Originally Posted by
tdoczi
heres what i think i would do
hanover to velvet rocks (i'm guessing youre getting to hanover at the end of the day
velvet rocks to firewardens (or camp somewhere short of there if you cant make it (regs anyone?), but thats doable. velvet rocks to trapper john youre going to get there at 2pm and sit around staring at the trees
The trail between Velvets Rocks and Trapper John is pretty mucky. A lot of boggy, swampy trail. It was really primeval looking to me. The trail winds it's way around private land which is not practical to build on. If you look at the route on a map, it's a bit of a drunken cow path. Until you get past Moosilauke your on a narrow corridor crossing private land. The only camping opportunity between Trapper John and The Fire wardens cabin would be the parking lot at the base of Smart mountain. However there is an old garage about 3/4 of a mile up the fire wardens trail which could be used, and from the looks of it, often is. The climb up Smart mountain is a bit of a grunt, especially the last half mile where it gets good and steep and it would be at the end of a long day.
firewardens to glencliff. i'm guessing you dont want to say at the hostel. (camping regs around glencliff anyone?) itll be a day that starts quasi hard but the second half you'll think you're back in MD. even if you camp a mile or two short of firewardens the night before this is still doable. esp if you dont want to go to the hostel and camp a mile or two short of glencliff.
There is a shelter at the bottom of Moosiluke, not far from the road crossing to the hostel.
i guess the other thing is how you feel about camping potentially where there is no water to be found. i personally have no issue with it and do it all the time.
glencliff to eliza brook. this is going to be hard if you stop short of glencliff the day before. and youre going to deal with a gnarly section coming down moosilauke and then somewhat going back out of kinsman notch but once out of the notch its easy. and as ive mentioned before the climb up the glencliff side of moosilauke really isnt anything big.
next day is a tough call, i'd be tempted to do eliza brook to liberty spring and try to stop for a bit to resupply in lincoln without staying over. this could be avoided if you do whatever resupply you can in glencliff or send a box maybe.
liberty spring to guyot, maybe beyond if theres somewhere someone knows of to camp legally.
liberty spring to crawford notch (try for nauman maybe but that feels like a stretch)
That's a big stretch. Just getting to Guyot would beat the hell out of you.
crawford notch to lakes
lakes to pinkham (anywhere to camp? i think i'd just stay two nights at joe dodge and zero there myself. or go into gorham for a day off)
Only at the Osgood tent site, unless you drop down to one of the RMC camps or the Valley Way tent site.
here i'm tempted to say if you took a day off try for pinkham to rattle river, but i really dont know how feasible that is, though there are people that do pinkham to rt 2 in a day. lets call it pinkham to the imp. itll be a short-ish day. after the imp the rest of the way to rattle river is mostly pretty easy though
Pinkham to Imp is not an short-ish day.
imp to rt 2 (you probably dont want to be back in town/hostel again so soon. how far in from the road do you have to be to camp near rt 2? i feel like the terrain is conducive to doing so)
People camp near the road on the south side next to the river, but is definitely not legal. Once you cross the road and start up Mt Hayes, your committed until you reach the Trident col tent site.
rt 2 to carlo col. this is the one people are going to say i am crazy for suggesting, and maybe in lieu of the next day it isnt worth doing, but its doable. but lets just say to gentian pond. thats going to be a done at 2pm day though.
Unless you leave pretty early in the morning, your not going to get to Gentian pond by 2. BTW, the view down the Mt Washington valley from the shelter is one of the best views from a shelter on the AT. RT 2 to Carlo is a really big day. You have a bunch of mountains to go over and some crazy notches in between.
gentian pond to that place at the trail north end of the notch where everyone obviously camps (i assume its legal but who knows)w
That would be another crazy hard day. I've camped at the north end of the notch several times and you know me, I don't do illegal sites.
and then there to grafton notch
Good luck there too. You just beat Gambit up pretty good. I know he's reasonably young and a strong hiker, but still...
thats 12 days if youre counting that first day as a day. 13 if you take a zero. by 2 weeks do you mean 14 days or does it include all 3 weekends (16 days)? by your itinerary i'm guessing 16 days
if so, then i dont know where to stay for the night in grafton notch, and my hike from there to rangely mostly involved walking until it was dark and camping wherever (for sure i remember one of them being on top of old blue) until you get to sabbath day pond shelter
You could camp in the parking lot or go the 2.5 miles up to the Baldpate shelter. There's a bit of a flat section just before the parking lot which has potential, but you'd have to do some work to clear a spot.