The Whites - 20% of the trail, 80% of the work?

July 19th, my 101st day on trail, I woke up in Lincoln, New Hampshire not feeling great. Sixlegs and I stopped for breakfast and headed to the trail, arriving at Kinsman Notch at around 6:45AM. I couldn't even finish my breakfast and was wondering how I was going to hike into the Whites that day. We started the climb up Mt Wolf just after 7AM and I felt awful - it took me 45 minutes to hike the first mile. The climb wasn't even hard but I just couldn't get moving. Sixlegs hiked with me for the first two hours before having to turn around and head back to his car to return home.

Mt Wolf wasn't a total bust - about two miles in we saw a moose! It was a male and was walking down the trail in front of us. He eventually wandered off the trail into the woods and stopped a little ways off and just starred at us. A lot of SOBO hikers passed us - Sixlegs had heard a southbounder saying "sure they've done 80% of the trail but only 20% of the work!". I laughed - there is an informal rivalry between NOBOs and SOBOs about who is hiking the 'right' direct - all of the SOBOs we had met up until then had a certain arrogance because they had already completed Maine and the White Mountains, which are considered the hardest part of the trail. The trail was definitely getting physically harder, but I knew that thru hiking the trail was mostly a mental feat. I had already hit my mental and physical limit time after time - I felt like a few days in the Whites couldn't possibly be my breaking point.

At 9AM Sixlegs turned around, and I almost turned around with him - the pains in my stomach were getting more severe. But I'm stubborn and didn't want to get off trail. I was worried about being able to catch up to my friends and wanted to stay on schedule - plus the weather report showed a couple good day of weather followed by a week of rain. I stopped at Eliza Brook Shelter 7.5 miles in - it was already 11:00. I ate a granola bar but otherwise didn't feel like eating anything all day long. The trail paralleled Eliza Brook for a while before starting up the climb to the Kinsman Mountains - towards the top the trail was steep and rocky. I was moving slowly and the pains in my stomach were getting worse. I was worried about giardia, this stomach ache seemed worse than the normal pains I had eating too much 'town food'. I had waves of cramps that would bring me to a halt and be so painful that it made it hard to breathe - I would stand on the trail, doubled over in pain. From the top of Kinsman I called my mom, not knowing what to do - she said 'where are you now?' and I said 'I'm literally on top of a mountain!' - I knew there was nothing she could do for me, I guess I just wanted to hear her sympathy.

The view from the top of South Kinsman was awesome, but I couldn't even enjoy it. I didn't stay long because I knew it would take me a long time to do the rest of my miles that day. I stopped at Kinsman Pond Shelter for another break but I still couldn't eat - I just laid on the bench, not wanting to move. Another 1.8 miles down the trail was Lonesome Lake Hut - lots of day/weekend hikers around who had hiked in to stay there. Usually there are baked goods and soup for purchase, and thru hikers can sometimes do work-for-stay to sleep in the huts but I kept moving, I didn't want to be around that many people.

The next few miles were downhill to I-93. I was still getting waves of bad cramps and didn't get to the highway until 6:30PM after about 16.8 miles. I was considering getting a hitch back into town but was hoping I would feel better in the morning so I continued 2.6 miles to Liberty Spring Campsite. The campsite was most the way up the climb to Franconia Ridge and I was moving miserably slow. I swear it took me 10 minutes to do the last 0.1 mile. I got excited when I could smell Ramen cooking because I knew I was close. I ran into the caretaker as soon as I got to the side trail to the campsite (after 18.9 miles for the day) and he took me right to my tenting spot - the campsites in the Whites all have caretakers and have fees. Hikers also can't camp above tree line or within 1/4 mile of a designated campsite, which limits where you can set up your tent. I put up my tent and passed out, without eating dinner and didn't bother putting my food in the bear box.

I was not ready to get up when my alarm when off on Friday July 20th - I snoozed until 6:15AM when I had to make an emergency visit to the privy. I was still feeling the effects of the Imodium I took several days before - no one said thru hiking would be glamorous.

I got on trail a little after 7 hoping that it would be a better day. There was only 0.3 miles of climbing before I joined the Franconia Ridge Trail and it leveled off for a bit. The toughest part was getting up Little Haystack, which climbed up to 4,800' - the other climbs on the ridge weren't as long. The views were outstanding - blue sky, lots of sun, I could see Mt Lincoln (5,089') and Mt Lafayette (5,254') ahead of me and the Kinsmans behind me - the trail was above treeline and it was cool to see where I had come from and where I was going most of the day. From the top of Mt Lafayette I could see smoke from the cog railroad on Mt Washington in the distance - where I would be hiking the next day.

I wasn't feeling stomach pains, but I wasn't moving as quickly as I had hoped. I wanted to cover a good amount of miles that day to close the gap between my friends and I. Cell coverage wasn't great, so I didn't have a good way to get in touch with them. The descent had plenty of steep rocky sections. I needed water but Garfield Pond looked unappetizing so I passed. The climb up Mt Garfield was steep and slow, only about 0.5 miles to the 4,453' peak. I finally found a nice cold spring at the Garfield Ridge Campsite spur trail.

By noon I had only gone 7.4 miles - very slow day. The trails were crowded, lots of day, weekend, and section hikers. At Galehead Hut I stopped for water and bought a snickers. There was only one more big climb for the day - up South Twin Mountain (4,902') - it was only 0.8 miles but steep and rocky. I passed Mt Guyot (4,578') without really stopping - the trail smoothed out for a bit and I tried to take advantage by picking up my speed a little. Zealand Falls Hut was crowded and I didn't even stop in for a snack or water. I know that I had stayed at the Hut as a camper at Arcadia but I didn't recognize anything about it.

The last 4.6 miles to Ethan Pond Campsite (AT mile 1,842.6) were flat, some parts were a nice dirt path through the woods - a welcome reprieve. I met a thru hiker named Tres (finishing his triple crown) - we hiked the last three miles together which made them go by quickly. I got to camp a little after 7:00 PM after 22.2 miles and cowboy camped under the stars on a tent pad since I knew it was one of the last dry nights for awhile. I had made it through the day without experiencing debilitating cramps - I planned on getting up early the next day to get back on schedule.

I was woken up in the middle of the night by hikers walking through the campsite, I'm assuming looking for a place to tent. After walking in circles, shining their headlamps on everyone sleeping I finally yelled "go away!" and they did. I was up by 4:50AM and out by 5:15. The first three miles continued to be flat and easy until the road at Crawford Notch. I could see the next climb looming overhead from the parking lot - I crossed the Saco River and began the climb up Mt Webster. I was excited that there were something resembling switchbacks at the bottom of the climb since the Whites don't really do switchbacks - the trail typically takes the most direct route to the top.

I started the climb around 6:30 and got to the top around 8:30 where I proceeded to have another mini breakdown. I just felt defeated. And lonely. I knew I wasn't going to quit, but I was just so tired of walking and my body was really starting to feel the impact of pushing myself as hard as I had been for the past three months.

I continued hiking to Mt Jackson along the ridgeline - I was able to make good time to Mizpah Spring Hut and stopped in for water and a candy bar. Another short steep climb up Mt Pierce and then another flat section to Lake of the Clouds Hut. I arrived there around 1:00PM - it's a popular hut because it's only 1.5 miles from the summit of Mt Washington. It was a Saturday and I was expecting a crowd, but there were a lot of people wandering around. I went inside for a piece of gingerbread cake and saw that Pizza had signed the log book just two hours before me! It gave me hope that I was catching up to my friends. I hurried up the trail to see if I could find her on the summit - there were tons of people leaving and returning to the hut and I basically bulldozed through all of them. I'm usually very patient and polite (I swear!) to other hikers on the trail, but there were just too many people and children not paying attention to anyone else around them.

I got to the top of Mt Washington a little before 2:00 PM and was overwhelmed by the amount of people at the top. I stopped into the lodge for a snack but couldn't handle the crowd. The line to get a photo at the summit sign was about 40 people long so I didn't even wait. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon with clear blue skies. But what I didn't know was that it was also Seek the Peak Day - their annual fundraiser. After hearing that I decided to get moving as fast as possible - I ran into two other thru hikers, Giggles and Pepper Jack, and we were all in a rush to get off the mountain. The cog rail was continually making trips to drop more and more people off at the top. The next stretch of trail was very rocky and slow - I ran into several thru hikers taking a break at Madison Spring Hut around 5:15. I was also in desperate need of a break since I had been above treeline since 8:30 that morning and had gotten way too much sun.

I started the 0.4 mile climb up Madison at 5:45PM - it was a very steep rock pile but the descent was even worse The first mile out of the Hut took me an hour. I couldn't get into a good rhythm since every step took thought and precision. I finally made it to treeline as the sun was setting and still had another 1.4 miles to go to the Osgood Campsite (AT mile 1866.7). My knees were in a lot of pain after all of the tall rocky steps down and didn't get to the campsite until after 8 PM. It was very full but was able to find some nice hikers willing to let me set up my tent next to their tent pad. I was too tired to eat dinner that night and again slept with my food instead of putting it in the bear box. The weather report had been calling for rain to move in overnight and continue for the next couple days. I passed out quickly, but was actually very proud of myself for covering the 24.1 miles that day over Presidential Range (although the AT skips going over most of the peaks) and some of the toughest parts of the Whites.

When I woke up Sunday July 22nd I expected it to be raining, but there was not even very many clouds in the sky. I had let myself sleep in until 6:15AM and was on trail by 6:45. The 4.8 miles to the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center were pretty easy - I made good time as I watched the clouds roll in and felt the wind pick up. I arrived at Pinkham Notch at around 8:30 and wandered around the gift shop. My body was tired from the previous couple of days. I had one more full day before I would be done with the White Mountains but I really didn't feel like climbing up the Wildcats with the storm coming in. I ate at the buffet breakfast in the visitor center and when I walked back outside to my pack I found Pizza! She had also stayed at the Osgood Campsite the previous night but had arrived earlier and was already asleep when I arrived. She hadn't seen Bird, Coors, or Strider since the Kinsmans - they were about half a day ahead of us.

She was also not motivated to hike with the impending storm. We were procrastinating when we ran into Quesadilla and Overdrive, two thru hikers we had been running into for several weeks now. They were on a similar schedule since Quesadilla had to be done with her hike by August 8th in order to make it back to school in time. We asked what their plan was and they said they were going to find a hitch into Gorham and go to McDonalds - Pizza and I immediately decided to tag along. We found an easy hitch from Pinkham Notch into Gorham and sat eating fast food for a couple hours and watched the rain come in. We walked to the Royalty Inn down the road and booked a room for two nights. More rain was forecasted for the next day so we decided we would get a good nights sleep, hitch back to Pinkham Notch the next morning, finish the last peaks of the Whites and then return to Gorham to dry off and shower/laundry/resupply. It poured on and off all day and I was glad to have a rest day to allow my knees some time to recover from the rock piles I had been climbing up and down for the past three days.

Monday July 23rd I was up early to get breakfast at Dunkin Donuts before our ride picked us up at 7:00AM to take us back to Pinkham Notch. It was cool and cloudy but dry until we rounded the bend into the Notch. It was rainy and windy as we headed north on the trail to do the remaining peaks of the White Mountains. The first stretch up the Wildcats was flat around Lost Pond. Each rock pile was kind of like a puzzle to solve. Pizza moved quickly and I didn't see her almost the entire day, while Quesadilla and Overdrive hiked just a little ways behind me. We had been warned about the Wildcats and about the rocks and steep sections and were especially worried about how slippery they would be in the rain. Luckily you can't believe anything anyone tells you. It was challenging, but nothing we hadn't already experienced. It was warm enough that being drenched did not make us cold - and the clouds were so thick there was nothing to see at any of the view points, so we had no reason to stop.

The trail went up and down the ridgeline and I couldn't distinguish between any of the Wildcat peaks (I believe the AT went over four of them). I stopped at Carter Notch Hut (another one I had visited as a camper) expecting to find Pizza but all I found were some wimpy weekend hikers who didn't want to go anywhere because of the rain. I climbed up Carter Dome with Quesadilla as it began to pour. Once we got to the ridgeline the trail flattened out and we were able to move a bit quicker. We skipped all the side trails to the Carter summits. The descent to Imp Shelter was very challenging - lots of sitting and scooting. I took the side trail to the Imp Shelter and found a group of thru hikers who had taken a blue blazed trail to bypass some of the peaks - I stood on the porch out of the rain for a few minutes to take a break and eat a snack. I was glad to know that I had a bed in a dry hotel room waiting for me. One of the section hikers in the shelter told me that the descent to US 2 from Mt Moriah was very flat and nicely graded, "easy, even for an old man like me". I had learned to take everything I hear about the trail with a grain of salt, but I was hopeful that this was true. I hustled over Mt Moriah, again skipping the side trails to the peaks. The first couple miles of the descent were steep with rocks, but the last four miles were like a dream. It had stopped raining and the trail descended next to the Rattle River (which of course the trail crossed three times) at an easy grade, I could have run down if my knees weren't wrecked. About 1.5 miles from the road I found Pizza, she was limping. She had fallen on Mt Moriah and was now feeling pain in her knee and worried that her rib might be broken. Overdrive and Quesadilla showed up at the road shortly after we did, just before 7:00PM. We had completed 21.1 miles and finished the White Mountains. Hitching didn't work, there weren't many cars passing, so we walked to the nearby hiker hostel and paid for a ride back to our hotel. Everyone was exhausted and it was pouring again. We ate dinner, took showers, and decided to worry about our chores in the morning.