AT alternative through the whites ...

[David Metsky]

Beth wants to avoid the Whites, yet we have suggestions talking about the Pemi!

I would appreciate any trail suggestions that would take me from Gorham to Moosilauke.

No, she is trying to avoid the crowds along the AT while getting from Gorham to Moosilauke. It's possible that a route could be created that avoids the Whites all together, but the most reasonable answer would probably be a route through the Whites that isn't the AT.

It's possible to string together a route that avoids the most of the AT but there are some sections that you can't avoid, and it would involve some of the more remote trails. Once such route might be:

- Stay on the AT to Mt Moriah
- Moriah Brook trail down to Wild River Campground
- Wild River trail to Perkins Notch
- Bog Brook and Halls Ledge trails to Rt 16
- Rocky Branch to Stairs Col trail
- Davis Path to Rt 302 and a short road walk
- Nancy Pond trail to Stillwater Junction
- Wilderness trail to Osceo Trail
- Osceo trail up to Liberty Springs (rejoin the AT)
- Franconia Ridge trail to Falling Waters (leave the AT) to Franconia Notch
- Lonesome Lake->Hi-Cannon-Kinsman Ridge trails
- Rejoin AT above Kinsman Pond and follow it to Kinsman Notch

This route takes you on a few more isolated trails but nothing with exceptionally hard route finding. The problem is that you miss all the best sections of the hike through the Whites and avoid some of the easier backcountry camping spots. Do you really want to avoid the Presidential range because there are people up there?

 

[DayTrip]

Didn't she leave for Millinocket on 7/8 (Thread #22)? I think much effort is being expended for nothing at this point. Of course that's fun too.

 

[peakbagger]

You are correct but confused. She will most likely be stopping at several hostels with WiFI and many shelters these days have folks firing up their phones and checking their emails and forums from the picnic table.

 

[skiguy]

You are correct but confused. She will most likely be stopping at several hostels with WiFI and many shelters these days have folks firing up their phones and checking their emails and forums from the picnic table.

That only in itself being an assumption. If she is wanting to evade the Presidentials and people in general is not possible she may be totally unplugging. Which would be assuming also.

 

[sierra]

"Thread drift" I miss the old days, when you packed in and left the world behind. I didn't hear about 9/11 until 9/12, because I was overnighting on a 14er in CO.

 

[skiguy]

"Thread drift" I miss the old days, when you packed in and left the world behind. I didn't hear about 9/11 until 9/12, because I was overnighting on a 14er in CO.

I had a similar experience while being out overnight during the Super Bowl. Made it back to my vehicle mid morning on Monday. While driving home and listening to the Radio all the chatter was about the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. At first I thought it was a "Monday Morning Radio Host Parody". Except it was on every channel. I agree. Isn't it just good to get away from it all!

 

[wardsgirl]

Oklahoma City bombing. I was on the AT and when we hitched to a town for resupply, it was on every TV and radio. So weird.

 

[DayTrip]

"Thread drift" I miss the old days, when you packed in and left the world behind. I didn't hear about 9/11 until 9/12, because I was overnighting on a 14er in CO.

Old days? I still do that. When I hit trail I'm in airplane mode until I get out......with the occasional exception to catch a Bruins playoff game in Spring if I can get a signal.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Old days? I still do that. When I hit trail I'm in airplane mode until I get out......with the occasional exception to catch a Bruins playoff game in Spring if I can get a signal.

Not gonna lie, every trip I took this spring was centered around being able to watch the Bruins. It led to some unhappy campers around us at times but that's their problem. Fun fact: the shore of Kinsman Pond may not have service but the middle of it does.

 

[DayTrip]

Not gonna lie, every trip I took this spring was centered around being able to watch the Bruins. It led to some unhappy campers around us at times but that's their problem. Fun fact: the shore of Kinsman Pond may not have service but the middle of it does.

Ha! I hope you weren't treading water in the middle of Kinsman Pond with your arm in the air. I have to admit I used to be really bad about not hiking when Bruins or Patriots were on. NFL Sundays were generally off limits for hiking. My fanaticism has worn off over the years though so I'll usually choose the trails over the game unless it is a really pivotal game like the Superbowl, Game 7, etc

 

[BethW]

FWIW, finished my ~400 mile journey; took Tuckerman's and found it delightful and "easy" compared with Mahoosuc and other rocky sections with few people (and snow in August!); Lafayette / Franconia ridge was a f'in zoo and raced through it to get past the hoards of people but it was a good reality check about life to come (living around people). Hard to stop in NH but I do think Maine and NH are amazing sections of the AT; maybe the most amazing from NOBOs' feedback. Stealth camping is great if you want to be alone or with only a few other people.

From what I observed the huts do not turn away thru hikers. They will find a spot on the floor to sleep (while waiting your skinny, hungry self will watch wealthy, "chunky" people gorge on food who walked a whopping 1.5 miles to the hut and then MAYBE you will be treated to table scraps should the previously mentioned folks leave you any - Oliver Twist came to mind).

Great journey and far different and better than day hiking. Maine is the BEST. It's quite a culture out there.

 

[Billy]

...From what I observed the huts do not turn away thru hikers. They will find a spot on the floor to sleep (while waiting your skinny, hungry self will watch wealthy, "chunky" people gorge on food who walked a whopping 1.5 miles to the hut and then MAYBE you will be treated to table scraps should the previously mentioned folks leave you any - Oliver Twist came to mind)...

That's quite a sense of entitlement you've got there. Keep in mind one key fact about those wealthy, chunky people who only walked 1.5 miles to the hut to gorge on all that food: they paid for it, you didn't. They're under no obligation to leave you any table scraps. I've bumped into a few AT hikers at huts mid-morning, and they were grateful to sleep under a roof and eat a few leftover pancakes in exchange for spending 15-30 minutes doing dishes or sweeping the floor. I've self-deleted the rest of my comments to save the site moderators some time.

 

[JoshandBaron]

That sense of entitlement has been pretty prevalent among AT users in my experience. Among ones that don't have much previous White Mountain experience, anyway.

 

[DayTrip]

That sense of entitlement has been pretty prevalent among AT users in my experience. Among ones that don't have much previous White Mountain experience, anyway.

I think that attitude has generally become pervasive in the "hiking community" now that ultra runners, list baggers, fastest known timers and other groups of people hiking for achievement/competitive purposes and patches. They have flooded the outdoors for reasons other than enjoyment and appreciation of being outside (which of course is their perogative but I feel many bring an arrogant mindset to their pursuits, at least many I have met on the trails and "talked to" on Facebook groups). There was a pretty lengthy and heated thread on Facebook awhile back about the need to have two summit signs on Mt Washington - one for "real" hikers who climbed to the top and the other one for "losers" who drove up and should have to wait for hikers to get their pictures first, apparently because they are entitled to special treatment for their incredible mountaineering accomplishment. At that point I went ahead and unfollowed all my Facebook groups. They've become thoroughly polluted by people with this mindset and I find them to be of no value to me anymore. Some of the groups do a better job of keeping on point but the larger ones become quickly inundated with nonsense, bad information and a**holes.

 

[Tom_Murphy]

I think that attitude has generally become pervasive in the "hiking community" now that ultra runners, list baggers, fastest known timers and other groups of people hiking for achievement/competitive purposes and patches. They have flooded the outdoors for reasons other than enjoyment and appreciation of being outside (which of course is their perogative but I feel many bring an arrogant mindset to their pursuits, at least many I have met on the trails and "talked to" on Facebook groups).

DayTrip,

I am very surprised that you are implying that "ultra runners, list baggers, fastest known timers and other groups of people hiking for achievement/competitive purposes" are not enjoying and appreciating being outside.

They most certainly are enjoying and appreciating being outside, just in a different manner than you and I.

I think every group you listed as well as day hikers, backpackers, car campers, hunters, fishermen, ATVers, VFFTers, etc has a much smaller subset of that reflect poorly on the group as a whole.

Tommy

 

[DayTrip]

DayTrip,

I am very surprised that you are implying that "ultra runners, list baggers, fastest known timers and other groups of people hiking for achievement/competitive purposes" are not enjoying and appreciating being outside.

They most certainly are enjoying and appreciating being outside, just in a different manner than you and I.

I think every group you listed as well as day hikers, backpackers, car campers, hunters, fishermen, ATVers, VFFTers, etc has a much smaller subset of that reflect poorly on the group as a whole.

Tommy

I wasn't implying they didn't enjoy being outside. I think they just enjoy a different aspect of it (for example, the physical challenge and accomplishment of a 6 hour Pemi Loop versus two hours lingering on a remote mountain at sunset). And of course mine and others comments are generalizations. There are appreciative and inspiring people and asshats in all of the categories you listed. It's the comparison, often in a condescending and elitist way, and "ranking" of everyone's relative accomplishments to others that seems to be permeating the overall community, especially online. Telling some 70 year old woman with a cane who has always wanted to see the summit of Mt Washington and is finally doing it to get out of the way so the "real hikers" can get there picture taken first at the summit sign is nauseating to me. (Oh and that's not a made up example by the way. Someone on Facebook actually was proud to point out he cuts the line regularly because he did Washington the "real way" and deserves priority). It's that type of person I could do without.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Oh and that's not a made up example by the way. Someone on Facebook actually was proud to point out he cuts the line regularly because he did Washington the "real way" and deserves priority). It's that type of person I could do without.

I've been witness to hikers cutting the line many times. They are always muttering something about how they deserve it more than someone else.

 

[sierra]

One of my pet peeves over the years, is hikers wanting to go ahead in line for the picture on Washington. The commentary and verbal abuse spewed at those who did not hike up, makes my blood boil. The summit is for everybody, it has a history of tourism dating back over 100 years. After 30 years of listening to me describe my hikes, I took my Mom up the Cog. She was amazed at both the terrain and the views. It was a great day and Ill never forget it. She is gone now, I'm left with the memories. If anyone would have said anything about or to us in line or tried to cut us, they would have needed an ambulance ride down the auto road. Hikers with an elite attitude are a joke. It's walking uphill, get over yourself.

 

[JoshandBaron]

They are happy to wait in line for the pizza, though.

 

[datbrew]

I haven't wanted a summit picture with the Washington sign in years. Even if there is a line I will quietly walk up the back side of the cone and touch the sign while being careful not to get in the way of any pictures. I guess I have always considered the line to be a "picture" thing and that I wasn't causing any trouble as long as I avoided slowing the line down or speaking ill of others on the summit.