My week in the White mountains was one to remember. I finally caught up to my 3 buddies from Minnesota and I hiked with them all week. The trail in the Whites goes over the Presidential Range of mountains and over the famous Mount Washington.

We started the section out with a steep rocky and WINDY climb up Mount Madison. Once you pass the tree line the wind is nuts. At some points over 100km/hour, no joke. It almost blew me over on a few occasions, and it was the first time that I wish I was carrying a heavier pack to keep me grounded.

In the White Mountains they have a bunch of Huts/Hostels for school groups, families and hikers to stay in over night and they serve meals there too. Since the huts are pricey and up so high on the mountains they allow Thru Hikers to work for their stay at the huts or even just work for their meals. We took advantage of that on a few occasions. The huts actually want us to come eat their food because otherwise they have to carry the left overs back down the mountain.

At some Huts all I had to do was sweep the floor, scrub the stove or wipe a table and I was allowed to eat my weight in chicken breast, salad, fresh bread, mashed potatoes, peas and brownies. For breakfast I usually ate a tall stack of pancakes, eggs and coffee! What a deal that was, and they even let us sleep in the hut… granted it was on the dinning room floor, but inside and out of the wind. For the most part on the trail so far I felt like I was getting thinner and thinner, but with all the food in the Whites I think I was able to maintain, which is a goooood feeling.

The 4 of us also camped on a cliff edge and had some good times looking at sunsets and shooting stars at night. We made some really low millage days and enjoyed every minute of the Whites.

On my last day in the whites I woke up early to hike out 13 miles over Lafayette Ridge down to Crawford Notch to meet my best friend and her family. It was a really sunny day and I got buuuurned. I had just enough cell phone battery left to call her and say meet me at the Flume visitor center… and my phone died. As I walked towards the visitor center I saw a car pull over, window roll down and hands waving at me. As tired and hot as I was you can bet that I ran as fast as I could with my back pack on to go hug my friends! Best feeling ever!