August 7th, 2018, New Hampshire
Throughout the evening last night there were huge thunderstorms to the north. From my vantage point up high on the mountain I could see the lightning flashes and rolling black clouds pounding the mountains maybe 15 miles away. The sky above me was clear as a bell but at the moment I was wishing I had camped a bit lower down the mountain. Fortunately the storm stayed to the north but the thunder continued to echo for hours.
I was up early and happy to be dry. There was a beautiful sunrise and no sign of last night’s storm. After a short walk downhill I crossed a bridge over a large river and next to an old hydro power station. At the edge of the station property there was an apple tree along the fence with a few ripe apples hanging down. I have seen crabapples growing wild but this one was different. It was tart, maybe too tart, but the price was right and I ate most of it.
After a few minutes more I reached the edge of Gorham where the Rattle River Hostel, literally right on the trail.
Thor arrived a little while later. We got checked in, did laundry, took the shuttle to Walmart for resupply, and stopped at Mr. Pizza for lunch.
The Whites apparently have a series of “huts”run by the Appalachian Mountain Club that have bunks and include breakfast and dinner. They are large facilities that house between 30-90 people. Most of them are not accessible by road so everything is hiked in.
The bunks are by reservation only and generally used by those hiking for a few days in the park. However, of interest to Appalachian Trail hikers, they do have baked goods, snacks, and warm soup for sale during the day. They also offer thru hikers “work for stay” which gives you food and an inside stay (with your own sleeping pad and bag) in exchange for a bit of work after dinner or breakfast.
It seems like it will take perhaps 8 days to hike through the Whites and I was glad to learn there is some food available along the way. I need about 2 pounds of food per day. I can probably get by carrying 1 pound per day if other sources are available. That saves a lot of weight. With the ruggedness and difficulty of the Whites, fewer pounds carried sounds like a good thing. Despite that, my food bag still seems to weigh like 10 pounds—I may have bought too much…but I will try to eat a lot in the early days of the hike.
After my resupply and rest I will get back on the trail and into the Whites.