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.