Wow. The Whites are completely unlike anything else on the AT so far. Today was full of adventure and intrigue and amazing sights. It all started when Miranda left the shelter just moments ahead of Landon and me. She likes to get a few minutes head start knowing that Landon and I will catch up quickly; today though we somehow passed her without any of us knowing it. After a few minutes on the steep downhill of rain slicked rocks and no sign of Miranda I started to think she must have taken the wrong trail out of the shelter; Landon and I started going a bit quicker to make sure she wasn’t still ahead. Finally we caught up to another person from the shelter and found out that Miranda had not passed her, so we knew something was up. We decided to go down the last few tenths to the hut and wait there figuring that if Miranda took the wrong trail she would figure it out quickly and be along. Sure enough she showed up in a few minutes but hadn’t gone off course. It sounded like she had just stopped somewhere on the side trail between the shelter and the AT and somehow none of us saw each other.
With that part of the day out of the way we all headed downhill another three miles to Franconia Notch. That was probably the easiest three miles yet in the Whites, it didn’t last long enough. After crossing the interstate we were headed straight up to Franconia Ridge. The morning drizzle had stopped, the sun was even coming out and it had probably warmed all the way up to the low to mid 50s. We climbed for a few miles, another rock staircase. It really is amazing how nice it is to hike in cool weather, I can climb faster and longer over worse terrain and feel quite comfortable in long pants and a fleece. Near the top of the trail to the ridge we started seeing some amazing views of the mountains behind us, the sky above littered with rapidly flowing puffs of clouds. We made it up to the ridge trail and before long emerged above the tree line on our way to Mt Lincoln and then Mt Lafayette.
Franconia Ridge was spectacular. Probably the most amazing place I’ve seen on the AT, or anywhere else for that matter. We covered about two miles above treeline walking along a rock treadway a few meters across, totally exposed to the cold mountain air and howling wind. I was wearing all three layers: a thick baselayer, my fleece, and the rain jacket, and gloves. Needed it all to be comfortable up there. For the entire two miles the White Mountain National Forest sprawled out on either side of us. Layers of mountains filled the landscape to the left and the right; Mt. Lafayette loomed large ahead of us. Clouds rushed by at incredible speed. Sometimes the gusts of wind made it difficult to walk straight, or at all. Add supporting yourself in the wind to the list of things trekking poles are amazing for.
There was another minor climb along the ridge trail up Lafayette but it was nothing compared to what it took to get on the ridge. By the time we made it up though we were ready to be off the mountain for the day. The wind was overwhelming and even 11 miles for the day was exhausting. The problem was there was no ideal place to camp. We had to either keep going a few miles and look for somewhere to stealth camp (tent along the trail) or walk 1.1 miles down a steep side trail at the summit to get to Greenleaf Hut. We chose the hut.
The huts are places that charge hikers 100$ a night for a bunkroom (no shower, no heat) and two hot meals (dinner and breakfast). That’s for your average weekend visitor though; as a thru-hiker you can do work for stay which means getting to sleep indoors (still your sleeping bag) and eating all the leftovers from the meals in exchange for some labor. Tonight we ended up getting to dine on stuffed shells and peas in exchange for doing dishes and doing some extra scrubbing on their entire collection of pots.
So three days into the Whites and it’s both incredible and a bit overwhelming. There’s many more miles left up here, and doubtless more cold days ahead. As awesome as Franconia was though, I find myself thinking that I wouldn’t mind a bit if we could skip ahead to Maine, get out of the cold and wind, and accelerate our journey to Katahdin.