Gorham to Glencliff, NH

We are now in Glencliff, NH, just on out of the White Mtns. It's been an eventful and tiring week and a half in the big rocky mountains and we are quite glad to be on this side.

It has taken us longer to get here than we had originally thought because after leaving Gorham, after 1.8 miles, we were camping at Rattle River Shelter and Anna fell, straining some muscles in her calf, and the next morning we headed back to the road and got a ride from "Bear" from The Cabin in Andover, ME. For the additional two days in Gorham, we stayed at The Barn, by far the best lodging for the price in Gorham, and were met by Anna's friend Tom, who had come to hike five days in the Whites with us.

So the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club).... they have quite a monopoly on the White Mountains, The huts are extremely luxurious camps which cater to the city folk who are willing to pay up to $80 per person for a bunk with breakfast and dinner prepared for them. The AMC takes two thru-hikers per night on work for stay terms, meaning they do 1 hour or work in exchange for being allowed to sleep in their quarters, most often in the dinning room, on a table or on the floor. We are grateful we were able to take these work for stay opportunities, however we were upset that in order to get some sleep at night, we would have to stay up until 11:00 when all the guests had gone to bed, only to be awoken just before 6:00 when the AMC Hut Croo's had to set the tables for breakfast. To their credit, the food was delicious, and the croo's were mostly very friendly. Anna knew one of the croo members at Lakes of the Clouds, the busies hut with 97 guests that night, because she had been an '05 grad of Bryn Mawr.

The first three presidential mountains, Madison, Adams, and Jefferson, were incredible and we had perfect weather to hike them. Once we got to Washington the weather had turned and clouded over, and as we waited two and a half hours at the top, it began to rain for our hike down to Lakes of the Clouds. Hiking the next day down out of the presidential range was foggy and we had few views of more than a mile, though the following day we went up to hike onto Franconia Ridge which was impresive and we have many great pictures to develop. The rocky steep climbs that charactize the White Mountains really began in mid-Maine just after Stratton. We've climbed over 10 mountains that had sections (up to 8 miles stretches) above treeline.

Yesterday we climbed our last, Mt. Moosilauke. When we were on top of the mountain, we saw a message written in sticks, "Hi Anna." Additionally, on the way up, people were telling us that there was a message waiting for Bluebird at the Hikers Welcome hostel. When we made it down the mountain, we were suprized by Anna's parents who had driven up on their vacation to meet us in Glencliff. They had hiked up Mt. Moosilauke to meet us, but we did not pass through until two hours after they had began to hike down. We had a nice time in town with them, went out to dinner, had ice cream, and toured the town by CAR.

We have decided to take a zero day as a reward for making it out of the White Mountains and onto easier terrain. Doing so, we're taking a day to watch movies and sit around, first was Saving Silverman, now Troy, who knows what's next. We're looking forward to getting into Hannover, NH, the home of Dartmuth College the home of the first outing club, the Dartmuth Outing Club, who maintains the trails from Mt. Moosilauke into Vermont. We'll probably not take a zero day there as originally expected because the area doesn't have any cheap hostels or other stay options. From there we should have smooth sailing through Vermont as many have told us is very well maintained easy trail.

Just as a side note, we found a digital scale at Hikers Welcome and have been able to weigh our packs.

Here are the results (with 4 days food and water)
Anna's pack: 25 lbs.
Garrett's pack: 19.5 lbs.

398.5 miles behind us, just a few more to go to hit 2,175 on Springer!