Begin: Day 77 (Saturday, July 6) Lincoln, NH
End: Day 81 (Wednesday , July 10) Carroll, NH
Biggest Trail Miles in a day this period: 10.4
Total Trail Miles Hiked: 825.3
Our hiking photos by state:
Photos corresponding to this week’s post can be found in the NH folder.
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Day 77 - Saturday 7/6
Start: Flume Gorge, NH - 1824.2
End: Liberty Springs campsite - 1826.7
Miles: 2.5
Ascent: 2478
Sleep: Tent
Since the previous day was a 17-mile day, we decided to leave a little late from the Notch Hostel and made a very short hike up to Liberty Springs Campsite. We took the Notch Hostel shuttle to the Flume Gorge Visitor Center, and began our short, but very steep ascent to stage for tomorrow’s hike of the Franconia Ridge.
Lemonade and I are both feeling pretty tired. It could be that I have lost 13 pounds and Lemonade has lost eight, so we really need to watch our food intake.
As a sidenote, we hit 800 miles today.
Day 78 - Sunday 7/7
Start: Liberty Springs campsite - 1826.7
End: Galehead Hut - 1837.1
Miles: 10.4
Ascent: 3642 | Descent: 3773
Sleep: Building
Even though we did only a little over 10 miles, today was a very difficult day. The White Mountains have slowed our pace down considerably due to the terrain with the very, very rocky ups and the rocky downs. For the next 50 miles or so we are just going to have to realize we’re only gonna get about 10 miles a day.
Unfortunately, I woke up with a sore throat this morning so I think I am getting a cold. That is probably the reason today’s hike was extra difficult for me.
The first mountain of Franconia Ridge we hiked over was Little Haystack Mountain. It was very sunny and the views were stunning since it was above tree line and we got a full 360° view of the surrounding mountains. Next we hiked over Mount Lincoln and Mount Lafayette, which was our highest point of the day of 5246 feet above sea level.
The hiking became much more technical as we came down Lafayette and started to hike Mount Garfield. We had to descend down a very, very steep boulder waterfall, which was actually part of the trail. We probably were averaging about a half a mile an hour for a couple hours due to the boulder hopping and sliding.
Since I was feeling sick and I wanted to hike to be over with, I went ahead of Lemonade and quickly went to our stopping point which was an AMC hut called Galehead Hut. I arrived about 4:45 PM and Lemonade came in around 6 PM just in time for the dinner service.
As an aside, AMC huts are are full service remote huts/bunkhouses scattered throughout the White Mountains in New Hampshire. They are open to all hikers to visit, but are not free, nor inexpensive. Dinner and breakfast are always included. We found the food to be plentiful and very good. Many huts sell a bowl of soup and bread for lunch for anyone passing through.
If on a budget, each hut offers a “work for stay” to a couple of thru hikers. What that entails is allowing a thru hiker to eat leftovers and sleep on the floor of the hut if they work 2 hours after dinner is served to the paying guests. We will be glad to do a Work For Stay sometime, but would feel bad if we took away the opportunity from someone hiking on a very tight budget.
Day 79 - Monday, July 8
Start: Galehead Hut - 1837.1
End: Zealand Falls Hut- 1844.1
Miles: 7.0
Ascent: 1705 | Descent: 2868
Sleep: Building
I woke up still sick and unfortunately, Lemonade had started to get sick also. Having said this, we wanted to get some miles under our belt so we had a large breakfast at the AMC hut and started hiking at 8 AM.
The hiking was very slow and technical with steep up and steep downs, and around 2 PM We had only hiked 7 miles. At that point we reached the next AMC hut called the Zealand Falls hut. Lemonade at this point had become very fatigued as this cold has also gotten a hold of her too, and we decided to call it a day and spend another night in an AMC hut to rest and to eat some more.
Lemonade napped for about an hour in her bunk, and then we strolled to the waterfalls to sit and soak our feet. After dinner, we were both in our bunks by 8 PM due to whatever we had going on in our system. Quiet time at the hut didn’t start until 930 so the guests were making quite the noise (socializing, playing games, etc) around the hut until that point and then it got very quiet. It sounded like a lot of fun, and it would be something we would’ve wanted to participate in if we hadn’t felt so tired and sick.
Day 80- Tuesday, July 9
Start: Zealand Falls Hit - 1844.1
End: US 302 - 1851.8
Miles: 7.7
Ascent: 555 | Descent: 1895
Sleep: Building
We both woke up still feeling sick but we needed to get down the mountain to do some reprovisioning. Luckily this hike was much much easier, but due to our malady it still was quite slow. We reached US 302 around 12:30 PM and waited for a shuttle to take us to the AMC Highland Center. Luckily some more hikers came along and offered a ride to the center so we didn’t have to pay $40 for a shuttle.
In addition to provisioning, we are trying to stage ourselves for the highest ascent in the White Mountains in the next couple days and going up Mount Washington while significant weather is coming through is not something you really want to do. Our goal was to get a room at the Highland Center to try to shake our colds and to hunker down since significant weather from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl were forecasted.
Unfortunately they did not have any vacancies at the lodge, but we did eat lunch there. During our lunch we found a cheap roadside motel nearby in Carroll, New Hampshire. While we were trying to find a shuttle service to get us there, a hiker from the huts we stayed at, Brian from Connecticut, also stopped in for lunch. He heard of our predicament and gave us a ride to our little motel.
Day 81- Wednesday July 10
Big fat zero in Caroll, NH
Miles: 0
Ascent: 0| Descent: 0
Sleep: Building
Lemonade and I woke up somewhat on the mend this morning, but still feeling pretty sluggish. We decided to take a zero day in Carroll, New Hampshire to rest, reprovision and wait out some bad weather. There are not laundry facilities nearby, so Lemonade and I washed a few key items in the sink and dried them off in front of the A/C. We still have a few more days before we will get to wash all of our clothes in Gorham, New Hampshire so hopefully we won’t offend too many people in the next few days. At least we can take multiple showers.
Right now, the tentative plan is to hike up and over Mount Washington on Saturday, July 13 and be mostly through the hard part of the White Mountains by next Monday or Tuesday.
Also, you might’ve noticed this post only covered five days. This is because will be going into a very remote stretch of the trail and expect that we will not have any cell reception for several days (we have found most places of the AT in NH to have little cell service). So we went ahead and scheduled a post to end a little bit earlier than normal.
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