Saturday, July 23rd

Mount Moosilauke via Kinsman Notch Parking Lot (1804.9 mi) to Hikers Welcome Hostel (1795.4 mi) – Southbound hike

Hiking Miles: 9.5

Total Ascent: 3,128.3 ft

Total Descent: 3,943.2 ft

Total Grade: 726.2 ft/mi

Steps: 26,563

DAVID BOWIE – Young Americans

Gator/Sunrise: I enjoyed a comfortable night’s sleep in the newly built barn on the second floor. We used the outside staircase to enter the building, and there were about 8 bunks on the floor and a few couches and chairs to relax on.

A small kitchenette area was located within the main building, so I toasted a breakfast sandwich (sausage and cheese) and also had some pastry and freshly brewed coffee that I prepared for everyone. The accommodations were rustic, however it served hiker’s purpose. A flush toilet and shower were located outside (with privacy curtains), as well as a running sink, laundry and a trash/recycling station. Two friendly caretakers (who were experienced hikers) named “Legion” and Acadicus (for ease, we remembered his name as “A Day To Kiss”) ran the hostel. They offered companionship around a campfire each night, played the guitar, and offered advice to those not familiar with the Whites.

There was also a small store there for purchasing resupply items, however for today’s hike, we had enough snacks remaining, and Sean had brought several items for us as well. The six of us (which included Demi and Danika) were primed and ready for an epic hike up Mount Moosilauke. The pups desperately needed to burn off some energy as they were restless, and had been barking several times during the night. They had tented last evening and I’m sure there were unfamiliar noises heard throughout the night that kept them from sleeping soundly.

The slack pack was a southbound hike, which started at the base of Kinsman Notch (where we will start tomorrow and continue North) and end back at the hostel. This direction proved efficient not only because it conveniently found ourselves back at the hostel, but the uphill was intense and the downhill casual. With my old knees, downhills were much more taxing, and besides having a tough uphill early in the day was much easier than tackling when we have already hiked several miles later in the day.

The four and change miles up the mountain didn’t take long at all, which afforded us luxury time to spend at the top, eat lunch, and take in the incredible views. We couldn’t have asked for a better day, and although there were many groups of hikers around, it didn’t feel overcrowded.

The hike down was leisurely and not before long we found ourselves back at the hostel where we chilled in the yard area and talked. We did stop to admire the 1800 marker that was on trail, however we were a little past that point keeping in mind we were doing a SOBO hike today. But nonetheless, it was our indicator that we had less than 400 miles to the finish.

Around 4ish, Sean, Jess and the pups said their goodbyes, and left us with extra snacks for the trail for which we were grateful. It was awesome that they spent the day with us. It was perfect timing as well, as it is very unpredictable where we could be at any given time due to our aggressive schedule of finishing by mid-August when Stevie and Christina attend a friend’s wedding at UMASS.

That evening, we sat around the campfire and were talking with Acadicus and a few hikers. As Croc indicated, Acadicus warned specific hikers about the upcoming terrain in the Kinsmans (17 miles worth) and he didn’t instill much confidence in them actually making it in one day, slack pack or otherwise. To be honest, despite having hiked 1800 already to this point, and keeping up with (relatively) with Croc, I was beginning to doubt my ability to make it rhrough the White Mountains. Acadicus did say Croc and I had a good shot at getting through the Kinsmans tomorrow en route to the Notch Hostel based on hearing our progress to date. Knowing we had to catch an early morning shuttle, we decided to call it a night before 9:30 pm.

Funny story (perhaps not so funny) – there happened to be a family who parked their van on the grounds near the barn we were sleeping in. They had a son who snuck into the barn at night and slept on one of the open bunks. Not only did the family give Legion a hard time for not paying to park their van there, but they weaseled their way into not paying for a bed at the hostel.

Croc: The great part about a slack-pack back to your current location is that you don’t have to repack your AT bag before leaving in the morning. I was able to keep all my gear spread out to dry for another day and only had to grab a few snacks and a water bottle for my slack-pack. I grabbed a stylish yellow-orange neon bag from the hostel. Eventually, I joined Gator for some breakfast before the hike and also checked in on Sean and Jess to make sure they were ready for the car ride over to Kinsman Notch. It was the perfect hike for them to join because it (1) brought us back to our original location and their car, (2) was a relatively short day of 10 miles for newbie hikers, and (3) still included a mountain with great views. Gator and I treated today as a nero before hitting the serious mountains in the Whites.

We were lucky to hike southbound because we started the day with a steep incline up Moosilauke and then had a gradual downhill back to the hostel. It’s always much easier to hike up the steep sections and take a casual route downhill to avoid having to go down step by step.

At first, I wasn’t sure if the small wiener dogs were capable of this type of hike, but they were masters. They easily outpaced us, running ahead and exploring the brush while they waited for us to catch up. I was a little nervous, though, because these dogs were off-leash (which is not allowed in the Whites or most trails) and they also had a temper. Every time we passed hikers coming the other way, I had to avert my eyes in embarrassment as the dogs yapped away. We made it up the mountain fairly quickly (maybe a few hours) due to the fast pace of the dogs, allowing us to enjoy a nice lunch break at the peak. It was a beautiful day and our first real glimpse of the mountains in New Hampshire. While we had lunch, I overheard a group of people celebrating someone finishing their 48th 4,000-footer in New Hampshire. On par with the AT, that’s another challenging goal many hikers strive to achieve by hiking all 48 4,000-footers in New Hampshire. Some people even push it to the 67 4,000-footers in New England. A key word to remember with the 4,000-footers is prominence, as you will go over probably 100 4,000-foot peaks on the AT. However, in order to be considered a mountain or part of the 48 4,000 footers, you have to have topographic prominence, meaning you must be the main peak in a certain area or at least go down and back up enough to be considered a separate peak.

After staying at the peak for about an hour, we made our way back down the mountain. I kept thinking about the guy named “The Bear” back in Pennsylvania that we met before going to Lisa’s hostel. He kept mentioning Moosilauke because I was from New Hampshire, but I honestly had no clue this mountain even existed until now, so I just nodded. But it was good to see it actually did exist and was a really fun climb. On our way down, we passed the 1,800-mile mark, but it was pretty uneventful going the other way because we already kind of hit 1,800 miles. I wonder if southbounders see all these mile markers and count down instead of up?

We made it to the end of the hike, and of course, the last quarter-mile had a small river to jump across. It was an inconveniently placed river to get your shoes wet right before the end of the hike. Luckily, we made it over no problem, but I’d imagine it would be a tough crossing during a wet summer. We made it back to the hostel and were able to relax a bit because it was only 2:00 – 3:00 PM. We grabbed some food and chatted with Sean and Jess, sitting around a fire pit. We overheard a few other hikers talking to the hostel caretaker about the upcoming terrain. I don’t recall his actual name (maybe Gator does), but I remember it was pronounced like “A Day to Kiss.” I tried to listen in on his suggested plan, but he kept mentioning that people in their age range/physique level (they were maybe 40/50s?) would only be able to go about 10 miles a day in the Whites, and he wouldn’t suggest they do the 17-mile Kinsman hike to Lincoln the next day. Basically, only people who could run marathons could make that hike in time. I wasn’t even going to ask his opinion on whether we could make it, seeing that Gator was 60. I also knew that Gator had hiked 1,800 miles with a marathoner, so the 17-mile hike tomorrow would be no problem for him. I started to sense that people thought we were lying when we told them our daily average was 19 miles so far.

After Sean and Jess left, Gator and I did a resupply inside the hostel. We grabbed some more ramen and snacks for our upcoming trip into the Whites, even though it would turn out we didn’t even need them. We also planned for a shuttle ride the next morning, and the other hostel caretaker graciously offered to take us an hour earlier than normal to ensure we could make it to Lincoln by 5:00 PM to catch a free ride to the Notch Hostel.