White Mountain Hike 2004
July 2-7
The Start
Before tackling the challanging climbs in the White Mountains, I did a
few warmup hikes in the Delaware Water Gap of New Jersey. I first
hiked over Mt Tammany (read about that
hike here) on Memorial Day weekend. The next weekend, I hiked
the Copper Mine Trail and along the AT (Appalachian Trail) south to Mt
Mohican.
On this second hike, I carried a 40 pound pack (including about 24
pounds of water in gallon jugs) to see how I'd do - I dumped most of
the water before hiking down.
The third hike was with some of the folks that would be on the White
Mountain Hike. We hiked up the AT to Sun Fish Pond, ate our lunch.
The pond was beautiful but they now have up signs prohibiting swimming
so after finishing out lunch Arun and I hiked on to the top of Mt
Mohican, this
time from the south.
The view from the top was much nicer than when I was there on the
previous hike. That day it was foggy and drizzled on me most of
the day so I could see very little.
In the White Mountains we planned to hike along the AT, staying at huts
operated by the
Appalachian Moutain Club (AMC). They operate a chain of huts
through
the White Moutains, about a day's hike apart. This year the group was
doing the eastern end of the chain of huts (Mizpah Springs, Lakes of
the Cloud, Madison Springs and Carter).
On Friday July 2, we car pooled up to
the start of the hike, staying
the first night at the newest AMC facility, the Highland Center at
Crawford Notch. Not one of the huts, the Activity Center is
similar to
Joe Dodge Lodge at Pinkham
Notch Visitors Center. With access by car from the road in Crawford Notch,
it serves a wider variety of users, from hut hikers like us to families
who come for the naturalist programs and day hikes. But it
provides a
convenient first night stay before hiking into Mizpah Springs, our
first hut.
