How I Failed my First Attempt in the Whites

Day 1 June 2

Living in North Carolina, I feel that our mountains aren’t as intimidating as those in New Hampshire. Beautiful but vastly different. We arrived in Boston, where we would meet a member of our trail family, Grill Master, who would drive us to another member’s (Houlihan) house in New Hampshire. I have never been to Boston and will never drive in Boston after that experience leaving the airport. It was nice seeing Grill Master, Houlihan, and Hawkeye again after so long.

(Hiker Trash ready for pick up!)

Hawkeye was excited to see us again too.  

Hawkeye was excited to see us again too.

 

We packed up our stuff again once we arrived at Houlihan’s house and climbed into the camper van. We grabbed dinner next to her place of work and drove to this cute little hostel called “Hikers Welcome Hostel,” which would be the first of 2 in New Hampshire. 

Day 2 June 3

Now for the fun part. We took our 7 am shuttle to the trailhead and headed south. Well actually, since we have all hiked the AT and our instinct told us to go North, we hiked about half a mile the wrong way. The plan was to go South, hike up Mount Moosilauke (about a 9-mile hike), and return to the hostel. Hiking in New Hampshire is a very different story than anything else. It was straight-up rock boulders. Once we got going the correct way, we came to Otter Creek Falls. 

 

Tech Bear slipped on a rock, went to catch himself, and his trekking pole shot into the waterfall. With his long arms, Tech Bear used another pole and got it back. That was incident number 1 on our first hiking trip in New Hampshire. There are so many boulders to climb over. I had to stop and look around many times to find the best way up since the rocks were tall. Sometimes, I managed to put my knee up and push up using my poles. Tech Bear and Houlihan were waiting at the top of the mountain in their sun hoodies. Tech Bear handed me mine so I wouldn’t burn either. We ate snacks, and Grillmaster gave me half of her sandwich. It was amazing. We were there for an hour before we all started heading down together. 

We got to the junction after a mile and regret going downhill… We went 1 mile downhill the wrong way, expecting there to be water while we had no water. It was very sun-exposed, and we were thirsty. Grillmaster and I stopped on the way back up at a slow-moving puddle stream and scooped up water. We called it moral-boosting water since we felt defeated mentally and were extremely thirsty. We finally reached the top again, where Tech Bear and Houlihan were waiting. Hawkeye was lying in the grass, tired as well. We started down the correct pathway and finally got some water after another mile. 4 miles without water in direct sun sucks. I waited for Grillmaster since she didn’t have her filter, and I had Tech Bears. We filled the water and drank so much. 

 It wouldn’t be until 7 p.m. that I finally made it back to the hostel with Grillmaster. The descent wasn’t as difficult as the climb up, but being afraid of rocks, I was extremely cautious. I hadn’t gained my rock climbing confidence yet.

 

Tech Bear had an exciting day. He fell at least four or five times, bent his pole on a rock, and later broke his pole. He also fell into the creek one mile before the hostel that I had chosen to stomp through, and I was treated with a beautiful frog. 

Exhausted, I drank a soda at the hostel before we loaded up the van and headed for the next hostel, The Notch Hostel. We got checked up, paid up, and unloaded the stuff from the van into our private, dog-friendly room. We showered and put on loaner clothes. Feeling refreshed, we went into the town of Woodstock for dinner. We shared nachos, and I devoured half a flat-bread pizza at Pemi Public House. Hawkeye had a burger patty while we ate. We got back to the hostel and quickly fell asleep.

Day 3 June 4

After a difficult day on Mount Moosilauke, we decided to take a zero-day. For those who don’t know, a zero-day is a day when you do chores and hang out in town or just rest instead of hiking the AT or taking a break from whatever trail you are hiking. We went to the Woodstock Inn for breakfast when we headed into town. We drove around town for the day to see the sights. The mountains were breathtaking. We stopped at a fancy dog bakery to get a treat for Hawkeye before getting coffee for ourselves. We went to a rocky gorge and sat in the freezing water for an hour. It was nice and relaxing. We eventually returned to the hostel and repacked our bags for the next day. Once packed, we put them away for the morning and headed back into town for dinner. 

Day 4 June 5

I woke up bright and early to hike the Mount Liberty trail to Mount Lincoln, Layfette, and Garfield. The trail we started on started with a brief sidewalk trail. Thankfully, it wasn’t too long before we were back on the dirt path again. On the way down to the AT, I saw a ton of beautiful lady slippers. 

The trail was very steep and rocky. Tech Bear was waiting for me at the top of Mount Layfette. The bugs were bad, so I rushed to catch up with him and Houlihan. It was late by the time we all reached the top, and we still had 5 miles left. 10 miles in the whites is much harder than I knew. 

After Mount Layfette, the trail was beautiful. It had rolling hills on a bald that just continued on forever. There were a few rock scrambles on the way down and multiple cairns to guide us along the path. I didn’t stop and look off the peak of Mount Garfield. It was getting dark when I got there, and I probably couldn’t see much anyway. There were only 0.5 miles left down to the shelter where we would stay tonight due to the rain. Tech Bear had dinner ready and waiting for me when I finally got to camp at 10 pm. It started raining when I put my pack down in the shelter and set up my area. I threw on my raincoat and ran to the food area, where Tech Bear was huddled under a tarp with dinner. It was delicious. We went to bed to the sound of rain and thunder.

Day 4 June 6

The Whites were a struggle! One of my friends wasn’t feeling well, so we decided to get off trail. Tech bear was also struggling with his new trekking poles We agreed to meet at the hut at the top of a mountain near the exit junction. Tech Bear and I hiked together for a bit. We caught up with Houlihan and walked the last 0.3 miles separately. Once at the hut, we went in and bought lunch. We played cards while we waited for Grillmaster to join us. Once everyone arrived, we packed up and started going down the 4-mile hill to the parking lot. We got a shuttle to take us back to the Notch Hostel, where we picked up the van and went to dinner. While eating, since we were already up north, we decided to go to Maine the next day. It was agreed upon and we finished our pizzas before going North to find a campground. We got the Lost Woods campgrounds right before closing. I got asked if I was old enough…

(Crayon found a box of Crayons!)

Day 5 June 7

We stopped at Polly Pancake Parlor for breakfast, where we, of course, got pancakes. Initially, there were a few pretty views, but not much to see as we made our way toward Maine. Tech Bear and I sat on the couch in the back of the van and booked the group a motel. It was cute and right along the harbor. We went to Beal’s Lobster Pier for some amazing food!  Once our bellies were full, we went to the Bass Harbour Light Station for rock climbing and lighthouse photos. 

Day 6 June 8

I woke up early. I was so excited to go to the national park! It was a misty, rainy morning when we arrived at Acadia Park. We stopped at the visitor center to buy our America the Beautiful Pass and some souvenirs of course, then grabbed a map. I ran to keep up with Tech Bear as he bolted for the first side trail to the ocean. All the different rock platforms and waves hitting the rock formations were amazing. Tech Bear’s bad luck continued as he dropped his earbud into a small puddle of seawater. (Side note: it survived!) We walked all around the park section we were in. It was beautiful. We saw some tadpoles in a shallow, unbothered puddle. We spotted a big isopod on the side of the road. Tech Bear and I got to hike together for the whole day. It was nice. We climbed ladders and went up and down different rock formations. The sky cleared out just as we summited a small mountain hill. We found the bowl and went up to part of the Beehive that we could do with a dog. I got to walk on the shore in Acadia and put my feet in freezing water until I couldn’t feel them anymore. We got back to the car before it started raining.

After we visited Acadia, we went down into town and ate at a local ramen shop once it stopped raining. After dinner, the sky cleared up, and we walked across the land bridge, which was visible due to the low tide. There were lots of welks and seaweed about.

Day 7 June 9th

Of course, while we were in Maine, we HAD to go to the L.L. Bean flagship store!

Day 8 June 10

Tonight, we planned to cowboy camp on top of a mountain. I was nervous about sleeping on top of a rock. It didn’t take us quite as long to hike after breakfast and drive to get there. We got to the top with enough time to eat in the daylight and see the sky, and decided to go back down 0.5 miles to the shelter to avoid rain.  There was a lot of butt-scooting.

Day 9 June 11

We slept in after waking up at 4:30ish to see the sunrise. We packed everything up in the shelter, ate breakfast and went down the hill. It was hot, and the bugs were back. The bugs had been bad on this trip, and we were all rushing to the van.  Once in the van, we drove to a coffee shop for coffee and stopped for lunch. We had a long drive back to New Hampshire. 

Day 10 – June 12

It was our last and final day up north. Being a social studies teacher, I, of course, had to explore SOME of Boston before leaving. It was really fascinating to see all the history! 

We sadly said goodbye to our friends and headed back home. With Tech Bear’s luck, we had to spend the night in the airport for our layover. 

 

And that was how my attempt at a 9 day section hike in the Whites went wrong but turned into an amazing, incredible 10-day vacation! 

 

~Hiking With Crayon