Monday, July 25th

Liberty Springs Trailhead (1821.3 mi) to Galehead Hut (1834.2 mi)

Hiking Miles: 12.9

Total Ascent: 6,098.8 ft

Total Descent: 3,741.5 ft

Total Grade: 759.9 ft/mi

Steps: 40,687

FLEETWOOD MAC – Gypsy

Gator/Sunrise: Today was perhaps the most epic day on trail for me for a number of reasons, but mainly for the elements we endured and the prize at the end of the day which I will get to. To start, I haven’t seen it rain so hard since the time when we were in Georgia and it poured four straight days. This morning I sat peacefully on the Notch’s front porch with a cup of hot coffee enjoying the solace of the raindrops crashing the pavement. I thought to myself how awfully uncomfortable it would be to start out on trail in this weather, keeping in mind we had a half-mile walk before we even reached the trailhead leading to Mount Lafayette.

A gentleman was sitting about ten feet from me in a rocking chair and he was focused on booking flight reservations. Good for him for making arrangements early before the breakfast crowd. I was getting a bit hungry myself and thought it would be a good time to hit the kitchen and make some pancakes for everyone. The kitchen was stocked with several choices from cereal, oatmeal, pancakes and granola bars. Plus I needed more coffee.

At the dining table, a number of hikers were formulating decisions as to whether they were going to weather the storm or hunker down for the day. Some of them had already made their decision to “zero” the night prior. Lucky for them, the Notch was certainly a great place to stay, chill and converse.

After breakfast, we gathered our belongings and I covered my backpack to keep contents dry. Serena (the hostel co-owner) drove Croc and I back to the Liberty Springs trail, a 1/2-mile walk from the trailhead. She informed us that she co-founded the hostel back in 2015 with a friend, to provide a comfortable and affordable haven for hikers to crash. And, she absolutely loved this particular area of New Hampshire. Serena certainly knew her peaks and trails extremely well, and provided us with handy hiking trail advice. I recalled thinking how her mannerisms and the way she spoke reminded me of a girl I knew back in high school (complete random and irrelevant thought). Despite the weather and the unforgiving terrain of Mount Lafayette, Serena was confident that we would do fine based on our progress to date. I also remember thinking how I wished I was as confident as she was about my abilities.

As we started our ascent up the mountain, I felt the best approach was to tackle the weather and the terrain head-on, aggressively yet carefully. The biggest thing however was not to lose focus that we were hiking on slippery rock. With only having been on trail one hour, a stream was forming directly on trail, which was a sign that we would effectively be hiking in a rocky river during certain stretches today.

Our approach early on was also to efficient, but not to be rushed for time. For example, we took an opportunity to hike a blue blaze to Mount Liberty so we could receive credit for another NH 4000 footer. Visibility was nonexistent so it certainly wasn’t for the views. One thing I do remember about Mount Liberty were the powerful wind gusts that literally knocked me over onto a giant boulder.

After descending Liberty, our next big milestone was reaching the summit of Mount Lafayette. Even under pristine weather conditions, this was not a trivial climb, let alone a rainy windstorm. It was probably one of those days they warn hikers to use extreme judgment when hiking above the tree line or even not hike at all. The only signs of life up here other than Croc and I were the birds we heard in the distance. One particular bird had a very distinct and rhythmic call. Croc swore the bird was repeating the words “You’re an idiot” meant for us for being here. It was truly so bad that I seriously questioned whether we were going to survive this climb. Without looking at FarOut (we kept our phones under dry cover), we had no idea how close we were to the top. Then for just a brief moment, the clouds parted and through the clearing we saw a breathtaking majestic mountain right before our eyes. It was the most memorable sight of day. I compared it to looking out of an airplane window just as the jet flew out of the clouds. The only downside was we still had a long way to climb.

When we finally reached the top, it felt like such a huge accomplishment. And now that we were finally here, it was actually exhilarating, and worth the climb in relatively stormy conditions. I emphasize “relatively” because there have been extreme storms on Lafayette where some of the most experienced hikers would not have attempted.

Upon our descent, we spotted a couple hiking towards us (SOBO’s) who were heading up Lafayette, then down into North Woodstock for a stay at the Notch. In fact, they stayed at the Gaylehead Hut last night, where we thought about going this evening at one point, but was a bit far. They stopped briefly to chat with us, and asked how long it took us to hike to the Liberty Spring’s trail head. They raved about the stuffed shells they had for dinner at the hut, along with the salad, rolls, vegetables, various desserts and coffee. They made it sound so good that I was convinced we needed to pivot our plans and reach the hut by 6:00 pm when they started serving. However, we still had to climb Mount Garfield, then subsequently deal with a challenging descent, that likely was a river.

At 4:15 pm, we had 4.3 miles to go to reach Gaylehead Hut and we were at another pivotal juncture in our hike. We either could take a small side trail and stay at a shelter, or we could continue down unpredictable terrain and hope the Gaylehead Hut had room for us. I flip-flopped a few times, but something inside my head said just do it – head for the hut and figure it out then. We had just one extremely steep climb down a gushing rock hill to overcome. When we finally reached the bottom, the terrain eased and our pace increased. Checking my time, there was no way I was going to make it to the hut by 6 pm so I had an insight to tell Croc to go ahead (he was 2x faster than me) and save a spot for me. I figured I’d be no more than 30 minutes behind. He agreed, and did just that. He also reserved two bunks for the night, and even got a lower one for me that the hut typically reserved for older hikers (haha).

I reached the hut by 6:30 pm and when I climbed onto the front porch and peaked through the door window, I saw Croc across the hall sitting at a table facing me with a smile and a thumbs up. THANK YOU STEVIE!! He was served his food, and after I sat down (totally exhausted and thankful to be there), a nice woman (who helped cooked the meal) immediately approached our table and brought me a bowl of hot Coconut Chick Pea Stew and several slices of honey oatmeal bread, for starters. I was so hungry, I ate everything served including roasted chicken with various vegetables and cilantro rice, a fresh garden salad, and multiple freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and coffee to end things off. Not including the incredibly delicious meal we were served at the Moschetto’s on the evening of Cinco de Mayo, tonight’s meal was the best dinner on trail!

Later that evening, I squared away our bill, set up my bunk and then just stretched out on my bed. I was so happy that we made the choice to hike to the hut rather than staying outdoors in a wet and damp shelter. Overall, today was an epic one.

Croc: I was a little worried this morning, seeing how badly it was raining and knowing that more storms were approaching. Normally, I’d be okay with some rain, but there were three significant differences today. First, hiking in New Hampshire during a storm while above the tree line is a lot more dangerous. The wind exposure, cold temperatures, and potential threat of lightning are far worse than a lower elevation hike under the protection of the trees, like when we hiked in Georgia. Second, I knew the rocky terrain would be slow and slippery as we scaled our way back down the mountain, increasing our chances of injury this late in the hike. Lastly, we didn’t have a place to bail out during the day unless we backtracked or took a blue blaze down a random path. If this happened, it would feel like a colossal waste of time, and we might as well have taken a “zero” day. It wasn’t an easy decision since every other hiker in the hostel was taking a zero today, and it also wasn’t easy seeing a fellow hiker napping in a hammock on the porch while we packed up to hike.

Fortunately, the hostel owner, Serena, was confident in our abilities and assured us the storm wouldn’t be too bad. This helped relieve some of my anxiety. It’s funny; we’ve met many people on the trail who were overly confident in our abilities, saying we could easily crush a section, and others who didn’t think we could complete a section in a day. There’s a story coming up on a future blog about a girl who kept ensuring us that we could NOT complete a slack-pack in one day (spoiler alert: we did). I don’t think anyone is being mean, just tempering our expectations based on their experiences.

With Serena’s encouragement, I felt confident that Gator and I could complete Franconia Ridge today. Gator is not only a stronger hiker than most 20-30 year olds on the trail, but he is also more determined and wouldn’t back down from a challenge. I knew if there were an issue on the ridge during the storm, he would stay calm and keep going.

We began our hike with a flat half-mile blue blaze back to the trail and immediately started up the ridge. The rain wasn’t too bad under the trees, but it made for a soggy, cold incline. One plus of the bad weather was that we only crossed paths with a few people. Early on, we met a group of young hikers completing the Pemi Loop in the Whites, but that conversation was short and sweet. I don’t think we saw anyone for another 6 hours until we crossed paths with a couple on the tail end of Mount Lafayette (who recommended staying at the Galehead Hut). Years ago I completed this same ridge hike during my sophomore year of college while visiting my friend, Adam Haidari. It was a perfect summer day, but the trail was packed with people. Comparing the two experiences I think I enjoyed the solitude over the views.

Given the conditions and the lack of people around, I made sure Gator and I stayed within view of each other. I didn’t want to risk us losing each other within the storm cloud, especially after hearing that someone had died on Mt. Washington during a storm the month prior.

After finishing the ridge walk, we started to make our decent and we eventually passed the couple (mentioned above) who were heading to the Notch Hostel. They were trying to figure out how long it would take them to get to the Liberty Spring Trailhead. It had taken us about 6 hours, but we figured they could do it quicker since the storms were clearing up and they would be heading downhill instead of up. We then asked them where they were coming from and they mentioned the Galehead Hut. Gator and I had no intentions of staying at the hut until this couple described how incredible their night was there the day prior. Not to mention the bowls of food and how cozy it was in the mountains. This would surely beat the cold, wet, blue blaze camp spot that we were planning for the night. The only downside was that we were presumably at least 6 hours away from the hut if this couple started hiking at the same time as us, and we didn’t have a reservation. A lot of the time these huts are booked days, if not months, in advanced. I tried calling the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), also known jokingly as the Appalachian Money Club for their high prices, to see if they could get us a reservation. Unfortunately, there was no way for them to contact the hut this late in the day since they normally contact them days in advance with a guest list. Gator and I continued to hike as we kept going back and forth between wanting to push it another 4 miles to the hut, or just call it a day at the campsite. The real issue was not the extra miles, but if there was even space in the hut and that we could make it in time for dinner at 6:00PM. It would be heart breaking to push it to the hut and they turned out to be full, or they ran out of food. These huts typically give away their extra food to AT hikers in exchange for work, so there was no way to know if they planned on doing that before we arrived. Normally this would be an easy decision to hike 4 more miles in the south since it would take us about 1.5 hours; however, in NH, the 4 extra miles could take 4 hours. It also didn’t help that on the downhill I severely twisted my ankle and couldn’t walked for a few minutes.

As we continued, we did have one nice view when hit Mt. Garfield. The skies cleared up and we could see the ridge that we just completed and also the mountains we’d be climbing tomorrow. The mountain top was a cool spot with a torn down structure (I think fire tower) that hikers could surely camp in. Turns out that one of tramily members, Double Trouble, cowboy camped here with his brother nearly a month later during his AT hike. It must have been a beautiful sunset and star gazing night.

Eventually, as Gator mentioned, we hit the junction point where we had to decide between moving on and risking the hut being full, or calling it a night at an AMC campsite. Gator made the decision to risk it, so we started booking it to the hut before dinner ended. Of course, we immediately experience a waterfall like decent over slippery rocks that dramatically slowed our pace. Just as we lost all confidence, the trail smoothed out a bit and we got moving. With the conditions clearing up, I eventually separated from Gator and hiked ahead hoping that I could make it to the hut and reserve a spot before it was too late.

As I approached the hut, I saw a few people peaking outside to enjoy the sunset and briefly talked to an AT hiker that was taking notes on an outside bench. I asked him if he was staying for the night and if there was space in the hut. He said that he wasn’t sure if there was any space left, but that he was doing a work-for-stay and they instructed him to stay outside while the paying guests ate their dinner. He also mentioned that the host was strictly only allowing one work-for-stay. Even though Gator and I planned on paying, I was a little nervous barging into the hut during dinner looking like an AT hiker asking to stay for free.

My nerves were quickly calmed when the host and his family came out of the kitchen and welcomed me in. They had just finished serving dinner and were washing plates and prepping dessert. The father asked how he could help me. I said that I had a question for them, but not one that they typically get from AT hikers… “Do you have a pay-for-stay?” I could tell that the host was also relieved that he didn’t have to decline me for a work-for-stay and he brightened up and said, “Absolutely!” I mentioned that my Dad would be arriving soon and would be joining us for dinner as well. I asked if I needed to pay now, but the host was incredibly friendly and said, “Don’t even worry about it. We will get it all settled tonight or tomorrow. Just get warmed up.” He quickly showed me around the hut and reserved two bunks for us right by the kitchen, ensuring that Gator had a lower bunk for an easy in-and-out. He then told me that I could just throw my wet bag and clothes on the ground and that I could join the group for dinner whenever. Luckily for us, we got access to all the leftover food so they gave me (at the time) a whole family size bowl of food. Not long after Gator arrived and I gave him the thumbs up to come in. I felt a little guilty that I started eating before him, but there was plenty of food for us both. A little kid even stopped by our table and asked for some bread. I was a little hesitant at first because I was starving, but I also couldn’t leave the kid hanging. After dinner, we also got all of the leftover dessert, which included a whole plate of cookies. The whole meal was even better than what the couple described. It was the first time that day that Gator and I could truly relax. The whole day we were worried about the storms, the mileage and terrain, where we were going stay, if the hut would be open, etc. Now we were warm, had a bunk, and had full stomaches.

All I remember after that was showing Gator his bunk, throwing on my warm thermal shirt and pants, and then lying down on my bunk to digest dinner. I had eaten so much I couldn’t even move. It was only 7:00-8:00PM, but I quickly passed out and didn’t even remember going to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night in a mini panic forgetting where I was and when I went to bed. I was quickly soothed back to sleep with the rain outside.