New Hampshire started out awesome, with the sounds of ringing bells which lead to trail magic! We got to meet the Hart Family, some of the nicest people on the trail. She had to leave for about a half hour and opened her house right up to us without question. When she got back she cooked us some hot dogs, veggies, and finished off with ice cream sandwiches. They showed us their garage which reminded us of the 70's era with their orange shag rug and old school TV and bar. We split a bottle of wine and ordered some pizza and got to meet many of the neighbors that stopped by. The community is very close-knit as last year the town had a big flood that demolished all the houses. They have been rebuilding their house but they doesn't stop them from being wonderful hosts to hikers. The next morning we woke up and had a big breakfast that Randy made while some other hikers wondered in. We got to meet Sassafrass and Triple P and Puzzle wasn't far behind. After filling up, we all headed onto Hanover, NH. It was a whirlwind to head into Hanover, as all the Dartmouth students were there for orientation. The town seemed pretty unaware of the thru-hikers, so we got many weird looks as we were smelly and dirty roaming the streets. We found a pizza place where all the other hikers were hanging out, and met a south bounder who gave us some tips about hiking through the White Mountains. We called up a trail angel, Kate who brought us to her beautiful house and let us shower and did our laundry. It was a great stop before heading into the Whites. It is hard to properly describe the next week of our adventure, but to sum it up... it was beautifully difficult. The first couple days in the Whites were frustrating, as we went from a solid 2 MPH hiking to 1 or even less. Franconia Ridge for us was pretty miserable as it was raining and extremely windy for miles up on the ridge. There was zero protection from the weather up there, and it would have been amazing views on a nice day. Although, we both decided that we would come back to hike Franconia Ridge with day packs on a nice sunny day. The next day we couldn't have been more appreciative of the sun shining through, drying us off and increasing our spirits. That day was still pretty tough, but after Bullseye and I chatted I realized that it is fine to just take our time and if we only go 8 miles then that's A ok. Once I changed my attitude things started going a lot smoother. We ran into Turtle, Chip, Bud, and later saw the Maine Sisters that we hadn't seen since Virginia. The next challenge was trying to schedule our days according to the Huts or campsites. The White Mountain Huts are run by the AMC and are designed more for the wealthy day/section hikers. They cost around $150 a night, and that is just for a composting toilet, bunk, and dinner and breakfast (made by 18-25 yr. olds). They allow 2-4 thru-hikers to do a work-for-stay which includes sleeping on the floor and eating meals. Our experience with the hut was at Mizpah Hut. We waited until everyone was finished eating, which ended up being about 8p and then we were able to eat the leftovers which were pretty delicious. Then Bullseye and I were put on 'mouse duty' where we named some mouse traps and then got to 'choose our own adventure' by placing them wherever we wanted around the hut. Turtle and Bud were upstairs and their work-for-stay was answering the guests questions about thru-hiking. After we all finished our duties, we picked out a spot on the floor and set up our sleeping pads and went to bed. They awoke us at 5:45 am and normally we would have to wait around until 9am after the guests eat and then eat our breakfast and do the morning chores. But... we asked if we could leave early (7 am) so we could make it to Madison Spring Hut and they agreed. The climb up to Lakes of the Clouds Hut before Mt. Washington was intense. The winds reached about 60-70 MPH and at some points we were knocked over but we cruised very quickly to Lakes of the Clouds. They gave us some left over oatmeal and we had some hot cocoa to warm us up as the rest of our crew caught up. It took us about 3 hours to motivate ourselves to get up to Mt. Washington due to looking outside and seeing the weather. The thought of a hot bowl of chili at the restaurant of Mt. Washington helped us get moving and we got our famous picture taken. As we were leaving after another hour, the weather finally started to clear and we were all so excited. We saw the cog (the train people take up and down the mountain) and it is a thru-hiker tradition to moon the cog. I was the only one who ended up mooning the cog and it was very funny and I'm glad I did. On this trip I've tried to complete everything I said I was going to and have a live in the moment attitude. This trip has made us realize that the time to do things is now, and you shouldn't keep putting things off. The views up and down the Presidential Range for the rest of the day were amazing and it was a sweeter feeling due to the rough weather earlier in the morning. We got to Madison Spring Hut and they told us that 2-3 of us had to hike on, even though it was already past 6 pm. Bullseye and I bit the bullet and kept trudging on, even though we knew it would be 2 or more miles to get below tree line to the next possible camp spot. In the end we were really glad we did it, as we got to see the sky turning pink as the sun was starting to set. After finishing the Whites, we could not be prouder of ourselves, they have been looming over us as the scary difficult part of the trail. We took a day at the White Mountain Hostel which is an amazing place with a sweet owner, Marney. Everyone is taking a break here in Gorham, NH happy to be done with New Hampshire and we only have 18 more miles until Maine!
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