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View Full Version : Section Hike Report - Killington, VT to Madison Springs Hut, NH 2013



jbwood5
08-11-2013, 17:53
Section Hike Trip Report – Killington, VT to Madison Springs Hut, NH (long)

I covered this section of about 160 AT trail miles between June 29 and July14, 2013. Another 6-7 miles were done off the AT. Here is a summary of where I stayed and few notes I made:

6/28 Friday: Drove from Tampa, FL to Vermont leaving at 2:30 AM and arriving at the Inn on the Long Trail at 1:30 PM the next day. I took a few cat naps late Friday and early Saturday at the Interstate rest areas. This trip went well.

6/29 Saturday: I parked across from the Inn and got started just before 2:00 PM. I checked out Gifford Woods SP but they had no backpack sites available so I headed up the trail and stealth camped about 1.5 mile E (NB on AT) of Mountain Meadows Lodge (not available due to wedding) and found a decent stealth site. This was a recovery sleep night from the long drive. There were a couple of sprinkles in the night and thunder in the distance.

6/30 Sunday: Had lunch at Stony Brook shelter and hiked further to the lookout cabin which was available but sweltering hot inside. The porch looked attractive for sleeping but it was too early to stop so I walked on in to the Wintturi shelter area and camped in the back. It rained on and off through the night.

7/1 Monday: The trail was very muddy and boggy and the weather hot and muggy. The gnats were bad but I just trudged on. Late in the morning I found a brook to soak in. I went in full body for a short while and it was not problem since I was hiking in swim trunks anyhow. Later in the day the sun peaked out a few times and I partially dried out my tent on a rocky bluff. I camped at Thistle Hill.

7/2 Tuesday: The morning started with drippy rain, but soon that passed. The trail goes through W Hartford and there is a store with a grill. I ate a burger and drank 2 gatorades, first sitting inside next to the AC unit, and then moving to the picnic tables on the side of the store. That was a nice easy break. I hiked on to Happy Hill and set up the tent between rain showers. This was a pretty short day but I was tired and beat from the relentless heat and humidity.

7/3 Wednesday: After a good nights rest, I was ready for a longer day. I ate a couple of oatmeal packs, some pre-cooked bacon and drank a cup of coffee. Again it was a drippy wet morning, but before I knew it, I was in Norwich. I got a free day old sandwich (chicken cesar wrap) at Dan & Witts store and it was awesome. I sat outside the store on the bench and phoned home to give a status update. I hiked on through Hanover (hot as blazes) and loaded up with fluids at the Coop Food store. I also dried off my gear on the picnic table next to the store. Late in the day I stopped to cook a pack of mashed potatoes right off a wooden bridge and thought about just camping there. Instead, I hiked up to the N leg of the loop trail to Moose Mountain and found a nice tent site. This was a 16+ mile day but mostly easy hiking.

7/4 Thursday: Had a nice day of hiking. The pack was getting a bit lighter from food and fuel consumption. There were a few steep climbs and my legs were really feeling it. I was concerned about making it through the Whites with my age and condition, but took one step at a time. My goal was to make it to Glencliff on Saturday morning for a mail pickup. Hiker Paul (False Summit) who I met on the trail said I should have no problem. I stopped at Trapper John shelter for lunch and had an ice cream and soda at Bill Ackerly’s house. I soaked full body in the stream before the climb up Smarts Mountain. I made supper in the cabin, chatted with a few other hikers, and after a rain storm, set up my tent on the bluff overlooking the valley below. I had a spectacular view of the fireworks shows from up on the bluff. It was very awesome.

7/5 Friday: This was a long tough day; although the trail wasn’t especially difficult but the heat, humidity, mud, and bugs really took the fun out of it. As usual, I soaked my shirt and wiped my brow at many of the stream crossings to help cool off. I stopped for lunch at Hexacuba shelter and took a brief rest. Eventually I made it to Ore Hill tent site and found a nice spot in the woods just off the blue blaze path to the water source. There was no rain today, but I would have welcomed a downpour just to cool off. I turned in early knowing I would be up before sunrise tomorrow.

7/6 Saturday: Got up a little past 4:00 AM and made coffee and oatmeal. I packed up and hiked for about 30 minutes with my headlamp on. I had no trouble making it to Glencliff on time. I checked out the Hikers Welcome Hostel, left my equipment there, and walked across the street to the PO for my food box. I hung around the hostel for most of the day, showering, washing my clothes, and talking with Fat Chaps who was in charge of the hostel. At about 4:00 PM, I ate a frozen MW pizza, settled up with Chappy and headed for Jeffers Brook. Even though my shoes were just about dry, I decided to just walk across Oliverian Creek. After all, my feet had been wet the entire hike so it was really no big deal. The water level was just below my knees. I found a nice tent site at Jeffers Brook and made a light supper. Soon, the rest of the folks that were at the hostel came to the shelter site. Today was a good weather day.

7/7 Sunday: It rained in the night but it had stopped by morning. I made the big climb up Mt Mousilauke and enjoyed the cool breezy air along the ridge. I rested on the rocks for a while and watched the sky clear a few times for some beautiful views. I made lunch and headed down to Beaver Brook. I got there early, set the tent up, and dried off my clothes and shoes. The trail was very rocky and steep going down the last 100 yards before the shelter access trail. Water was flowing good at the source. I pretty much rested through late afternoon and evening.

7/8 Monday: The trail north from Beaver Brook was an extremely difficult decent. There are handholds of steel rebar and occasional wooden blocks driven into the stone boulders to help, making the hiking sticks pretty useless and more of a hindrance at times. I had a pretty scary fall, sliding about 20 feet on the wet slippery cascade of water but most everything turned out OK. Once at the bottom, the trail becomes easy for a while. There is a parking lot with a restroom and garbage can. Also, just a bit up the trail, there was trail magic by ‘Sit-A-While’, so I plopped myself on the wet ground, drank a Mountain Dew and ate some crackers. That was a very nice break since I almost felt defeated at that point. The drippy rain continued but I made slow forward progress up the next mountain and called it a day at Eliza Brook, claiming one of those hard packed tent sites that did not absorb rainwater very well. Once in tent, I pretty much stayed there, cooking my meal under the vestibule in the pouring rain.

7/9 Tuesday: I had another big challenge today, and that was the climb up the cliffs to S Kinsman Mountain. Many places required using both hands for support and pushing off on your toes while flexing your knees to find the next toe hold. I tossed my poles up to the next ledge a few times on the climb. The knee flexing and pushing under full pack and body weight was very tough on me. There is just nothing like that to strengthen the knees sufficiently where I live. I took a break on the top of S Kinsman and could here people below struggling on the climb. The weather began to clear and I was really hoping that the rain would be over for a while. I hiked on to Kinsman Pond, got a tent platform in mid afternoon and dried my stuff off under partly cloudy skies. I hiked a measly 4 miles today, but had a chance to rest, eat, and drink. Kinsman Pond is beautiful site.

7/10 Wednesday: I woke up to light rain, packed up, and headed on out. I stopped at Lonesome Lake Hut for a lemonade and drinking water. Then I headed down the Cascade Brook Trail and had to make a tough ford across the brook since the bridge had previously washed out. Eventually I got to the Franconia Notch area and found the trail to the Flume Visitor Center where I had a burger, fries, and a coke. With the lousy weather and sore legs, I decided to see if I could get a motel to rest up in and take a break. I called the Mt Liberty Corners motel and they not only had a room, but they picked me up at the visitor center and dropped me off at the front door of room #3. Later Paul took me to a pizzeria and picked me up after an hour. What a nice change to get a hot shower and be dry for once. This was a well deserved break for me.

7/11 Thursday: I used the room coffee maker to make oatmeal and instant coffee. Paul took me back to the Flume Visitor parking lot and I headed out in the pouring rain. By the time I got to Liberty Springs Campsite the rain quit and sun began to peak through the clouds. The hike above tree line over Little Haystack, Mt Lincoln, and Mt Lafayette was outstanding with nice cool breezes and partly cloudy skies. Suddenly there were no bugs and the humidity was falling. The incline going down the N side of Mt Lafayette became gradually steeper and before I knew what happened, my feet went flying out in front of me. My tail bone was saved by the pack but I ended up taking a roll and bruised the palm of my hand along with a few scrapes to the legs and backs of my arm. At least I wasn’t hurt as bad as a south bounder I saw who had 6 stitches in his head due to a similar fall. I made it on up to Garfield Ridge Campsite and was able to get a tent platform. This was a really nice site and the weather was perfect. I even got a little chilly that night.

7/12 Friday: This is the first time in my life that I actually had to hike down a waterfall. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t so slippery plus I had about 20 jabbering kids above me from a youth group that had just started the steep decline. That was the trail right out of Garfield Ridge N bound. From there it was pretty normal hiking until a small climb to Galehead hut where I got a bowl of soup and a piece of cake. When I first started hiking this day, I thought I would stop at Guyot campsite, but with the nice cool weather I made good time and then changed my proposed destination to Ethan Campsite. When I got to Zeland Falls Hut I was pretty beat, and just for the heck of it, I checked to see if they had any space. They had one slot available from a cancellation so I decided to take it. I soaked my feet and dried my gear. This place was like a paradise. The dinner meal was awesome and I slept pretty good in the bunk room.

7/13 Saturday: After an awesome breakfast and entertainment from the outstanding croo, I headed down a little decline and hit the Ethan Pond Trail. This trail was like the superhighway trail of the Whites (mostly smooth, graded, and level). I even jogged a few times feeling full of energy from the great breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee. Soon the trail started the decline to Crawford Notch where I met S bound hiker Stone Dancer and he gave me some information for the upcoming sections. The climb up Webster Cliffs got progressively tougher but I made my way to Nauman Tentsite where I found the place extremely crowded. They were putting people in the overflow area which is around the S Side of Mizpah Hut. Just for the heck of it I went into the hut to inquire about space. After waiting for several people to check in, I found that they had just received a cancellation and were glad to sell me that spot. As it ended up, Mizpah is not nearly as nice as Zeland Falls, but the food and crew were awesome. I was wedged in a bottom bunk behind the room entrance door but still enjoyed the accommodations.

7/14 Sunday: With another great breakfast in my belly, I hiked up Mt Pierce and then had a fairly good (but rocky) trail to Lake of Clouds hut where I bought a candy bar, refilled with water, and sat on the bench outside the hut. The Hike up to Mt Washington was tough but outstanding with nice cool breezes and occasional peaks of sunshine. At the top, I ate a slice of Pizza and drank a coke at the snack bar. From there it was a very rocky hike for the rest of the day across the remainder of the Presidentials with truly spectacular scenery that went on forever. I was very fortunate to have such great weather in this section. I pushed on to Madison Springs hut, hoping that my luck with hut availability would continue. However, that was not the case. There was no work for stay, no possible floor space, and no no-food option. They basically told me I needed to go down to Valley Way tent site which I did but also found no space available. Not wanting to climb back up to the hut, then climb Mt Madison, and take a chance for a site at Osgood, I continued a little further down the trail looking for a flat spot. I remembered that my wife was supposed to be near Gorham either today or tomorrow, so I called her and found that she was still in Maine. She said it would only take her 2 hours to get to Gorham and was anxious to pick me up. I agreed to walk down to Rt 2 and that is what I did. I put the headlight on and got to parking lot by about 9:15 PM. She finally got there at 10:30 and we were off to a motel room in town. That ended my section hike for 2013. I had originally wanted to make it to Pinkham Notch or even Rt 2 beyond Imp campsite, but I underestimated the toughness of the Whites and overestimated my conditioning for these rugged mountains. The PA rocks are really no big deal after living a few days in the Whites, LOL.

Although the weather was pretty lousy for most of the July hike (in comparison to last year when it almost never rained), the tradeoff seemed to be the few days of really good weather in the higher elevations and especially in the Presidentials.

The following Saturday (7/20) I went to S Woodstock, Vermont and ran a 100K cross country foot race which was pretty tough (especially the last 15 miles) but I finished it at 3:15 AM Sunday, 4th place in the 60 to 65 age group. I guess I should mention that there were only 5 finishers in that age group bracket. J
I’m looking forward to continuing N on the AT and I really should be finished with the trail in 2 years!

Just John
Seminole, FL

chiefiepoo
08-11-2013, 20:36
John, we need to chat about New England. I'm in maine this week and headed to Vermont sobo to into manchester .

jbwood5
08-12-2013, 07:42
John, we need to chat about New England. I'm in maine this week and headed to Vermont sobo to into manchester .

Chiefiepoo, good to hear from you and hope your hike is going well. Sounds like you'll be going through the toughest mile before I do at Mahoosic Notch. Feel free to contact me either by PM, replying directly here, or by my phone # if you still have it. I'll check my PM's periodically. If you hadn't seen it, I had a report from last year from Great Barrington to Killington. My previous report (Duncannon to Great Barrington) got wiped out when they dumped the members trip report section. That hike was a few years ago.

My best suggestion would be to take it easy in S Maine and NH. There were a couple of guys I was hiking with this year about our age that had to bail due to exhaustion and injury (also flatlanders). Good luck on the weather.

Kerosene
08-12-2013, 12:39
Sounds as if your experience over this section was similar to mine, although you had more rain in July than I ever had on my two September section hikes (2000 for Killington-to-Dartmouth Skiway & 2006 from there to Pinkham Notch). There's nothing like the above treeline ridge walks in nice weather. I also found the pace to be a full mile-an-hour slower through the Whites than anywhere to the south (except for that section from Zealand Notch to Crawford Notch, which I also jogged a bit!). I didn't mind the climbing as much as the inability to develop a good stride given all the rocks and roots. Note that the section from Madison Hut down Osborne Ridge is pretty tough, and the terrain gets even rougher from Wildcat through Mahoosuc Arm. Congrats!