Friday June 14, 19.6mi/31.5km
Mizpah Hut (1853.0) to Pinkham Notch/Hwy 16 (1872.6) (NH)
We woke up at 6am, since we were sleeping in the dining room, and it was needed for breakfast. The weather looked perfect, and we headed out at 6:30am up the hill.
There were building materials along the trail, it looked like dimensional lumber. And… rocks?
The views were amazing all morning. Sometimes the clouds would shift, and we would be in a temporary fog. Cool!
And not surprisingly, there was still a little snow on the mountainside.
Mt Monroe looms above:
We stopped in for a second breakfast at Lake of the Clouds hut. As expected, they had put out the leftover food for free!
After chatting with the croo, we were back on our way up Mt Washington. It’s a developed mountain summit, with lots of towers, buildings, roads, and even a railroad.
The view looking back down to the south, over the southern presidential range :
The summit was a busy place, as usual. We even met three other NOBO AT thru-hikers hikers! They do exist!
It was cold and windy up at the summit at 6288ft/1917m, so we didn’t stay long. On the way down, we had perfect timing and got to watch the cog railway come up the hill.
All afternoon there were amazing things to look at. Like the view down into the Great Gulf wilderness:
Or these tiny white alpine flowers that only seem to grow up in high elevations:
Further north along the ridge, we crossed a short snowfield. It felt just like hiking the CDT!
The last mountain in the presidential range is Mt Madison, it’s a very pointy mountain.
The view back over the presidential range was so colorful…
And the view ahead, down the mountain was so steep:
The trail descended back into the trees, but I got a couple of last scenery photos just before.
The last few miles were in the Great Gulf wilderness, and I saw no other people or signs of civilization. So different from Mt Washington!
I arrived to Pinkham Notch visitors center at 5:30pm, and Bob’s friends picked us up and took us to their house in Conway. After a nice dinner at a Thai restaurant, we relaxed for the evening with some nice treats – ice cream, whiskey, and homemade cookies!
Bob and I waited in the parking lot for a few minutes, and Amanda drove up. We had hiked most of the Te Araroa together, and had planned a day to hike together here in New Hampshire. Old trail family reunion, awesome!
We were talking the whole way up the climb to Franconia ridge, so I didn’t even notice the climb until it was over! We got some summit photos on Mt Lincoln, and continued on.
Mt Lafayette is the highest on the ridge, 5259ft/1603m. We had a nice lunch break there, then Amanda took a side trail back down to her car.
The descent from Mt Lafayette, which I have done probably a dozen times over the years, was expectedly steep. But I didn’t expect any snow! It was just little patches, so it was easy to walk around.
We did the steep climb up to Mt Garfield, and had another nice break on the summit firetower foundation.
We hiked/downclimbed the really steep descent, and stopped at Galehead hut for a drink and snack. The AMC operates eight huts in the White mountains, which are staffed in the summer. They serve breakfast and dinner, and snacks all day. The lodging is quite expensive, so most thru-hikers don’t stay the night.
The final climb of the day was up the steep one mile climb up to the summit of South Twin mountain. We knocked it out quickly, and had one last summit photo for the day.
When the trail wasn’t on an exposed ridge, it was in a nice pine forest all day. Perfect!
We didn’t have the time to continue down to the next official campsite, so we opted to camp on the summit of Zealand mountain. It was a tree’d summit, so it’s protected from the wind and perfect for camping.
We made dinner and watched the sun set over the mountains. It was a long day, even though we only covered 17 miles! This terrain is rougher and slower, so it’s to be expected. I had a great view from my tent…
We stopped by the Hikers Welcome hostel, Bob had a package there.
I found some snacks in the hiker box, and then we were back on the trail.
The climb up to Moosilauke summit is a long, gradual uphill. I’ve done this section of trail before, so there were no surprises today.
Just as the trail had gotten up on the ridge, we walked over the melting remains of an old snow drift!
The final mile up to Moosilauke summit is on an old carriage road, and is a beautiful flat, wide trail.
I spent 30 minutes on the summit enjoying the views, as it was a rare windlesd warm day.
I hiked down to Kinsman notch, stopping by a shelter and privy along the way. The privies in this DOC-maintained section all have interesting names…
The descent down the Beaver Brook trail was Steep, with mostly large rocks and stairs to walk on.
At the trailhead parking lot, I ran into some trail magic, and two other thru-hikers! Togs and Lucky started in Geein February.
The trail magic was from Fresh Grounds, who runs the “Leapfrog Cafe” as he calls it. I ran into him back in a North Carolina forest, and it was great to see him again!
The climb up out of Kinsman notch was hot and steep, and the rest of the afternoon was on rocky PUDs.
But at least it was in a nice pine forest.
At 6pm, I arrived at the shelter, and Bob (who I hadn’t seen all day) arrived 30 minutes later. There is some rain expected tonight, hopefully it stops by morning!
It was an immediate change to dark and shady forest, which was perfect for hiking uphill. It was quite warm in the sun, around 80F/27C, so any shade was nice. Once in awhile the trail would emerge at a swamp, and it felt hot.
The trail in this section is maintained by the Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC), and they have all these cool orange signs.
Around lunchtime, we climbed Moose mountain. And since I love moose, I had to get a photo of this sign too.
And the summit of the mountain actually had a view!
A short ways down from the summit is a shelter, and I stopped for lunch there. Again, these signs are amazing pieces of artwork.
Later in the afternoon, I caught up to Bob as we were climbing up to Holts Ledge, which had nice views to the east.
Apparently this area is also a ski hill for the Dartmouth ski team. I haven’t sat on a ski lift in way too long, so I took a rest, haha.
Ski runs have the funniest names sometimes.
We continued on another three miles, and setup camp in a gravel area near a road, since there aren’t any shelters nearby, and the woods in this area are full of ticks.
A couple of other hikers joined us later, and I’m enjoying this quiet spot next to a creek.
