's a record for me, I think. I get back to the trail and start hiking, and I quickly find out just how hard the White Mtns really are. The rumors are true! Even with a belly full of delicious and (somewhat) nutritious food, I am pooped within a few hrs.
The composition of the trail has changed a lot in the last 100 miles or so. Before, there were stretches of somewhat flat trail, with some soft footing. When the trail climbed or descended, it was at least somewhat gentle. There might be some rocks, but they were always arranged in such a way that you could climb them like a staircase. Now, there's a lot of jumping and sliding. I've had to take my pack off a few times b/c it's too difficult to descend while I'm still wearing it. In the last week, I've been averaging one or two falls a day. It's usually on some slick rock that's just a little too steep for my tread-worn shoes to grip, and before I know it, I'm on my back, cursing the trail maintainers. Fun times!
There are a few things that make hiking in the White Mountains different from hiking elsewhere on the trail. Like I mentioned in my last post, the Whites have some pretty hardcore weather, but they also have some exposed ridgeline and some nice views. Another thing that makes the White Mountains different is that the trail goes by a number of pay-to-stay huts. These are essentially rustic hotels set up near the ridgeline. People hike up the side trails and pay anywhere from $40 to more than $100 a night to stay in an enclosed building with running water and hot meals. There's no TV or internet, so the experience is somewhere between real camping and a real hotel. Anyway, these huts take the place of the more traditional (i.e. three walls and a roof) shelters that thru-hikers stay in. Thru-hikers aren't too keen on shelling out that kind of money just to sleep in the mountains. So, as a compromise, the AMC (the organization that maintains the huts and the trails within the White Mountains) has set-up a system where thru-hikers can "work" in exchange for lodging at these huts. They will usually only take the first couple hikers that arrive, and in cases where the weather is especially bad (and there's nowhere safe to camp nearby), they will accept more. It's a pretty good deal for us hikers. Normally, the work is something simple like cleaning dishes or the kitchen and in exchange, you have a warm place to sleep and one or two warm meals.
My first experience with work-for-stay was interesting and hard to top. It was at the first hut that northbounders pass after they've climbed up and over the two Kinsman mountains. Normally, northbounders will zip right past the first hut b/c the next road is the best way to get into Franklin, NH to re-supply on food. In my case, I had already re-supplied at the last road crossing - so, I figured I'd stop by and see if they had any work-for-stay positions available.
Before I had even taken my pack off, there was a hut care-taker (called "croo," they're usually a small group of college students working in the huts for the summer) outside asking if I could work that night. Absolutely, I said. "Cool. Just wait out here until the pay guests have finished their dinner and then you can come in and chow-down on the left-overs." After the guests had finished their meals, I was invited in and given pasta, salad and cake - and some beer to wash it all down. Delicious and much-appreciated! As I was stuffing myself with all of this, they told me what the situation was. Normally, they'd have me do dishes or something, but they were more or less already taken care of. Instead, how would I feel about dressing-up as a beaver and having little kids hose me down with water guns. Interesting. Sure, why not.
At the appointed time, one of the croo gave a presentation about beavers for all of the guests. Beavers have big teeth for chipping away at trees. Beavers have big, broad tails that they use to slap the water when frightened. Beavers have water-proof fur. That sort of thing... Then, to demonstrate all of these qualities, the croo-lady had me don some buck-teeth made of paper, a sweater to represent the fur, a canoe paddle to represent the tail and a transparent poncho to represent the water-proof-ness of the fur. And the grand-finale of this demo was giving a bunch of enthusiastic kids super-soakers so that they could test just how water-proof my "fur" was. Turns out the poncho didn't quite cover the bottoms of my pants. Where do you think those little brats aimed at? Yup.
So, yeah, that was fun. The work as silly and different, I got some good food and good beer and later that evening (after the guests had gone to sleep) the croo got together in their bunk room and played music for a couple hours. Everyone there played some sort of instrument: guitar, ukelele, banjo, fiddle. Great way to finish an otherwise rough day.
The rest of the week has gone by pretty quickly. I got pretty lucky with the weather. Too many hikers get to Mt Washington and can't see anything b/c the top of the mountain is in a cloud, but I had great views when I was there. I ran into rain a couple of times and hit some strong winds along some of the ridgelines, but for the most-part I was super lucky with the weather. The one downside to having good visibility along the ridgelines is that I've got a pretty bad sunburn now. Yuck!
On the gear front, I've had some pretty bad luck recently. On my first day in the Whites, I fell and landed on one of my trekking poles and now it's slightly bent. And then another day, my last remaining water bag broke. So, now when I want to filter my water I have to simultaneously squeeze the bag and the spot where it's leaking.
This post had been a bit wordy, so if you made it all the way down here, that's cool. During the presentation, I learned something about beavers that I didn't know. According to the girl doing the presentation, 12000 years ago there was a species of beaver that weighed 800 lbs. Wouldn't want to come across one of those guys... Thanks for reading.
My week got off to a pretty good start as I was leaving Frankin, NH. I was at a breakfast diner last Thursday, eating with a couple other thru-hikers. I came into town via Kinsman Notch, but most of the other hikers had come into town via Franconia Notch - which was another 15 miles or so ahead of where I had gotten off of the trail. The other hikers were waiting for a shuttle to take them back to the trail, and when it arrived, they paid their bills and took off - leaving me there by myself. I took my time and enjoyed my meal. I was in no hurry since I was planning on hitchhiking back to my notch. When it came time to pay my bill, the waitress informed me that it had already been taken care of by a group that had been at one of the other tables. Unfortunately, they had already left, so I didn't have the chance to thank them. What a great surprise! Once I get off the trail and have income again, I'm going to have to make sure I pay it forward.
After that, I walked down the road for a mile or two before I got to a part of the road that takes me to where I got off of the trail. I set my pack down and stick out my thumb and I've got a ride within five minutes. That's a record for me, I think. I get back to the trail and start hiking, and I quickly find out just how hard the White Mtns really are. The rumors are true! Even with a belly full of delicious and (somewhat) nutritious food, I am pooped within a few hrs.
The composition of the trail has changed a lot in the last 100 miles or so. Before, there were stretches of somewhat flat trail, with some soft footing. When the trail climbed or descended, it was at least somewhat gentle. There might be some rocks, but they were always arranged in such a way that you could climb them like a staircase. Now, there's a lot of jumping and sliding. I've had to take my pack off a few times b/c it's too difficult to descend while I'm still wearing it. In the last week, I've been averaging one or two falls a day. It's usually on some slick rock that's just a little too steep for my tread-worn shoes to grip, and before I know it, I'm on my back, cursing the trail maintainers. Fun times!
There are a few things that make hiking in the White Mountains different from hiking elsewhere on the trail. Like I mentioned in my last post, the Whites have some pretty hardcore weather, but they also have some exposed ridgeline and some nice views. Another thing that makes the White Mountains different is that the trail goes by a number of pay-to-stay huts. These are essentially rustic hotels set up near the ridgeline. People hike up the side trails and pay anywhere from $40 to more than $100 a night to stay in an enclosed building with running water and hot meals. There's no TV or internet, so the experience is somewhere between real camping and a real hotel. Anyway, these huts take the place of the more traditional (i.e. three walls and a roof) shelters that thru-hikers stay in. Thru-hikers aren't too keen on shelling out that kind of money just to sleep in the mountains. So, as a compromise, the AMC (the organization that maintains the huts and the trails within the White Mountains) has set-up a system where thru-hikers can "work" in exchange for lodging at these huts. They will usually only take the first couple hikers that arrive, and in cases where the weather is especially bad (and there's nowhere safe to camp nearby), they will accept more. It's a pretty good deal for us hikers. Normally, the work is something simple like cleaning dishes or the kitchen and in exchange, you have a warm place to sleep and one or two warm meals.
My first experience with work-for-stay was interesting and hard to top. It was at the first hut that northbounders pass after they've climbed up and over the two Kinsman mountains. Normally, northbounders will zip right past the first hut b/c the next road is the best way to get into Franklin, NH to re-supply on food. In my case, I had already re-supplied at the last road crossing - so, I figured I'd stop by and see if they had any work-for-stay positions available.
Before I had even taken my pack off, there was a hut care-taker (called "croo," they're usually a small group of college students working in the huts for the summer) outside asking if I could work that night. Absolutely, I said. "Cool. Just wait out here until the pay guests have finished their dinner and then you can come in and chow-down on the left-overs." After the guests had finished their meals, I was invited in and given pasta, salad and cake - and some beer to wash it all down. Delicious and much-appreciated! As I was stuffing myself with all of this, they told me what the situation was. Normally, they'd have me do dishes or something, but they were more or less already taken care of. Instead, how would I feel about dressing-up as a beaver and having little kids hose me down with water guns. Interesting. Sure, why not.
At the appointed time, one of the croo gave a presentation about beavers for all of the guests. Beavers have big teeth for chipping away at trees. Beavers have big, broad tails that they use to slap the water when frightened. Beavers have water-proof fur. That sort of thing... Then, to demonstrate all of these qualities, the croo-lady had me don some buck-teeth made of paper, a sweater to represent the fur, a canoe paddle to represent the tail and a transparent poncho to represent the water-proof-ness of the fur. And the grand-finale of this demo was giving a bunch of enthusiastic kids super-soakers so that they could test just how water-proof my "fur" was. Turns out the poncho didn't quite cover the bottoms of my pants. Where do you think those little brats aimed at? Yup.
So, yeah, that was fun. The work as silly and different, I got some good food and good beer and later that evening (after the guests had gone to sleep) the croo got together in their bunk room and played music for a couple hours. Everyone there played some sort of instrument: guitar, ukelele, banjo, fiddle. Great way to finish an otherwise rough day.
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| From AT 2012 |
The rest of the week has gone by pretty quickly. I got pretty lucky with the weather. Too many hikers get to Mt Washington and can't see anything b/c the top of the mountain is in a cloud, but I had great views when I was there. I ran into rain a couple of times and hit some strong winds along some of the ridgelines, but for the most-part I was super lucky with the weather. The one downside to having good visibility along the ridgelines is that I've got a pretty bad sunburn now. Yuck!
On the gear front, I've had some pretty bad luck recently. On my first day in the Whites, I fell and landed on one of my trekking poles and now it's slightly bent. And then another day, my last remaining water bag broke. So, now when I want to filter my water I have to simultaneously squeeze the bag and the spot where it's leaking.
This post had been a bit wordy, so if you made it all the way down here, that's cool. During the presentation, I learned something about beavers that I didn't know. According to the girl doing the presentation, 12000 years ago there was a species of beaver that weighed 800 lbs. Wouldn't want to come across one of those guys... Thanks for reading.
Very cool experience and a great read!
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