White mts - Appalachian Trail

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#1

I’m a little confused about the situation in the Whites. How many days does it take to get through the Whites? Where exactly do you camp?
thanks,scott

scott02

#2

You can use the hut systems which allow you to work for stay, sometimes, but they are expensive. Best choice notto carry your pack and call Hikers Paradise, tell Bruce that Bushwhack and Bramble said to call. He will drop you off anywhere you want in the Whites from Franconia Ridge to Katahdin if you want. A couple a bucks a drop and $16 a night. He picks you up at the end of the day and takes you back to Gorham. Call a few days before and let him know when to pick you up. Hint* DO NOT pis Mary off. If you have a drop scheduled for 5am you had better not be one minute late of they leave with you. This system lets you hike parts of the Whites at different times when they weather is bad like we did. Any trail, any time. We slack for a week. The seventh day stay is free. They have Ben and Jerrys too.

Bushwack and Bramble

#3

The Ben & Jerry’s altered Bushwhack’s brain a bit…(mmm super fudge chunk…more sugar…)
We called Bruce when we were a few days out of Franconia Notch and arranged a pickup. He met us with cold sodas and whisked us off to Gorham for $6 each. You can slack from Franconia up to Rangeley I think…for a price. The further the distance, the higher the cost, as expected. They set up the drop off schedule the night before, figuring out who;s going where and when. Bruce will leave at 4am if you want to see the sunrise; he’s an early riser. But, as Bushwhack was trying to say, if you are scheduled to take off at 4, you better be at the car at 4, not 4:05. They run a lot of people around and won’t get behind schedule because you overslept. They WILL leave without you…or go back to bed if you were the only one being shuttled. It may seem inflexible, but, after spending some time at Hiker’s Paradise, you see just how much they put up with. We loved it. By that point in our hike, we were a little tired and my foot was really bothering me, so this was a nice respite for us. We stopped at each of the huts for breakfast leftovers–a couple bucks for muffins, bread, cocoa, tea, and some awesome soups. Well, the soup at Madison was more like chicken water, but Mizpah’s was awesome. If we’d actually stayed in the huts, Mizpah would have been a good choice, along with Lonesome Lake and Carter Notch. Madison is a little small, Lake of the Clouds was wet and cold when we were there (in July!) and the dungeon wasn’t fit for rats, but some hikers like to stay there just for the experience. I liked my experience of a warm shower every night for a week and a chance to spend some time enjoying the views without the drag of a full pack. We made some good time through the Whites this way. We tried to catch Mt. Washington on a clearer day, but weren’t so lucky. It was quite a chilly, rainy, icey experience, but kind of fun and challenging. If you don’t want to slack the whole thing, you can still do a section or 2. A lot of hikers get Bruce to pick them up at Pinkham Notch and they slack over Wildcat to Rte 2 the next day (and usually take a zero to celebrate conquering the Whites!) You get to listen to the SOBO’s blow their horns about finishing Maine. Yeah, yeah, ya’ got the Whites and 13 more states to go!
It cost us $230 for the two of us to stay and get slacked for a week. Not a bad hit. Kind of like a mini-vacation within a vacation! Not for purists though, but hey, as they say…hike your own hike.

Bramble

#4

What I did worked fine:
I stayed in 3 huts and got the thing over with. I hiked hard and got to the place early and helped out in any way that I saw that they (the croo) needed help. If you get there early, ask for work-for-stay and be nice. THEN WORK! DON"T ASK what they need as far as help goes, just do everything that you would do to keep your house clean and tidy at home. Sweep, pick stuff up, fold, help with the endless mugs of cocoa. Spontaneously wash dishes. If you work your tail off that evening, then they will let you go earlier in the morning.
ANOTHER HINT: DO NOT stay at Lake of the Clouds uinnless you have no other choice. That place is unsanitary and the worst hut. All other huts were great.

windex

#5

I did the White Mts. from north to south. My first night I spent at Madison Hut and worked for stay. Reguested early work, so that I did not have to work in the AM. I was able to sleep on a materess on the floor. Hiked over Washington to Lake of the Clouds Hut and again worked for stay. I was given a regular bunk to sleep in. I left early the next morning and hiked out. I had nice weather so that mad it a easy experience. It could be tough if the weather is bad.

Grampie

#6

Not sure if we’ve really responded to the # of days question. It takes approx 4-7 days to hike the Whites. Fewer days if you’re slackpacking or hiking aggressively, more if you have bad weather or are pokey. But remember that you can’t just camp anywhere and have to deal with the huts. It took us and Strider approx. 4 days to slack from Franconia Notch to Rt 2 (Gorham).

Bramble

#7

To get thru the hut chain which is not all of the whites takes close to a week if weather is bad. Cut that in half if weather is good and you’re hauling. Try Green Leaf Hut on Franconia, it’s a mile off the trail so I suspect gets far less thru-hiker traffic and thus promising for work for stay. We did not intend to stay there, but when getting blasted by wind and sleet on the ridge, we made the right decision to bail. There’s a hostel in Crawford that provides alternative. Lakes is definately the busiest hut, but it’s a cool experience if you’re lucky enough to get a work for stay. You can perhaps have croo at Mizpah radio ahead to see the status. That’s what worked for me but then again, the huts were also “closed” when I went thru so I dunno what works exactly for peak season.

Sweeper