Begin: Day 82 (Thursday, July 11) Carroll, NH
End: Day 86 (Monday, July 15) Gorham, NH
Biggest Trail Miles in a day this period: 7.8
Total Trail Miles Hiked: 851.3
Our hiking photos by state:
Photos corresponding to this week’s post can be found in the NH folder.
Day 82- Thursday, 7/11
Start: US 302, NH - 1851.8
End: Mizpah Hut - 1858.2
Miles: 6.4
Ascent: 3224 | Descent: 690
Sleep: Building
After a day off for recovering from our head colds and waiting out bad weather it was time for us to begin the Presidential Range of the White Mountains. I woke up with a still very congested head, and I was nervous about the day’s hike. At least the rain had ended before our shuttle driver dropped us off at the trailhead.
It turns out that I really enjoyed the hike up Mt. Webster. There must be something about tackling a difficult climb first thing in the morning and not having a time schedule for the day. I found myself in a good frame of mind, and it was actually fun maneuvering the rock scrambles.
Although fun, it was a very slow hike. The first 3.4 miles to the top of Mt. Webster (elev. 3,893’) took four hours to cover. The views on the way up were incredible, but what made it tough were the vertical climbs. The remaining three miles, which included summiting Mt. Jackson (elev. 4,034’), took three hours. Since we did not stop to rest at all, my speed started to slowdown as we got closer to the next hut. We suspect that our head colds have us still run down, so we called it a day at the Mizpah Hut (it also could have something to do with 3,200’ gain of n 6.4 miles). I think we might actually be able to gain some weight with all of these giant meals and lower miles.
Day 83- Friday, 7/12
Start: Mizpah Hut - 1858.2
End: Mt. Washington - 1864.5
Miles: 6.3
Ascent: 3047 | Descent: 1828
Sleep: Building
After filling up on another hut breakfast we headed up to the summit of Mt. Pierce (elev. 4,291’). My head was still congested, but overall feel I may be improving. Once over the summit we were above the tree line the rest of the day. The weather consisted of clouds blowing across the Presidential Range ridge-line with occasional moments of sunshine. As we continued our ascent the cloud coverage dominated, fogging everything in. In fact, we could not see the next hut, Lake of the Clouds, until we were close to it.
Inside the hut we ate free leftovers from their breakfast meal, which was the same thing we ate at the Mizpah Hut. Since the day was still early we decided to hike on up to the Mt. Washington summit (elev. 6,288’), leaving most of our gear at the hut. The trip up and back was about three miles. It was nice to climb up without our full packs. Doing this today would allow us skip the summit in the morning cutting at least an hour of tomorrow’s hike.
The weather cooperated and although very foggy, we did not have to deal with thunderstorms or extreme winds, both of which are common on the summit. We took photos at the summit sign, wandered around, and signed the hiker’s log book. It was really neat to recognize a lot of the names in the log. I aslo saw a lot of entries from those hiking the AT soutbound.
Once we hiked back to the Lake of the Clouds Hut we completed a total of 7.6 miles for the day.
Day 84- Saturday, 7/13
Start: Mt. Washington - 1864.5
End: Madison Hut - 1870.0
Miles: 5.5
Ascent: 2217 | Descent: 2420
Sleep: Building
Another good weather day, with lessoning cold symptoms. The entire hike today was above tree line, and mostly along the ridges. There was a lot of cloud cover in the morning. As the day passed, the winds picked up and the clouds would occasionally break up enough to give us magnificent views of the valleys below us. It appears that a majority of The Whites has been protected from development because we were able to see valleys and mountains for miles and miles around us that appeared to be nearly untouched.
The trail was very rocky with a lot of boulder scrambling, but did not include any summits. We made only a mile per hour and reached the next hut much later than we expected. Trail reviews indicated that it would take at least four hours to cover the three miles beyond the hut to the next campground. So, after my second big fall of the day, Trail Horse felt we should call it a day at the hut instead of doing the difficult remaining three miles to a campsite.
Day 85- Sunday, 7/14
Start: Madison Hut - 1870.0
End: Pinkham Notch, NH - 1877.8
Miles: 7.8
Ascent: 1357 | Descent: 4147
Sleep: Building
Another crawl through the Presidential Range. It started with a steep climb up Mt. Madison (elev. 5,347’) for some spectacular views on the breezy summit. Then the very slow rock scramble down the mountain for a mile and a half, which was followed by a steep 1.5 mile, bouldery descent below the treeline. That first three miles took us nearly five hours. Then it took me only three hours to cover the remaining five miles.
We caught a shuttle to a hostel in a nearby town (Gorham, NH). Here we will do laundry, pick up a package, and rest some soreness from trips and falls.
Day 86- Monday, 7/15
Zero Day
We took today off for a few reasons. For one, we had a desperate need to do laundry as it had been 11 days since our last load at The Notch Hostel, and several of us found their laundry service to be a little lacking (did they even use soap?). Also both of our cell phones and our charging bank were close to being fully depleted. Then there is the usual need to buy more food for the trail ahead. Plus a rest day may help with getting rid of the last of my cold symptoms and to rest a new ache in my achilles.
Today happened to be six weeks from the last time we treated our gear with permethrin, a chemical spray used to help reduce the chances of getting tick bites. It turns out that someone had left a bottle of permethrin in the hiker exchange box here at the hostel so we were easily able to treat our tent, backpacks, shoes, and any clothing we have purchased after starting the hike.
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