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While June 2023 was one of the hardest months for me, it also brought a lot of beautiful memories. One of my absolutely favorite experiences was spending a long weekend scampering through the White Mountains with my friend Liz. Liz lived in New Hampshire briefly, for just a few years. We met at our CrossFit gym and immediately hit it off. Sadly, only a few years after meeting, Liz’s family moved to Colorado. Luckily for me, Liz’s daughters still wanted to come to New Hampshire for summer camp so the last few summers we’ve been able to meet up once or twice to go hiking when she’s on the east coast. In 2023 we wanted to do something bigger than our normal day hikes so Liz suggested hut-hiking. In New Hampshire, we have a few Appalachian Mountain Club huts where you can stay on the mountains. The accomodations are very rustic – no showers, no electricity…but I’ll get into that more later. Liz had stayed at a few AMC huts with her family in the past and suggested we should do it and I immediately agreed. Growing up I had never been to summer camp and that’s the kind of vibes I was getting from the pictures of the huts so I couldn’t wait for our adventure. One thing about my friendship with Liz – we are very similar – especially our adventuring style. When we hike, we inspect every fern, mushroom, tree, rock, etc. We take a million pictures of all the flora and fauna. We lounge around and soak up the views on the summit and eat lots of snacks. We are never in a hurry. We are just happy to be out on the trail and being excited by everything. We titled our weekend together “Excitable People Doing Exciting Things” if that gives you an indication of our personalities.
Falling Waters Trail
We got to the trailhead early because we knew the parking lot was going to fill up fast since the trail is so popular. You can find the Franconia Ridge loop on AllTrails if it’s something you’d like doing yourself. When we went, it was at the end of June and we had gotten so much rain that month. While it did create some muddy sections, it was all worth it. There were a few designated waterfalls along the way but for most of the hike there was cascading water alongside the trail. It was stunning and made amazing background noise as you hiked through the woods. After we made it passed the falls, the trail started to get a lot steeper! There was a section that made me consider my life choices a few times. Once we made it to the alpine zone I was able to catch my breath, then at the summit of Little Haystack we paused for lunch. Unfortunately this peak doesn’t count as a 4,000 footer due a prominence rule that designates which peaks count, but the views are still beautiful! If you do this trail, I suggest wearing waterproof boots or bring extra socks because there are a lot of water crossings, especially in the spring.
Franconia Ridge
Franconia Ridge is a well-known hiker destination in New Hampshire which connects 4 of the 48 4,000 footers – Flume, Liberty, Lincoln and Lafayette. We didn’t hit Flume or Liberty but we could see them down the ridge. The hike across the ridge was incredible. I felt like I was on top of the world! You could turn in a full circle and everywhere you looked, there were mountains as far as the eye could see. Luckily we hiked on a Friday so it wasn’t as crowded as it might have been if we were there on a Saturday. You’ve probably seen pictures of the ridge online as it’s one of the most beloved hikes in New England. The second peak we came to on the ridge was Mt. Lincoln and my first official 4,000 footer! . We continued along to the highest summit on the ridge, Mt. Lafayette and took pictures with the summit sign. From here, you can either head down to the Greenleaf Hut (which was our destination), continue along the ridge to hit other peaks or complete the whole Pemi Loop traverse if you are really motivated (Backpacker magazine ranked this the second hardest day hikes in America!).
Greenleaf Hut
We reached our home for the night around 4 pm. It was everything I wanted it to be. The hut was very rustic. They had composting toilets and cold water sinks but no showers. The hut is also a pack in and out facility so there is no trash available. When preparing for a hut hike, you need to consider that when packing. There was a large kitchen and gathering area with big tables. They had some private bunk rooms and then they had other bunk rooms that were shared spaces. The bunks were 3 beds high. We had one of the shared space bunk rooms but luckily for us, the night we were there we had it for ourselves! When we arrived we freshened up, put on some clean, cozy clothes and just hung outside chatting with other guests. At 6pm the hut served a large family style dinner and everyone staying at the hut sat together for dinner. The hut crew (or croo as they like to spell it) brought out each course and the food was surprisingly delicious! We had a rustic tomato soup with homemade bread, followed by a boreal salad, vegetarian pot pie, rice and charred corn. There was a dessert too but I don’t remember what it was. After dinner we could do whatever we wanted until quiet hours started at 9:30pm. We attempted to see a sunset but there was such a haze in the air that we couldn’t see much of anything. We talked to the naturalist who was working at the hut that weekend and flipped through the books in the lending library. There is no overhead lighting in the lodge but each bunk had a small reading lamp so you could read in bed. It was such a unique experience. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed but we were so tired we fell asleep easily. Breakfast is served at 7am sharp. The croo wakes the whole hut up at 6:30am. When we were there, we were woken up to the croo singing “By and By” by Caamp, which was honestly a lovely way to wake up. Breakfast was served family style as well. They provided oatmeal, scrambled eggs, sausage, a delicious fruit bread, plus juices, tea and coffee. It was a nice hearty meal to start our next day of hiking.
Old Bridle Path
We left the hut around 8am to start our hike down the mountain. As we dropped a little in elevation, it got really foggy. While it blocked the views, I thought it made things look so dramatic and beautiful. This trail was pretty muddy and wet too. The rocks were very slick so we did lots of crab-walking down the rocks. The rocks in general were the stars of this trail. There were so many different types and colors. It was a great way to start the day. Once we got back to the parking lot where the car was, the fog was gone and the sun was out. We ditched our trash and smelly clothes at the car, grabbed a new set of clothes for the next day and then headed across the street to start the hike to our next hut. The hike up wasn’t too long, a little over a mile I think, but it was steep! We were still feeling pretty good at this point though so we powered along until we got to Lonesome Lake. I’ll go into a little bit more detail about the lake and the hut later, but first I need to talk about Fishin’ Jimmy.
Fishin’ Jimmy
When we arrived at Lonesome Lake hut, we paused to eat lunch and check into our bunk for the night (it was a shared room with two strangers). We unloaded stuff from our bags that we didn’t for a day hike (like our change of clothes for the next day, etc). We figured we might as well hike up to North Kinsman so we could get another 4,000 footer under out belts. We had a few hours until dinner so we thought we had plenty of time. Liz said that one of the trails we could take to North Kinsman was really fun – she had done part of it previously, which leads us to Fishin’ Jimmy. This trail was the worst. I wanted to die. Granted, I think if I had fresh legs, I probably would’ve liked it more because it did feature a lot of things I liked – rock scrambles, bog bridges, wooden ladders – but after the 10 miles we had already logged, it was tough. At first it was pleasant, everything was mossy and green like a fairy tale, then we’d have a tough incline, then it would have a decline! We were like “WHY ARE THERE DECLINES? THEN WE HAVE TO GO UP EVEN MORE!” It was quite the struggle. We kept telling each other if we didn’t reach the trail intersection by a certain time, we’d turn around, but we felt like we were so close and didn’t want to stop. We finally made it to the trail junction for Kinsman Ridge that would take us to North Kinsman. We got to North Kinsman and by this point we were cutting into the time we needed to make the return trip back to the hut in time for dinner being served. Normally the descent is much faster than summiting but we were struggling. At one point I fell – it wasn’t even like I tripped over something or fell down a wooden ladder – no, I was just walking on flat ground and wiped out. It pretty much summed up our Fishin’ Jimmy experience. We started calling the trail “Catfishin’ Jimmy” since we thought it was going to be fun but it tricked us. We made it back relatively unscathed, just a little late for dinner, but luckily still got to eat!
Lonesome Lake & Hut
The hut was the same kind of rustic that Greenleaf was, however the main hut with the kitchen and gathering space was separate from the bunk houses and bathroom. They had bunkhouses of mixed sizes. We were in a bunk house with 4 beds so Liz and I knew were were going to be sharing with 2 strangers. It turned out our roommates were a couple in their late 70s named Phoebe and Bob and they were the best people ever. Phoebe was a hiking queen and had done a 100mile backpacking trip a few years prior. Bob preferred biking but Phoebe said she could usually convince him to hike with her a few times a year. They were funny and just the typical old married couple that you’d expect. We couldn’t ask for better roommates. I didn’t love having to walk outside to get to the bathroom, I was so nervous I’d have to get up at 2am to go and I’m such a baby about the dark. After dinner, we went down to the lake to put our tired feet in the cool water and enjoyed the peace and quiet. This hut had quiet hours like Greenleaf did. I don’t even think Liz and I made it anywhere close to that – we both were passed out before 9am. At 6:30am the next morning, we were woken up by one of the croo playing guitar on the roof of the main hut, which was another lovely wake up call! Again, we had a big breakfast and filled up before starting our return hike to the car. Right when we started our descent it started raining. Honestly I hadn’t hiked in the rain before and I found it really beautiful!
Overall it was such a special weekend and I really loved being off the grid just truly appreciating nature and the simple things in life. Liz was the perfect friend to do this kind of adventure with and I cannot wait to go again this summer!
Would you do hut hiking? Let me know in the comments below.
📍I acknowledge the lands mentioned in this post are the ancestral lands of the Wabanaki (Dawnland Confederacy) and N’dakina (Abenaki / Abénaquis) people.
The Adventures of Suze 
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