Day 134: Welcome to the Whites

Hiked 22.6 miles, staying at Lonesome Lake Hut.

I woke up today to a great breakfast made by Long Gone and his brother.  I checked the weather (because I could) and found that both Thursday and Friday are supposed to be rainy.  I really didn't want to do the steep ascent and descent of the Kinsmans tomorrow during the rain.  So I came up with an audacious plan.  I would do a long day all the way to Lonesome Lake Hut today in the nice weather, then it would be an easy three miles into town tomorrow during the rain.  For those of you who know the Whites this means summiting Moosilauke, Wolf and South and North Kinsman all in one day for a total of almost 23 miles.  This is the exact opposite of an easy day.

After breakfast Long Gone gave us a ride back to the trail.  Thanks again to Long Gone for picking us up and hosting us for some awesome trail magic.  You rock!  He got us back to the trailhead by 730 and we immediately started climbing Moosilauke.  The climb was long, about 3000 feet in 5 miles.  It climbed steadily and steeply for most of the way.  Even though the trail was steep it wasn't too bad a climb because the rocks were fairly small and easy to get up and over making it relatively stair like.

9 AM photo, climbing Moosilauke

Most of the way up to the peak there is a side trail to the south peak.  It said on the sign it was only.1 so I took it to see what I could see.  The trail was definitely longer than .1 but it was still worth it.  I got a great  view and could see the peak of Moosilauke.  This is one thing about the Whites that I love.  Unlike the south where primarily you just climb until you get to the top, up here you can usually see the peak as you climb because there are no trees and it climbs faster.  It is fun to be able to see where you are going next.

View of Moosilauke from the south peak

Looking back, I climbed up from that crevasse

I reached the summit and got my picture next to the sign.  The morning fog hadn't completely burned off but I could tell it wasn't far from doing so.  I could see the Kinsmans and Lafayette but beyond that was still cloudy.  I was tempted to stay up there for an hour to wait for the view to improve but I had a long way to go.  Why Not and Speed both showed up at the peak while I was stopped and I chatted for a few minutes before heading out.

Looking up at the peak of Moosilauke as I climb towards it

Looking back at south peak from the top of Moosilauke

Looking north from the peak of Moosilauke

Looking towards Lafayette and the Kinsmans from the top of Moosilauke

The descent down Moosilauke was brutal.  Big steps down on slick slabs of rock the whole way.  It took me almost 2.5 hours to walk 3 miles downhill.  By the time I got to the bottom it was after noon and I still had thirteen plus miles to go.  There is a road into Lincoln from here which was my original plan before I decided to be ridiculous.  Why Not didn't think she could make it to Lonesome Lake so she stopped here.  I debated but decided to keep going.  While stopped I heard a voice ask me if I wanted a beer.  It was So Way, who I haven't seen in months.  He spent the last few weeks doing the Long Trail before continuing his thru hike thus allowing me to catch up.

That's me on top of Moosilauke!

There was a hotel on top of Moosilauke a long time ago
 but it burned down, this is the foundation

Witty sign on the old privy at Beaver Brook
shelter, partway down Moosilauke

Beaver Brook

After my cold beverage I started the climb up and over Wolf Mountain.  Of course now that I had no viewpoints in my near future the sun was shining bright with the sky completely clear...  Wolf Mountain climbs in a stair step pattern with a bunch of steep uphills followed by sections of flat or slight downhill.  At the top I took the side trail to the peak (the AT goes within .1 of the top) but the view was pretty obscured.  The whole hike up and down Wolf was spent walking around and through some pretty serious mud.  For whatever reason water collected heavily on this part of the trail and in places if you stepped in the wrong spot you could sink up to mid-calf.

A section of the descent down Moosilauke

A break in the trees during my climb up Wolf Mountain

The view from the top of Wolf would have been great if I was two feet taller,
luckily my camera got to see it from atop my arm

Franconia Ridge, Lafayette is the tallest peak on the left

By the time I reached Eliza Brook shelter it was 5 pm and I still had six miles including a very tough climb ahead of me.  I debated calling it a day here but convinced myself to move on.  The climb up South Kinsman was a very tough climb.  There were a lot of large boulders that you have to get up and over.  I had to use my hands most of the way up to pull myself up the mountain using root and rock as hand holds.  The peak when I reached it did provide me with a great view though it had started to get hazy again so I couldn't see super far.  It was a short hike to North Kinsman and then I headed down the other side.  The descent was a shorter, slightly less technical version of the descent down Moosilauke and I reached Lonesome Lake Hut just before eight.

Climbing up South Kinsman, and yes
that triangular boulder is bigger than me

On top of South Kinsman

Looking left from the above photo

Looking left from the above photo

The AMC has a bunch of huts throughout the Whites.  They are essentially super fancy bunk houses in the mountains that people can pay to stay in.  Unfortunately they cost $125 or more per night, something I, and most other thru hikers, cannot afford.  However they do allow 2-3 thru hikers to do a work for stay, meaning that we do a few chores for them and in return we can sleep on the dining room floor and eat leftovers if they have them.  Any food that doesn't get eaten the staff at the huts have to pack out and carry back down mountain so it is nice for them to have thru hikers stay.

Looking at Franconia Ridge from the top of South Kinsman

Looking at Franconia Ridge from the top of North Kinsman
(it appears further away but I just didn't zoom in as much)

Looking left from the above photo

I was not expecting to be able to stay there as the work for stay spots get taken very quickly.  Amazingly I was the only thru hiker that stopped at the hut tonight so I got a spot!  Since I don't have far to go they offered to let me do the work part of my work for stay tomorrow morning instead.  This allowed me to focus on eating the dinner leftovers.  The focus of the hut crew is understandably the paying patrons and often the downside of staying here is that you can't set up your sleeping bag until all of the paying patrons go to bed and sometimes this can be pretty late.  Luckily everyone passed out early tonight and I didn't have to deal with this situation.  

I would definitely say that today was my toughest day so far on the entire trail.  The 23 miles today was way more difficult than any of the 30 mile days I did south of here.  I collapsed into my sleeping bag feeling very accomplished and exhausted.