hello,
I am planing to hike for 2 weeks on the whites. I intend to bring a good tent and sleeping bag.
my question is -
is there enough places along the trail where I can open a tent without paying a fee?
thank you!
_daniel_Camping on th Whites
system
#1
system
#2
Daniel, it is possible to do what you are thinking but you have to know ahead of time where the stealth camping is located. There used to be a list of stealth sites going around but I don't know if its still out there. The forest Service was not happy that the list was going around. The Franconia Ridge and the Presidentials are very steep and rocky but both have areas where you can cram in a solo tent. If the weather turn bad they can be pretty dangerous. I have cowboy camped on both ridges by waiting until very late in the afternoon to pull out my sleeping bag and breaking camp at first light.
_Big B_
system
#3
in the presidentials - are there any backcountry campsites that doesnt cost a lot of money?
thank you for your reply!
_daniel_
system
#4
Osgood Campsite when you get off of Madison is a fee campsite but if you keep going there are some sites after you pass it. On the other end is Mizpah Hut tentsites. off of the ridge the RMC runs a shelter crag camp about a mile off the AT after Jefferson and Valley way tentsite about a mile downhill from Madison hut on the Valley Way Trail. Get an AMC map of the range to see where they are. Crag (or is it Craig) is a very nice enclosed shelter with a magnificent view.
_Big B_
system
#5
There's a group of four or five thru hikers who just passed through the Whites without staying at huts or pay campsites. You can go through the Whites without paying if you're careful and pay attention to stealthing opportunities.
Put this in your google search to find their blog and see how they did it: trailkit.blogspot.com
_hiker_
system
#6
Bring a hammock for that section and the world becomes yours. Just avoid the RUA / FPA zones (which typically radiate out from huts or other pay facilities around a half-mile).
_tron_
system
#7
what do you mean hammock?
is there a closed and rain-proof hammock? is there allways a place for it in the whites?
_daniel_
system
#8
If you use a Hennessy or Clark hammock (both have bug screens and rain flys) it increases your ability to camp in the whites greatly. On the presidential traverse section there is a very long space where you will have to go well off trail to find two trees but its still very doable.
_Big B_
system
#9
If you stay at the "Dungeon" at Lakes of the Clouds Hut, it's possible to spend the next night in the Great Gulf, either by following the AT or short-cutting just beyond where the AT crosses the Cog. So you'd be down in the forest by the end of the day.
_tron_
system
#10
I just made it thru the Whites, stopping at only one pay site, not because I'm cheap but because I couldn't get as far as I wanted on a given day. There are plenty of workable places, except above tree line. It did appear that hammockers had some advantage, because the forest floor is so uneven.
Last I heard, Osgood is still a free site, as are Eliza Brook & Rattle River.
Yes, the AMC does appear to be a bunch of greedy control freaks (though I haven’t met an individual member who is that way). I don’t mind paying, though, when I think of all the generations of effort the AMC and other clubs have put into building & maintaining the Trail thru some difficult terrain. I encourage hikers to find some way to contribute, not just to the ATC, but to some of the trail clubs that do the boots-on-the-ground work.
Sometimes I think “Trail Magic” is a bad thing because it gets hikers into thinking everything about the hike should be free, no matter what it cost someone else. There’s much more joy in receiving things as GIFTS that surprise us rather than entitlements we get to grumbling about.
_Rosy Eagle_