Date: 2016-07-17
From: Mt. Washington Summit

To: Galehead Hut 
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I was surprised by how tired I was at the end of today's hike. This was my first time sleeping in one of the Appalachian Mountain Club's huts. The AMC has 8 huts in the White Mountains. These huts exist instead of shelters and cost more than $100 per person for a bunk, dinner, and breakfast. The Croo here consisted of 5 college students or recently graduated college students. Each member of the Galehead Hut Croo had at least 2 years experience working in an AMC hut - they were an energetic and impressive group. Dinner was delicious. It was served family style and I ate considerably more food than anyone at my table, indicating that my hiker hunger, as it is commonly referred to, is still functioning. I ate dinner with the people in my bunk room plus a Dad from Connecticut who was here with his son and two nieces. The nieces were middle school aged and seemed to have loved today's hike. The woman in the bunk below me is Box Turtle. She's finishing the AT this year after doing a flip-flop hike last year when she did most of the AT before sustaining an injury. Also sharing my table and bunk room are a woman who needs less than 10 mountains before hiking each of New Hampshire's 48 4,000 foot mountains, a man originally from India who is hiking a couple days while his wife and children are in India, and a man from Montreal who arrived while dinner was being served exhausted from doing the same hike I did. Today's hike didn't start until 7:00, a really late start. It was raining and the forecast called for rain and possible thunderstorms. I don't want to hike in a thunderstorm but I'd never hike if I didn't hike on days when thunderstorms are forecasted. The rain intensified as soon as I began and it poured for the first hour. The trail was dirt-based with anchored boulders that could be used as steps or walked around. A number of hikers were coming out of the woods and going home due to the rain and it being Sunday. The first hour's climb required typical effort. I met 3 hikers at a trail intersection just as the rain stopped. One of the three got up quickly and said he'd like to hike with me for a while. His trail name is honey-do! and he said he wanted to hike with me because he could tell as I came up the trail that I was a thru-hiker. honey-do! successfully completed his thru-hike in 2009 and he was out doing the Pemi Trail for a week. We talked trail as we climbed. The conversation made me unaware of the climb. By the end of the first climb today the elevation had increased 2,400 feet. We emerged from tree line to an unexpected sight - views! The views weren't perfect but they were spectacular nonetheless. In some places, white clouds engulfed all but a few mountains whose peaks were above the clouds. The smiles on both of our faces were huge. Trees had blocked our view of the sky and because it had rained hard we thought clouds would fill the sky. Soon we were on top of Little Haystack, the first of several mountains to be climbed today. We were giddy. Today's hike was Franconia Notch, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. honey-do! and I exchanged a high-five as we took in the views. Franconia Ridge wasn't showing everything it had to offer but what we could see was more than enough. First, we had a clear line of sight to the other mountains yet to be hiked - Mt. Lincoln and Mt. Lafayette. This Franconia hike is a 2.1 mile walk on the ridge between these mountains. Beth and I hiked here on a day hike several years ago. This is our favorite all-time hike. It can be hiked via non-AT trails in a loop. I hope to someday hike this loop with Anne, David, their loved ones, and all my relatives who like to hike. When today began I wasn't feeling badly about Beth not hiking with me because it was raining and I thought there would be no views. Now, I started feeling guilty about Beth not being here and was a bit disappointed with the realization that she would've loved this. honey-do! and I took it all in. Today's pictures don't do the views justice. We came upon 3 Plymouth State college students and shared the scenery with them as we leap-frogged the ridge line. We ate lunch around noon on Mt. Lafayette and afterwards I hiked on to the next mountain on this spine, Mt. Garfield. I've never hiked north of Mt. Lafayette before today so it was all new. Rain clouds darkened the sky as I hiked into trees between Mt. Lafayette and Mt. Garfield. I emerged from the trees and was able to see behind me the mountains I'd already hiked. I was pretty happy and thankful for such a view. Another 30 yards later was an opening in the trail that showed further ascent was required for additional viewing. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I had 360 degree views from Mt. Garfield's summit. These views were missing from today's previously hiked mountains but now I had them. The camera button was pushed many times today. The hike, other than the ridge line, was either up or down. The downs were steep for the most part and, for me, required 3 points of contact. It was slow. It was tiring. But there had been no thunderstorm, nor additional rain for that matter Can't wait to get back here again and again.