Hut to Hut in the beautiful Whites

So I am currently updating this blog from Gorham, NH which is the last major town in New Hampshire as well as the northern border of the White Mountian National Forest. The whites (as they're called) are known as the hardest section of the trail; many say that north bounders still have half the work of the trail to do even though there are only a few hundred miles left. So needless to say I am very glad to have them behind me. That being said, the whites were far and above the most beautiful section of trail. Every hard climb is rewarded with gorgeous mountains that look like they could be the back drop for a movie. I keep feeling like Frodo or Bilbo on an epic journey as I hike these mountains. New Hampshire quickly rocketed to first place as my favorite state on the trail, and I cannot help but feel like a huge chunk of my hike has passed me by. At the same time, being in Gorham (the last town in NH) means I am only 17 mile from Maine....the last border crossing. All through the trip when wide eyed day-hikers have asked me how far I am going, my answer has been "to Maine". Now I'm there. Less then 300 miles to go. Over and over again I have heard people say New Hampshire and Maine were their favorite states so my expectations are high. 

By far my favorite day on the trail is now the day we walked Franconia Ridge. The day started with one of our steepest and longest climbs yet. Two and a half miles and nearly 3000 ft gain in elevation. When I reached the top the ridge stretched out to the north punctuated by several peaks, all above tree line. The day was perfect, a little too warm in the valley, but nice and cool on the mountain tops, and barely a cloud in the sky. I posted a picture of Easy Rider walking in front of me on my Instagram if you want an idea of what it looked like. That night we stopped at Galehead Hut and do "work for stay" for a warm place to sleep and hot meal. 

The AT in the White Mountains are maintained by the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), one of the oldest hiking organizations in the country. Throughout the whites the AMC maintains the "High Huts" or just huts. Each hut is kind of like a full service hotel for hikers; they offer bunks, meals and bathrooms for those willing to pay the steep price and get on the reservation list. These huts are truely in the wilderness; there are no roads to them. They were initially built via helicopter and are now completely resupplied by the staff (called the croo) bringing everything in on their backs. Several times a week croo members make the climb, up several miles and thousands of feet in elevation to provide a meal for the guests. These also means that all the food has to be eaten and there can be no trash because otherwise the croo would have to carry it back down as well. All the huts have limited electricity from both solar and wind, and running water from wells dug deep into the mountains. The huts, especially the two way above treeline in the presidential range (Lake of the Clouds and Madison Spring Hut) also provide important emergency shelters for when the weather turns bad on the mountains. The presidential range, including the famous Mt. Washington, is renowned for its bad weather. A simple storm in the valley can be extremely dangerous on the Presidential Range. There are no trees for more then 20 miles on the presidents; this brings the two problems of extreme wind (Mt. Washington has the record for the highest surface wind speed observed by man) and no place to camp. The AMC huts also provide a service for thru hikers called "work for stay" basically the deal is a small group of thru hikers, usually 2-4, are allowed to sleep on the floor in the dining room and eat dinner with the croo. In exchange the croo has the hikers do some chores around the hut. Most huts will only except work for stay hikers between 4 and 7 o'clock, so there is often an interesting game played among hikers of timing the huts just right. Since everything that isn't eaten has to be packed out, there are often left overs available to thru hikers as well.

During my trek through the whites I went to all of the huts expect for one. In order from South to North, the huts are: Lonsome Lake, Green-Leaf, Galehead, Zealand Falls, Mitzpah, Lake of the Clouds, Madison Spring, and Carter Notch. I got pancakes at Lonsome Lake, Zealand Falls and Madison Spring. I missed Green-Leaf hut because it was a mile downhill off the AT, and just got water at Mitzpah. Galehead was just after Franconia Ridge and in exchange for doing TONs of dishes we slept on the benches in the dining room. I got to Carter notch late after a long 20 mile day (this used to be a normal day but in the rugged terrain of the whites it was on the hardest days yet) but was able to sweep up the dining room and sleep on the benches again. The day I started into the Presidential Range there was a storm with " damaging winds, large hail and frequent lightning" predicted for the area. Luckily when we got the Lake of the Clouds hut around 3:30 (typically too early for work for stay), they knew of the bad weather and didn't turn us away. I strung up my hammock in the dining room in exchange for doing a question and answer session with the other guests of the hut. Between the huts and some awesome trail magic from Mama and Papa Chef (Iron Chef's parents) in the form of a ride to town and BBQ, Ice Cream and Breakfast (thanks again guys), we only had to camp in the cold mountains a few times.

We've also been seeing more and more South-Bound through hikers. One night at a shelter just into the whites, there were more then 10 of them there. We told them about the 1800 miles ahead of them and they terrified us with stories of the whites ahead of us. Having since gone through those whites it has made me reflect of the different types of challenges of the trail. Here in the whites the challenge is physical; there are steep uphills and dangerous slippery downhills. But everything is also rewarded with beautiful vista, huge expanses of pine and birch forests and crystal clear water. Back in the Mid Atlantic States the challenge was much more mental. The terrain was relatively easy but that just meant doing more miles and spending more time walking. The forests in the Mid-Atlantic states are lovely but they don't have the same views or feeling of expanse as in New Hampshire or Vermont. It's kind of like having a job that you love and working really hard at it compared to a job that isn't that hard and is really kind of boring. 

I am only 298 miles from the peak of Mt. Katahdin and I feel like I can almost see the finish line. While I love being in these beautiful mountains, I am getting weary. I often dread having to wake up in the morning and hike again. Its not that I am starting to hate hiking, but I am ready to be done already. I may make another post before the end but more likely I will just do one at home to wrap things up. Tomorrow I will finally be in Maine!!!!!

Don't Worry I'm not dead...just all the way in vermont.

Hey everybody! If anyone still reads this.... the good news is I'm not dead, and I haven't quit the trail; I just haven't updated this in a really long time. My last update I believe I was in West Virginia, well now I am halfway through Vermont and a TON has happened. I have a few good excuses: Battery power for my phone is like gold on the trail, listening to music/podcasts are sometimes necessary to get those last few miles in and I always need to keep some in case of emergency.  Blogging on my phone is battery intensive which means I really only want to do it when I am in town and have access to an outlet. When I'm in town though there's a million and 1 things to do to make sure I have everything ready for the trail again; laundry needs to be done, showers need to be had, dinner of course, and then an early(ish) bed time. The hard truth of the matter though is that while I like updating all my friends and family to my adventure, blogging really feels like a chore to me. So for the most part I think I will be done blogging. There may be one or two more posts but I am also really getting down to crunch time and consequently there may not be many (or any) more zero days. However, as a consolation prize I have started an instagram account for posting AT pictures. I know the pictures are alot of peoples favorite part and it will be easier for me to post these from my phone with little detriment to my battery. So if you like you can follow me (or whatever the instagram vernacular is) at rocky_at_2014.  By the way, it was brought to my attention recently that I haven't mention my trail name yet: Rocky, because Pennsylvania is infamous on the trail as being the Rockiest section. Also if you would like some writing, Sparky has been hiking with me for all but a few days on the trail and most of our experiences coincide, you can find here blog Here on the appalachian trials website.Sparky writes for an actual website so its much better writing, hope you enjoy it!

Right now on the trail I am at Killington Vermont, mile 1697, meaning I have less then 500 miles to go. Actually though we are taking a zero-day at our friend Spark's parents house in Burlington VT, have been picked up from the awesome Inn at the Long Trail in Killington yesterday afternoon. Since my last post I have passed through 6 different states: Maryland, Pennsylvania(HOME!), New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. There are only 50 miles left in Vermont and then two more states, the challenging but beautiful New Hampshire and Maine.

Ever since leaving Virginia the trail has felt less and less wild. The long ridges of Pennsylvania have very few views making you think your deep in the woods, but when it opens up there are clear views of farms and towns. Not that this isn't very picturesque, but it is definitely a different feel from the endless mountains of the south. Pennsylvania also has loads of towns right near the trail. This combined with the fact that we had some awesome slackpacking trail magic from Iron Chef's dad (Papa Chef), led to a little too much fun in this state. Slackpacking is when you either leave your pack at a location and get driven back there after hiking all day, or have your pack driven to where to hike to at the end of the day. Papa chef slackpacked us for two days(which was AWESOME), and we also spent two days visiting my family. In addition we were able to stop in towns and stay at hostels or hotels many times (often lured in a by a few drinks and the bar, and kept there by a few more drinks at the bar). One particular town of note was Palmerton. The town is only a mile or so from the trail and gets quite a few hikers every year. To accommodate them the old jail house is set up as a bunkroom with showers for hikers to stay in.

The next state New Jersey was really an unexpected treat. While the foot crushing rocks of PA didn't completely stop, they definitely weren't as bad, and the terrain remained relatively easy and there were some surprisingly beautiful views.  The trail also passes through some great state parks with lakes for swimming. These things combined made New Jersey one of my favorite states on the trail so far.

New York. I hated New York, or the first half of it anyway. The terrain gets suddenly extremely difficult but instead of long challenging mountains leading to great views, there are steep ups and down over and over again. On top of that the bugs suddenly went out of control. Ironically one of the best parts of New York was our excursion into the Big Apple. Two of our trail friends Ferris, and Easy Rider, had a common birthday. Since Ferris had lived in NYC during college we decided to hop on a train and head into the city to celebrate. The last few days in New York weren't nearly as challenging. In addition little deli's stocked with Boars Head lunch meat sandwich started popping up everywhere which led to what a lot of thru hikers affectionately called deli-blazing or food blazing.

After New York we finally entered the New England states. Connecticut was really short, I think I only spent two or three days there and not much was different from the last part of New York. We had heard a few horror stories of people from CT being not to friendly to hikes. However, I am happy to say that was not my experience at all. I stopped in two towns, Kent and Falls Village. In Kent I was greeted immediately by a local store owner who let hikers camp in his back yard and take a shower (really just a hose behind currents but to hikers this is glorious). At this time I was separated from my trail friends but was able to find a few hikers at the local sports bar in time to see the entire America v. Belgium world cup game. The days in CT were also terribly hot, temperatures reached the upper 90's and the humidity was near 100%. In the middle of the day I was often so sweaty that I couldn't use my phone; the screen was wet with sweat and there was not a single dry spot on my clothing to dry it off on. The day I went into Falls Village a terrible storm came through with possible tornadoes. I practically ran down the mountain so I wouldn't have to struggle with downhill wet rocks (some of the hardest terrain). I got down just before the rain and waited out the initial under a bridge and munched on junk food from my bag...one of several times I have felt like a hobo on this trip. After the rain I crawled out and started the 1.5 mile road walk into town (the is often on roads for a little while especially when crossing rivers). On the walk a state trooper pulled me over and offered me a ride into town, mentioning that the storm was about to get really bad. He dropped me off a another local business, Toymakers Cafe, who lets hikers hang out and camp in his back yard. When I got there several other hikers were already on the porch waiting out the storm(the cafe was closed). As the storm worsened the shop owner who lives upstairs came down and unlocked the store so we could wait it out inside. We ordered a pizza and when the storm passed set up camp out back. That night two of my good friends from home Dan Coll and Dan Luczka met me at the cafe (actually they got there so late due to traffic that they just slept in the van and I didn't see them until morning.)

Dan and Dan hiked with me for the next couple of days and crossed the border with me into Massachusetts. We spent the night at a shelter on top of a mountain with the trees cleared in front for a great view of the next ridge and valley. Another huge storm rolled through and we had a great time watching the lightning and hail from the safety of the shelter which we had all to ourselves. The next day was tough to begin with, as they included what locals affectionately call the "mini whites" due to the good views and difficult terrain. On top of that we had heavy rain all day long and the trail was quite literally a stream. Some sections of the trail that included sharp rock climbs looked exactly like water falls. We also had to ford a river, the swollen water reached passed my waist at one point and was actually a little scary. That day would have been much more miserable had it not been for Dan and Dan who kept the lighthearted conversation going and cranked out pretty good mileage. Thanks Guys! I left them and did a few more miles and was able to rejoin with my trail friends after nearly a week apart. Iron Chef who had left the group way back in Pennsylvania(after the rest of the group took and unplanned zero)  had caught some sort of stomach bug and was in the hospital in Great Barrington MA, he is fine now but just needed some fluids and rest. We all met there and the next day sparkys mom and aunt came down from VT and did some awesome trail magic (beer and lunch) and slackpacked us so we could stay in Great Barrington another day. We soon climbed Mt. Greylock (the tallest peak in MA) and finished out the state.

We finally made it to Vermont, where two of my trail friends chef and sparky are from. By now we are back in really mountainous areas and it feels good to climb and mountain and get a view of actual wilderness again. They call the mountains in Vermont the Green Mountains and it is definitely fitting. Everywhere you look there seems to be 100 different shades of green. Our first day into Vermont we spent the night in Bennington and made up our own Trail Challenge. We all love the movie super troopers and quote it often on the trail. The movie is set in Vermont and there is a scene where the characters chug maple syrup. So when we got into Bennington we immediately bought some good beer and real Vermont maple syrup. 1600 miles, 16 fl oz, 1600 calories. I felt terrible the rest of the day but it was totally worth it! The people all over vermont have been extremely friendly and this combined with the awesome views are quickly making this my favorite state of the trail. My only complaint is the aweful mud which is unavoidable on most of the trail in this state.  I will be back on the trail tomorrow and hopefully finish out Vermont in a couple of days.

Sorry about the increasing detail as I go on but it is what I most vividly remember. I will try and make at least one post for each New Hampshire and Maine, especially as these are supposed to be the most breathtaking states on the trip.

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Sparky's blog: http://www.appalachiantrials.com/author/ellie-b/