There have been numerous reports on VFFT and other sites of black flies down in the valleys and at trailheads in the whites. This is typical but many folks forget about it when planning trips. Generally they start at low elevations and work their way up. Generally if you are moving they arent too bad but if you stop they will swarm. Bring DEET based or picardin based repellents as black flies totally ignore the so called natural repellent. I carry and on occasion, use a head net. They are usually around and annoying until mid June, working their way up in elevation.

This also lines up with the worse time for the year for moose/vehicle collisions, I see muddy tracks at the end of my road everymorning next to a major highway and they can pop up out of nowhere.

The ticks are also out although they typically are less of an issue in the main part of whites but can be bad down in the valleys.

This upcoming weekend is victoria day weekend in Canada which is the equivalent of our memorial day weekend. Canadians typically flood the trails and occupy many of the accomodations. The wood have a few days to recover and then its the US memorial day weekend.

Took lots of pictures today. It spit snow most of the hike. The winds were gusty at best on the ridge. May have gotten a couple of 30 mph gusts on Lafayette but thats about it. There were times of little to no wind. It was cold but a high ceiling so the views were perfect. The monorail was frozen solid, whats left of it. Glad I had microspikes
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Hiking today on the Southern Presidentials! Man it was sucky up there today :sun
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Hiked Champney Falls Trail up Chocorua today. Amazing. Alot of snow still out there on the trail. Nasty packed granular and its melting fast! Mt Washington off in the distance.
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Hiked the Mt Tecumseh Trail today and got into a mixed bag of sleet and heavy snow above 3000 feet
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Some friends and I are looking at doing a trek through the Whites from Franconia Notch to Pinkham Notch this August, and I'm trying to figure out our itinerary. Do the hut croos ever let section hikers work for stay, like during late August when the thru-hiker rush is pretty much over? I stayed in several huts during my thru attempt, and it seems like I remember section hikers staying with us. If not, how tough is it to make it through this section (55 miles) in about 5 days without staying at the huts? I've heard that what few shelters there are are way off the trail with some extreme elevation differences.

Hello NH White Mtn Friends! I am headed to Mt. Moosilauke tomorrow. Wondering if anyone knows the condition of the Ravine Lodge Rd? Is there still enough snow to XC-ski? Thanks:)

http://www.msgtc.org/
Great area of New Hampshire.The town of Peterborough is a sweet little town. Hiking the 48 mile trail Memorial Weekend.