Franconia Ridge

One question we were asked quite a few times over the week was how 2 young people from Kansas ended up hiking the New Hampshire huts.  I (Alex) have read several books about the Appalachian Trail during college and one day in the USA Today’s travel section there was an article about the huts in the White Mountains and the college students who work in them.  I was enthralled by the idea of being able to hike for several days and staying in these huts each night—no camping and meals are provided.  It sounded like a perfect way to enjoy the outdoors.  I put the idea of a Hut to Hut hike on my bucket list for “someday”.  Fast-forward a few years to this past fall.  We were interested in hiking the Grand Canyon but couldn’t get reservations even about a year in advance.  One night we were tossing out possible hiking vacations and I thought doing a few of the huts might be fun.  After a few Google searches I came across a group hike of the hut-to-hut hike on an eight day backpacking trip.  This sounded perfect because then we would be able to hike with people who knew the area and also had experience with backpacking since we had neither.  

The AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club)  runs a system of 8 backcountry huts in the White Mountains.  It is designed so that the huts are about a day’s hike, 6-8 miles apart.  Depending on the hut, it sleeps between 40-90 people.  This year reservations for staying a night in the hut had to be made 6 months in advance and they were full each night.  A group of 4-5 college students are the “croo” for each one.  Their responsibilities include cooking the meals, providing educational presentations, and packing supplies in and out.  Since the huts are in the backcountry they are off the grid.  They run on solar and wind power and have composting toilets.  Helicopters bring in propane and dry goods once or twice a year and haul off the composted waste.  Any food and trash is carried in and out by the college staff twice a week 2-4 miles on rocky trails.  Their loads are up to 100 pounds.  In each hut there are bunk rooms with bunks stacked 3 or 4 high. There is a small kitchen, a small room for the Croo, and three of four tables with benches for the dining area.  All day people are in and out getting fresh water or getting soup or snacks.  Each hut had a few bookshelves for a library and board games.   The library was one of my favorite stops each night.  Most of the books were trail guides, nature books, and all the guest logs from the past 50 years.  I could usually find a few books with short essays about hiking which I enjoyed.  It was nice that each hut had basically the same books so I could start one and then continue reading at the next hut.  The oldest hut, Madison Springs, was built in 1888, Lake of the Clouds is celebrating 100 years this year, and the newest hut, Mizpah Springs, boasts iconic 1960s architecture.  The Croo does skits each morning about how to fold your blanket and pack out your own trash.  They also usually present some type of educational program in the evenings too.  One tradition for AMC Hut Croos are raiding parties.  Each hut has different pieces of memorabilia—street signs, statues, etc—and the different croos will hike to different huts in the dark of night to “raid”.  One of the most coveted items is a long rowing oar.  We can't really imagine hiking the same trails we did in the dark trying to carry an 8ft long piece of wood.  At each meal the Croo told the same quirky jokes that are tradition in the Huts. (These got a little old by the 5th night we heard them.)  Regardless of the quirky jokes and skits, staying in the huts was a once in a lifetime experience.

One the first day of actual hiking we woke up at Pinkham Notch and joined the group at the breakfast buffet and once again indulged in a plenteous cornucopia of food.  Shortly thereafter we boarded buses to take us to our various starting points for the day. Four different starting locations were offered, each with varying degrees of difficulty. Alex and I (switched writers again) opted for one of the more challenging hikes and one that is considered a classic in the White Mountain hiking circles- The Falling Waters trail and Franconia Ridge.  We took off with a group of 10 others and began hiking in some of the most beautiful country either of us had experienced.  It wasn’t long before we saw our first waterfall (hence the name of the trail) and it wasn’t long before we discovered that what counted as a trail in New Hampshire wasn’t the same as our home state.  The trail took us through several water crossings and included scrambling over rocks requiring the use of both hands and feet.  For our young and enthusiastic selves the novelty of these trails only heightened the sense of adventure.  For others the way was more difficult but everyone in the group had a great attitude which continued throughout the entire trip.  The great attitude didn’t waver even with our first 1000 foot climb.  We rose above tree line and summited Little Haystack, our first 4000 footer.  It is hard to describe the feelings of seeing such a mountain range as the Whites in New Hampshire finally laid out before us, mountains stretching into the horizon until their forms were blued by the atmosphere.  As a child going to Colorado I remember the sensation of first seeing the mountains as we drove on interstate.   That feeling hardly compares to the sense of wonder one feels when one literally climbs out of the trees right onto the face of a majestic mountain. 

We ate lunch in this glorious scene and took time to really soak it in.  Our guide was pleased to inform us that so far we were beating “book time,”  The calculation formulated by the AMC for determining how long a hike should take based on distance and elevation gain. We then headed off across the Francoina Ridge to the peaks of Lincoln, Truman, and Lafayette.  Throughout our hiking experience we would spend an ample amount of time surrounded by trees, which is quite magical.  However, getting above treeline on trails and peaks allows for breath-taking views that could be measured in miles and not just feet; these were therefore always looked forward to with extreme anticipation.   At Lafayette we saw a glider floating around the peak.  We had never seen one that close before and now we have experienced what small prey may feel as a shadow of a hawk suddenly passes overhead.  From the peak of Lafayette we made our first major descent towards Greenleaf Hut.  At Greenleaf Hut we were greeted by the cheers of the other three groups; our hike being the longest, we were the last ones in.  That night we enjoyed a wonderful meal of Moroccan lentil soup (lentils are becoming a fav), pasta shells stuffed with cheese, and cheesecake brownies.  After dinner we went to a scenic overlook about 100 yards from the hut and watched the sunset over the horizon.  It was a wonderful end to an extraordinary day.  Omnia Vincit Amor.

Meeting the Gang

After a restful night sleep we were excited to have the morning to explore the area with no specific schedule until the hike introductory meeting that afternoon.  We ate breakfast the the visitor center dinning room.  We then packed our packs again and set off to do some of the short, easy hikes around the lodge.  It was a beautiful Saturday and everyone and their dog must have decided to come out for a weekend in the Whites.

 The parking lot was full and people were parked along the edge of the highway.  We headed up to Crystal Cascades, some waterfall just up the trail.  In some ways a good name just adds to the mystic of natural areas such as Crystal Cascades, Falling Waters Trail, Lost Pond, or Lake of the Clouds.  These were much more descriptive than A-Z trail or Gibbs' Fall.  Back at the visitors center the astronomers were out with telescopes so we listened to their spiel and looked at the sun and Venus through their telescope.  We then hiked across the highway and took our first steps following the white blazes of the Appalachian Trail (AT).  The trail is marked throughout its entirety with white blazes painted on trees and rocks to point hikers in the right direction.  We crossed a boggy area on plank bridges that looked like a perfect spot for a moose to hang out.  Eventually, after several beaver dams we came to the edge of Lost Pond which was as still as glass.  We decided to pull up a chair on a nice rock along the edge to just enjoy the day.  We listened to the birds and bull frogs and the wind blowing through the trees.

Meandering back, we found a trail up to Square Ledge with a few overlooks on the way.  This trail got rockier and we were trying to decide how it would compare to what the rest of our week would be like.  As we neared Square Ledge the trail got steeper and we saw a group rock climbing up the side of the Square Ledge Cliff.  The trail wrapped around the back of the rock formation like a stair case.  The view from the top of the ledge was impressive.  We looked down over Pinkham Notch and then up to Mount

Washington and the Presidentials in the background.  After marveling at the view for awhile and running into the gals in our group we met the previous night we decided that was enough "elevation" training for us flatlanders and headed back to the visitor center for lunch of soup and sandwiches at the Black Moose Deli.
We had time to kill before the orientation meeting so we found two comfy armchairs in the living room area and settled in with good books and a nice breeze from the window behind us.  After a while others in our group started wandering in so there were introductions and the exchange of small talk.  People shared about what they do for work, but more importantly their best backpacking stories.  We didn't have any stories to trade but it was fun listening to people from the backpacking world interact-- this is a social group we don't see a lot of in Kansas.  They discussed water purification systems, how much their equipment weighs to the ounce, sections of famous trails they had hiked, etc.
Finally it was time for the meeting in the conference rooms.  We hauled our packs in and had our gear checked out.  We listened to advice on safety, making sure to eat and drink regularly, and the importance of preventing blisters.  We picked up our bags of snacks and lunches for the trail.  Finally we had the moment of truth--pack weigh-in.  Women's packs had to be 25 pounds and men were allowed up to 30.  When we left home our packs were between 16-18 pounds which felt relatively light.  But when 4 days of snacks and 3 liters of water is added, the weight jumps significantly.  I got rid of a few items that we had two of and figured I could just share with Arthur.  Mine weighed in at about 26 pounds but since I was young they let it slide.  Arthur's pack was right on.  Following dinner with the group we found some reading material in the library.
That evening the educational presentation was on moose.  I naturally insisted that we go since 1. it was educational, and 2. it was about moose.  Moose are my favorite animal.  On one of our early dates Arthur asked me to describe my favorite animal--the moose.  It turns out it was a personality test and the attributes a person uses to describe his or her favorite animal is the same attributes they are looking for in a spouse.  It was almost scary how similar Arthur is to a moose.  Here are some interesting facts we learned during the moose presentation.  Moose can eat 40-60 pounds of food each day.  (Quite the appetite just like my husband.)  Most of what they eat is stick and twigs..  Moose scat has the consistency of plywood because of their diets.  Now there is a market for moose poop that is coated in lacquer and sold as earrings or tie tacks.  The largest moose recorded was 7'7" at the shoulder. (Arthur is tall, head and shoulders above most, literally.)  They have also been known to weigh 1800 pounds. They also have huge hearts (another share characteristic with my husband) and long noses so they can reach further underwater.  Their antlers alone can weigh 80 pounds.  From a physical therapy stand point that much weight at the head could cause some significant neck problems and spinal alignment issues.  Maybe this is why they have huge shoulders.  They lose the antlers each year after mating and regrow a new set each year.  Moose/vehicle accidents are an issue in New Hampshire.  After the presentation I picked up a free "Brake for Moose" bumper sticker- one of the only souvenirs from this trip.  While vehicles can be dangerous for moose their populations are being decimated by winter ticks.  The ticks infest the moose by the tens of thousands, eventually killing them.  The Swedish army tried to develop a cavalry division using moose instead of horses since they were more suited to a Northern climate.  They were intelligent and easily trained to be ridden.  However at the first sounds of gunfire they took off for the woods and the project was finished.
That night we curled up in our bunk beds.  I could hardly sleep since I was so excited about moose and the prospect of finally starting the hike.  Omnia Vincit Amor. 

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

All of our luggage- 2 hiking packs and a book bag

Our vacation began in what many would consider an inauspicious, even if completely planned manner: a 3:20 a.m. wake-up call.  We had driven to Kansas City immediately after I (Arthur) had finished work on Thursday (after a day-long audit) and spent the night at the apartment of our recently married friends.  They had graciously volunteered to put us up for the night, drive us to the airport (again, at 3:20 in the morning), keep our car at their apartment complex (saving us parking fees), and pick us up on our return. We have great friends

While inauspicious, everything went as planned; our 6:00 flight to Washington D.C. was followed smoothly by our flight to Boston where our checked bag was waiting for us.  With three hours to kill, we found a nice seafood place at the airport.  I can't say I was particularly impressed with the lobster bisque soup, but we did get some Boston creme pie, a treat which both Alex and I give our hearty approval.

Dinner at the huts

Food was a big part of this trip.  We were either eating, thinking about eating, or craving something delightful.  We tried some adventurous dishes and decided to leave some dishes untouched.  Our traditional guideline with vacations is to avoid chain restaurants or any place that we can eat at near home.  This forces us, mostly me (Alex, sorry to switch writers on you in mid-post) since Arthur is an adventurous eater, to try new dishes.  On the flight Arthur commented that there are few greater pleasures in life than sipping on a Coke while flying.  As mentioned previously we had some time to kill at the airport but still were eager for the Boston experience.  The best way to experience something uniquely local without leaving an airport is the food.  Ordering dessert for us is special and this Boston creme pie tasted especially sweet welcoming us to Bean Town.  Other interesting food included a beet soup which Arthur got a large bowl of thinking the

Lunch on the trail

placard in front of it said beef soup.  He also tried some teriyaki tempeh (a meat substitute from fermented soy) not quite knowing what he was getting into (this is where is adventurous taste can get him in trouble.)  Arthur and I also shared a bowl of butternut squash soup at lunch another day.  Each day the huts served soup with dinner so we tried quite the variety of soups from a corn chowder to Moroccan lentil soup. After being on the trail it was interesting what normal foods became extraordinary like the chocolate chip cookies for dessert after a day of long hiking, a bag of potato chips packed in especially for a treat, a handful of trail mix when energy levels were low, a mid-week panini for lunch in civilization, a slice of pizza and an ice cream bar to celebrate summitting the most iconic mountain in the northeast, and the list could continue.  Our most adventurous dish was at an restaurant in Boston's North End (the Italian District) call Massiminos Cucina Italiana.  We ordered the zuppa di pesce napoletana which consisted of mussels, clams, shrimp, calamari, and swordfish with a light sauce over linguine. As Arthur would say in his best operatic impersonation, it was "Muy delicioso!"

Zuppa di pesce napoletana

Back at Logan International it was then time to board a bus which would take us the rest of the way to Pickham Notch, NH, where we would meet the rest of our hiking party the following day.  The ride was pretty long.  Coming from Kansas, traveling is thought of in terms of distance; our roads are straight and flat with nothing to obstruct your vision for miles.  Its just a given that you'll be able to average a consistent, constant speed and therefore knowing a distance is enough to estimate time.  Those assumptions do not hold in the Northeast.  First off, we were trying to leave Boston on a Friday afternoon, which even some of our less traveled readers might recognize as a less-than-optimal commuter experience.  Secondly, the roads we were on meandered through forest and mountain, and consequently there was never a time where our speed exceeded 45 mph.  The lag wouldn't have been that bad were it not for the seats; someone spent a lot of time and effort designing the seats with a curve that forced your back into an alignment of which medieval torture chambers would boast.

The journey wasn't without excitement, however.  Picturesque scenery flew by us as city gave way to forests, meadows, and mountains.  The small towns we passed had buildings made with a distinctly colonial look.  At one point, we had to brake for a moose (turns out there is one moose for about every two square miles of NH).  We also found out that two women sitting directly ahead of us were also going on the trip, so it was fun getting to know them a little bit.

Finally, we arrived at Pickham Notch, where we would spend the evening, around 9:30.  Needless to say, we were pretty much ready to call it a night, so after checking out the visitor center and getting situated, we went to sleep, excited to see what tomorrow would bring.  Omnia Vincit Amour. 

Vacation Part 1: Broad Overview

Greetings all!

It has been a while since our last post, and for that we apologize.  But fear not, dear reader, we have been adventuring, and adventuring with the intent of sharing these adventures with you.  Over the next several posts, we'll be filling you in on the vacation that has inspired the training hikes that have been the subject of so many previous posts.

In case you have forgotten (or we haven't mentioned, a true possibility) our adventure took us to the Northeast.  After flying in to Boston, we traveled via bus to New Hampshire, where we met up with a group organized by the New Hampshire chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC).  With this group, we hiked along the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, stopping at night at the huts the AMC maintains for hikers along the trail.

After eight wonderful days hiking with wonderful people, we returned to Boston for a half day during which we walked the Freedom Trail and ate some awesome Italian food.  Then it was back home to Kansas.










That is the broad overview, and we'll be expanding on that theme through the next several posts.  But for now, some raw stats:

-Miles Hiked: 60
-Elevation Gained (ft): 21,345
-Total Elevation change (ft): 40,396
-4000 ft Peaks Summitted: 14 (out of 48 in the state)
-Size of group: 21
-Pounds in packs: 26 for Alex (they let it slide I was a pound over), 30 pounds for Arthur
-Number of blisters: 7
-Number of rocks: a gazillion 
-Value of experience: Priceless

 Stay tuned for the full story.  Until then, Omnia Vincit Amor.

The Fourth

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

We had quite a weekend celebrating our nation's independence and summer. 

Thursday evening after a quick dinner of waffles (we love waffles around here so it was a great way to kick off a weekend of celebration) we drove to Sterling to attend a community theater production that my friend Delores was in.  The musical was The Pajama Game and we loved it.  We were very impressed with the caliber of production that his community theater presented-- a wonderful cast, great sets and costumes, live music, etc.  We had no idea what the play was going to be about.  It was a musical comedy set in the 1950s about a wage dispute at a pajama factory between the workers' union and factory management.  This was another great "patron of the arts" event for us.
After the play we drove on to my parent's home for the weekend.  Friday morning my mom put us to work 'summerizing' the backyard (in this context summerizing is preparing for the act of enjoying summer not briefly covering the main points of a topic).  We hung the hammock, grabbed the lawn chairs, filled the water blob and tried to patch the leaks with duct tape, hauled concrete blocks for the garden, etc.  Arthur was then able to escape to the basement with a good book-- his favorite activity on visits--and I was beckoned to the kitchen to prepare food for the masses.  That evening my brothers and their families arrive.  After dinner we all headed downtown to get some fireworks for the 4th.  My family has never had many fireworks and I was amazed when my father even sent us with some money to make these purchases.  Fireworks were something that had very limited funding in the family budget growing up.  I figured that now that we are adults and gainfully employed we would be on our own with this.  He must be getting soft as we grow up.  Our "downtown" area includes a square with a fountain.  Our niece thought this was great fun since she could give her toy horse a drink.  She then discovered that she could drop the horse into the fountain and good ole Uncle Arthur would fish it out.  The rest of the evening consisted of back porch sitting enjoying the beautiful weather.  

Saturday morning included a waffle bar  with blueberries, strawberries, and whipped cream for breakfast (hurray for waffles).  The young bucks of the family then headed out to slaughter a sheep that was going to be roasted for dinner.  This is the second year that my brother Arnold has decided to do a lamb roast for 4th of July.  The girls stayed home and whipped up several pints of  raspberry rhubarb jam and a few pies for the festivities.  While making the pies, our niece was sitting at the table playing with play-do when all of a sudden she tossed her ball of play-do with a large splatter into the middle of the cherry pie.  It certainly surprised my mom.

The afternoon fun was loading everyone up with several floaties and our canoe to head to the sand pit.  We are slightly challenged when it comes to finding larger bodies of water in this portion of the state.  The sand pit is an old sand pit that is now a fairly large cattle pond where we go for an afternoon at the beach.  I spent some time lounging on a floatie--almost asleep even though I had already taken two naps that day.  The guys spent over and hour running down a hill of sand into the pond and swimming to see who could be the first to reach a football.  My dad and I took a spin around the pond in the canoe.  On the backside of the island the cattle herd had cautiously made its way to the bank, curious about all the commotion that had invaded their peaceful pasture.  They then became even more brave and venture around to the beach area where everyone was playing.  They carefully kept a sand hill between them and the strangers in swimming suits but peaked over just enough to see the eyes and ears of 30 head of cattle puzzling over our activities.

After cleaning up from all the sand and pond water we made the trip over to Grandma's house for a family get-together with several cousins, aunts, and uncles on my dad's side of the family.  We had dinner, including the roasted lamb, and a plethora of desserts-- two types of homemade ice cream, two varieties of pie, and a rhubarb crisp.  It was another glorious evening for front porch sitting.  My parents have recently put in a few days of work doing some repairs and painting the porch for the sole purpose fo our family's favorite group activity, 'porch sittin'.  Arthur was very content to discuss tax laws, the reasons for the Civil War, and the FDA most of the evening on the porch.  I moved on to the group setting off fireworks in the driveway.  It think it was one of the best fireworks displays put on at our family gatherings.  We also had a prime location to watch all the fireworks in town and surrounding countryside about a mile away over the field which offered a clear view minus the irrigation system.  The evening came to a close with roasting a few marshmallows over the coals left from the lamb roast.  I'm not one to toot my own horn about my cooking, but I think I've got some skills when it comes to marshmallow toasting.
Sunday morning the family rose for breakfast before church.  Before we headed home we had to pack up several coolers full of meat.  My parents had just ordered half a side of beef so we put in our order for a 1/4 of beef.  (This means we have plenty of ground beef and won't have to eat lentil tacos for awhile.)  My husband has never been more excited to unload the car after a trip-- it sure helps when most of the contents is meat.  We celebrated our 2 year anniversary (can anyone else believe it's been 2 years?) with t-bone steaks for dinner and the traditional cherry cheesecake sans cherries.  Omnia Vincit Amor.