Date: 2015-07-12
From: Lost River Road, NH 112

To: NH 3
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: clear sky

Arrrgh. This was possibly the toughest day I've had on the trail. I remember that several good hikers we've talked with said that the Kinsman section is difficult, but I still wasn't mentally prepared. Having done it, I'm glad that I did (and that it's behind me). First, back to the beginning of the day. Last night, the Carriage Motel turned out to be pretty good for us. The rooms had A/C, coffee, refrigerator and microwave. And a good laundromat right across the street. They let us store our backpacks at the motel while we hiked the next day, which solved a problem for us. We knew this would be a long hike. Last year Princess hiked this piece with Pintsize and it took them over 11 hours. So we got up early and got breakfast sandwiches from the Citgo/Wayne's Market across the street. We were ready to go when Spartacus pulled up with his son, John. John wanted to do another section with his Dad (he joined him earlier this year). John said he grew up in the Whites and he knew what he was in for. We piled in his truck and Spartacus drove all of us back to Kinsman Notch. Yesterday we started at the same trailhead and headed south, this time we headed north. Once we crossed Lost River Road, the trail wasted no time heading up. We had a steep climb for a short while, but then a series of sharp ups and downs. We passed a trail called "Dilly Cliff Trail" which seemed ominous and I was glad that we stayed on the AT. As a footnote, in the Whites the path of the AT is coincident with a number of trails with different names that are managed by the Appalachian Mountain Club. Most of the signs use the AMC names with only a few white blazes, so it is important to have a map and know the AMC trail names that the AT follows. The first peak we reached was the east peak of Mt. Wolf at almost 3,500 ft., then we had about 3 miles of downhill to Eliza Creek. We were able to rock-hop across the creek and I was almost across, when I heard some shouting from behind. As I started to jump to the last rock, someone jumped onto a rock near me and started to jump to the same rock I was headed for. I tried to change direction to another rock and went down, almost (but not quite) into the creek. It turned out to be a half dozen or so young kids who were running and chasing each other. I learned later that it was a Dartmouth Nordic team that was doing a workout run. I wasn't impressed, but I wasn't hurt. The trail headed sharply uphill and paralleled the creek for almost a mile. The creek was really incredible as it cascaded over rocks, boulders and ledges and the trail weaved back and forth, sometimes almost in the creek. As we headed further up we ran into a long series of rock climbs. Each one was dramatic, as we looked up from the bottom, it seemed almost impossible to get up. Much of the time we were on all fours, or pulling ourselves up step by step. It took a lot of time, and when we reached the top of one climb, we'd turn a corner and be facing another. They seemed endless, but we finally reached a plateau where the pine trees were thinning. As we looked through an opening we saw a mountain top looming even higher and realized we still had a long way to go. The remainder was much of the same rock climbing. But finally, the rocks flattened and we found ourselves atop the South Kinsman Mountain. We were tired and damp from perspiration and a long way to go, so we didn't stay long. It was almost a mile down and up to the North Kinsman Mountain, but the view wasn't as good so we pressed on. It was past noon and we still had over 5 miles to go, the Kinsman climb had taken a long time. The remainder of the hike was essentially all down hill. Fortunately, the downhill didn't have the difficult rocks we found on the uphill, they would have been as hard going down or worse than climbing. But there were still difficult spots where we had to slow down. Spartacus and his son had been in the lead most of the way uphill. They hung back to keep pace with us for a while, but then pushed on so they could get to their vehicles and start the drive back to their home. We stopped for a bit at the AMC Lonesome Lake Hut and I had some minestrone soup, I was really beat. We also refreshed our water. We plan to stay at a couple of huts, so I'll provide more details then. The rest of the downhill was easier and we made better time. We reached Franconia Notch and then took a side trail to the Liberty Springs parking area where we called a shuttle service for the short ride to North Woodstock. We reclaimed our bags at the Carriage Motel and moved on to check in at the Woodstock Inn. We have stayed here several times in the past and like it a lot. We had a great dinner, but we were spent from the hike and crashed early. Tomorrow we have a zero day here.