A year after section hiking Maine, we set out to tackle the New Hampshire Appalachian Trail. Except this time we planned on section hiking the state in sections. Simply put, it hasn’t worked out as planned. Add two more years and this is still a hike in progress. Please follow along, and feel free to get a good laugh at our expense. Hopefully you can learn something from our mistakes. Sometimes I wonder if we ever do.
Section hiking the New Hampshire Appalachian Trail, take two. After our first misadventure on the trail, where we foolishly tackled more than we should have and succumbed to dehydration, we returned to complete Smart Mountain and continue along to conquer Mt. Moosilauke.
Let’s first make one thing clear: Flume Gorge is a bonafide nature walk, not a hike. Hiking requires a trail that’s not navigable by a golf cart with at least the threat of breaking a sweat. Not to mention the optional shuttle bus, which shortens the “trek” to .7 of a mile round trip, is an automatic disqualification. As far as nature walks go, Flume Gorge is exceptional.
A year after hiking the Maine Appalachian Trail, my brother Brad and I set out to tackle the New Hampshire section. This blog post chronicles our adventure from the southern border crossing over the Connecticut River to Smart Mountain. In between we survived a close encounter with the Hanover wildlife.
It was nine degrees in the Lafayette Place parking lot and the car was getting blasted by wind. At a little past seven on a February morning, I had a good mind to retreat home to the warmth of my down comforter. Fortunately, common sense was in short supply.
You can’t sleep. You toss. You turn. Visions of the “world’s worst weather” pummel the sugar plum fairies trying to dance through your head. Bitter cold. Biting winds. Fickly visibility. Winter hiking Mt. Washington—New England’s highest peak at 6,288 feet—is all fun and games with the added disclaimer of avalanche danger.
At 281.4 miles, Maine accounts for only 13 percent of the 2,178.3-mile Appalachian Trail. Statistics, however, are for maps. Ask anyone who has completed the entire trail and they’ll likely tell you Maine is the toughest state of the 14 trail states.