Franconia Notch to Pinkham Notch

We’ve only hiked for four days since our last rest day, and now we’re having another rest day. Those four days through the Presidential Range were probably the most intense, and certainly amongst the hardest, of our hike so far. The White Mountains of New Hampshire, of which the Presidentials are a part, have thrown everything at us, and although we got through OK and thoroughly enjoyed the hiking, we’re feeling pretty beaten up!

Our rest day at the Old Colony Ski Club in North Woodstock turned into two rest days. The next day’s hiking would take us above treeline for a long stretch, but the weather forecast was rubbish, my sprained ankle would benefit from extra rest, and besides there was a diner nearby with an excellent breakfast menu that we just had to try! It was great to be sitting out on a covered deck, drinking coffee and eating omelettes and pancakes while the rain hammered down.

The next day, early fog cleared out to leave us with a beautiful sunny day, perfect for doing the Franconia Ridge, one of the most scenic stretches of the entire trail. We had barely gone a mile along the trail before we bumped into Quick On The Draw, the English guy who we’d last seen at the Hiker Welcome hostel. It was a steep and sweaty climb, which we all took at our own pace, Rolodex way off in front and the other three of us leapfrogging each other further back. Past Mount Liberty the trail gradually levelled out amongst stunted pines, before breaking out of the trees to give a glorious stretch along the broad rocky Franconia Ridge. Progress was slow, not because it was hard hiking but because we kept taking photos!

We followed the ridge along over Mounts Lafayette and Garfield, both over 4000 feet, enjoying fantastic views on the way. The going was laborious, with lots of scrambling, including a particularly crazy descent off Mount Garfield, where the trail followed a stream as it flowed steeply down jumbled boulders. There was a big drop below, and great care was required to avoid standing on slippery rock and taking a fall. It was about 5pm by the time we got to the Galehead Hut, a large full-service mountain lodge run by the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC). We had hoped to buy coffee, cold sodas and cake here to fuel our final ascent of the day up South Twin Mountain, but the staff were busy getting ready to serve dinner to their guests so were unable to offer us anything. Disappointed, we ate some chocolate from our packs, refilled our water bottles and went on our way. The ascent of South Twin was steep and rough, and we were tired, but the views from the top were just stunning.

Three miles later, at 8pm, we finally reached our destination for the day, the Guyot Shelter. Unlike most of the AT, hikers pay to sleep in or camp at shelters in the White Mountains. Thru hikers get a special rate of $10 for the first night, $5 thereafter. We were amazed when a warden popped up out of the trees to collect the fee! All the tenting platforms on the steeply sloping site were full, so we had no choice but to sleep in the shelter, where we got the last two places. We were cheek by jowl with strangers, my feet, ankle and back ached, mosquitoes whined around my face, and the usual nighttime chorus of snores assured a rotten night’s sleep. It was a relief when dawn came, and people started getting up to go hiking.

We were on our way well before 7, up and over Mount Guyot then up Mount Zealand. At the top of Mount Zealand we found an absolutely perfect camping spot in amongst the pine trees – we really wished we’d pushed on and found it the night before!

From there it was a long gradual descent to Zealand Falls Hut, another mountain lodge run by the AMC. This time we managed to buy some coffee and pancakes, and we were quietly enjoying them in the dining room when Nope, the deaf thru hiker who we’d recently run into again after several hundred miles, came striding in, greeted us at top volume, then asked where the restrooms were, announcing to everyone in the room “I’ve been holding it in for the last six and a half miles!” Thanks for sharing, Nope …

Luckily for us, there was a tray of pasta shells in tomato sauce left over from the previous night’s  dinner, which a kind member of staff gave to us hikers to dispose of – hiker hunger is real, and passing hikers are always grateful for free food! Neil and I had some, another hiker called Red packed some out in his mug to eat later, and when we left the hut Nope was ploughing his way through the rest of it.

We thought that the trail between the hut and the road would be in good condition, given the amount of use it gets (the hut sleeps 36, at around $150 per person per night), but although some parts were well maintained, there were some horrendous swampy sections with broken duckboards, some of them half submerged, all requiring care to avoid slipping or stumbling or bashing toes into protruding nails.

Finally we dropped down to the road at Crawford Notch, where we hitched into the large town of Conway to resupply. We had thought of hitching in and back out in a day, but we were both badly in need of sleep, and my ankle had swollen up again (unsurprisingly), so we decided to get a cheap motel and a good feed, and worry about getting back to trail the next day. Hot showers, a fabulous Thai meal and a full night’s sleep in a comfortable bed had us ready to hit the trail again the next morning.

It was another fine, bright morning as we made our way steeply up Mount Webster, ducking between pine forest and breezy granite ledges with long views over Crawford Notch and the Saco River way below. As we walked out onto one of the ledges, we were pleased to bump into Rolodex, who we’d lost on the way to Guyot shelter when he took a wrong turn and had to make camp before the shelter.

There were some short enjoyable scrambles and the usual steeply stacked boulders as we made our way over Webster and Jackson, to Mizpah Hut, another AMC lodge. Quick On the Draw was there already, and Rolodex arrived soon after. There were dark clouds around and a thunderstorm forecast for later in the afternoon, so we didn’t hang around for long. All of us wanted to go to the next hut, the Lakes of the Clouds Hut, ready for summiting Mount Washington early the next day before the afternoon’s thunderstorm moved in. It was only five miles to Lakes of the Clouds, and we’d been told the trail was fairly easy going.  Quick On The Draw set off first, we were maybe 20 minutes later, and Rolodex was last to leave.

The trail was fine with good views of Mount Washington ahead, but the bright sunshine soon faded as we left the trees behind, and the clouds got darker and darker.

There were some distant rumbles of thunder, then it started spotting with rain. With just one mile to go to the hut, we had just put on our waterproofs when the heavens opened and it absolutely hammered it down with rain. The wind started gusting strongly, flinging the rain at us so hard that it stung. The trail became a flowing river up to four inches deep, with small waterfalls forming through the rocky sections. Although the lightning had moved closer, there was no way we wanted to go back down to the cover of the trees and wait for it to pass – the risk of hypothermia seemed higher than that of getting struck by lightning, so even though we were on an exposed ridge, we just kept going. By the time we stumbled into the Lakes of the Clouds hut, we were drenched. Quick On The Draw was there already, having received a bit of a wetting in the final half mile. Rolodex arrived two hours later, having taken cover under some trees and got very cold.

Luckily, the Lakes of the Clouds hut never turns hikers away, so although it was very busy, Neil and I got bunks in “The Dungeon” – the emergency shelter under the hut’s dining room. This dank little room had a steel door, a draughty little window, a wet concrete floor and six bunks, ours for $10 each. Quick On The Draw and Rolodex both managed to blag the better option of sleeping on the dining room floor.

It was a loud evening in the packed dining room, with a proper holiday camp atmosphere – staff in fancy dress, overexcited teenagers, board games being played with great enthusiasm. We cooked and ate our dinner, and like the rest of the Dungeon-dwellers were in our bunks by 8.30. But with the dining room floor about two feet above our heads (we were in the top bunks) we could still hear the deafening noise above until everyone settled down about 10pm. Then for the rest of the night I woke intermittently to the sound of some rodent rustling amongst the rucksacks and food bags sitting in puddles on the floor. I should have got up and investigated, but it was so difficult to get out of the bunk and onto the ladder, I just had a sleepless night instead.

We were all up at 5.30 the next morning, with the same plan – to get over Mount Washington and down below treeline before the afternoon’s storms came in. At 6288 feet, Mount Washington is famous for having the highest recorded windspeed on Earth – 231 mph recorded in 1934 – and hikers sometimes get delayed for days waiting for a suitable weather window. It was calm but foggy when we left the hut with Rolodex, and our hopes of getting a view from the top were low. But as we left the hut, the fog started to lift, and by the time we got to the top, with its clutter of buildings, masts and railway, we had long views in all directions.

It was a chilly morning and we had a lot of rough ground to cover, so we soon set off down across a huge boulder field, crossing the cog railway on the way. We picked our way carefully over miles of boulders, still slippery from the previous day’s rain.

Gradually this awkward terrain turned into a lovely path which traversed around two peaks – Mounts Jefferson and Adams – before reaching Madison Springs hut, where we stopped for a break with Quick On The Draw and Rolodex.

From there it was a short steep climb to the top of Mount Madison. We had been warned that the descent off this 5367 foot peak was particularly hard going; in fact, it was no worse than any number of boulder fields we’d crossed before – it just went on a bit! And when the rain came, we slowed right down – this was no place to have an accident. There was no thunder, but we were still relieved when we finally dropped below treeline.

After an interminable steep and muddy descent through trees, a bonus mile after we took a wrong turn, and a “Do we have to?” ascent and descent of another steep sided hill, we finally arrived at Pinkham Notch Visitors’ Center about 6pm. It was lovely to bump into Dingo, Happy Hour and Grasshopper who were staying in the lodge there – but sadly they told us that Walkie Talkie, who we hiked with in Virginia and who we’ve been bumping into throughout our hike, had decided to quit the trail. Everyone has found the White Mountains hard, and most people have aches and pains and injuries. Some people take rest days; some quit. We don’t believe in quitting –  we came here to do this trail, and unless something really drastic happens, we will finish it. But we’re in no rush, so we’ve been enjoying another rest day in town today. Rest, air con, pizza and ice cream, then back to the trail tomorrow for the next four day stage which will take us into our final state, Maine. 320 miles to go!