New Hampshire: Where the Going Got REALLY Tough

After finishing up my isolation in my cousins basemen (where I ate my weight in maple ice cream, watching ALL the new episodes of Black Mirror, and played hours upon hours of online Settlers of Catan with my family), I finally headed back out to the trail with a new set of Altra Olympus 4’s and new trekking poles (Leki Lhasa’s).

It had been over a week of laying in bed, sleeping, and pretty much doing nothing, but as I carried myself to the trailhead, my legs felt just as weak as they did after a long day of hiking… and that’s when I knew that I would be dealing with the repercussions of COVID for much longer than I had anticipated. that first day back on trail, I barely managed to drag myself 14 miles before crashing at a shelter with little energy left. Before COVID, 14 had become easy, a no brainer distance for me that I could expect to surpass every afternoon. Now it felt like it took all my energy to get above 10 miles.

In the days to follow, I struggled to push my mileage to remain in the teens. This slowed me down significantly, and made me worry about what was yet to come: The White Mountains. Already, as I slogged through New Hampshire, I felt the terrain becoming harder (not to mention the bugs were becoming worse and the muddy trails did not magically disappear after leaving Vermud).

The summit’s of most mountains I climbed met me with disappointing views of clouds all around, but sometimes, the wind would blow the clouds away and I could see for miles and miles. This happened for me both at Smarts Mountain and at the top of Cube Mountain.

Welcome Hiker Hostel

The Welcome Hiker Hostel is located right before Mt. Moosilauke and I had heard that those who run the hostel were extremely knowledgeable and could help me prepare for The Whites. While in general, I have tried not to stay at too many hostels in order to save money, the hostel was within walking distance of the trail, so I decided I would walk to it, interview who I needed to in order to glean the information I needed, and hike back out that night to stay at a campsite a mile or so up the trail.

I got to the hostel relatively early, and on a rainy day (of course). So I had ample opportunity to talk with the folks in the hostel. I explained my situation and that I planned to hike back out that night, and they pitched an offer to me: the hostel has a $25 thru-hiker deal where they slackpack hikers over Moosilauke one day, and the Kinsmans the next day, dropping our packs off in Lincoln, NH for us to pick up. If I would sign up for the slackpacking deal, they would let me work for stay for the two nights. I ecstatically took them up on this offer, not only because I thought slackpacking the steep NH mountains was a wise idea for my fatigued, still-recovering-from-COVID-body, but also because I had been wanting to Work for Stay on the trail and here was my first chance!

The hostel is also great because for free they shuttle hikers to a giant gas station/deli/resupply store where I bought myself tasty food, chocolate milk, and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s every night hehehe. Another fun thing about the hostel is that it has a TV and plenty of movies laying around, and one guy started a Lord of The Rings Movie Marathon (shockingly we actually made it half way through Two Towers… keep in mind we were watching the extended edition so these were loooonnnnggggg investments of time).

The second night I was there, a local church brought by a feast of food that was left over from a potluck they had, and gave it to all of us. It was more magic and delicious!

My New FlipFuel Device!

Another reason I made sure to go by the hostel is because I had a package waiting there for me that I was really excited for: my new FlipFuel transfer device! This device allows me to take fuel from one canister and transfer it into another. For anyone who has thru-hiked, you most likely had seen many mostly empty cans left behind at in hiker boxes all along the trail. This is because, you don’t want to head out onto the trail with a fuel can close to emptying out, and be stuck with no fuel out in the wilderness. So most hikers will buy a new can before the old can is fully empty, and leave behind the leftover one. With the FlipFuel transfer device, I can take the fuel from these leftover cans, filling up my can, and saving me money.  I love this device so much I have actually partnered with FlipFuel, and if what I describe interests you, you can get 20% off one using my code “Rover20“.

Mt Moosilauke

Mount Moosilauke is a 4,802-foot-high mountain at the southwestern end of the White Mountains, making it the tenth highest of the 4,000 foot summits in the Whites. It also boasts the 2nd steepest mile on the AT. Needless to say, I was grateful to only be carrying a day pack. We were driven to the northern side of the mountain so that we could hike it Southbound and walk ourselves back to the hostel. Going up the north side of the mountain you pass a gorgeous waterfall

and then you slowly rise to above the treeline.Luckily, the day I hiked Moosilauke was a stunning, gorgeous, clear day.

The Kinsmans

Climbing the Kinsmans were wild. I know I just quoted a website claiming that Moosilauke has the 2nd steepest mile on the AT, but there were sections of the Kinsmans there we had to stow our hiking poles and we were straight up rock climbing our way to the top.

In comparison to the day before, the day I hiked the Kinsmans was the cloudiest, depressing weather day I could have asked for. At the beginning of the day, I linked up with Uncle Sam, a thru-hiker from the UK who I had previously met as I returned his lost wallet to him when in Dalton, MA. We also hooked up with Yogi around the top of the mountain and hiked with him down. Once we finally reached the top, we were rewarded with this stunning view…

On our way down the mountain, we passed our first AMC Hiker Hut: the Lonesome Lake Hut, and the skies parted and the sun shown down and it was gorgeous. We also went inside and they had left over food for us to eat!

Lincoln, New Hampshire

On the northern edge of the Kinsmans lies the town of Lincoln, New Hampshire. Most hikers here stay at The Notch hostel, its famous for being one of the best hostels on the trail. However, as I noted above, in order to stay money I have tried to avoid hostels. Luckily for me, there is a trail angel in Lincoln named Chet, who has turned his entire garage into a bunk room/hiker haven.

He has a washing machine, shower, refrigerator, and plugs for us to charge items. Everything I needed. Chet is also located within walking distance of the town, whereas The Notch is a few miles away and if hikers want to get into town they have to either hitch or ride bikes.

Initially, I planned on only spending my first night there, then heading out the next day. But rumor had it that there would be rain the following day, and I was so tired, and Chet’s place was so nice, that even when the sun shown bright the following morning, I decided I would zero in town and enjoy what it had to offer. Chet had another hiker staying with him, a previous thru-hiker named Pork Roll who would come stay with Chet for a couple of weeks every year to do some more hiking in the area. Pork Roll drove me to resupply, and on my second night in Lincoln, he joined myself, Uncle Sam, and Acorn at the brewery for a fun night.

Overall, Lincoln has become one of my favorite towns that I stopped through on my hike. Chet gave me an open invitation to return and I hope to one day take him up on his offer. That being said, as much as I could have zeroed a second time, I knew I could not stay forever, and so the following day, I packed up my bag and headed out for what was (according to many other past thru-hikers I had met) to be the most beautiful part of the trail: Franconia Ridge… which will be the topic of my next post!