White Mountains Trace Days 181-194
I have officially hiked every trail in the White Mountain Guidebook. On a windy, snowy day in late October, I completed 16 miles and ended my journey working towards a timed attempt at hiking every trail in the guidebook after 16 months, 10 days and 97.6% completion. While this is by no means how I imagined this journey concluding, it’s par for the course of how my last two attempts at a timed completion went, although this time I make the conscious choice to forego hiking the remaining 4 days that I would need to complete a timed attempt once I finished the guidebook in general. The reason for this decision is that I no longer felt that I needed to do those hikes to feel accomplished. In fact, it felt pretty anticlimactic to continue and force myself to do 4 days of hiking that I really didn’t want to do right now just to say I did all the trails in a set amount of time.
The last several months have been pretty difficult both mentally and physically. As I stated in my last post, the spring, summer, and fall of 2023 were less than ideal in terms of weather conditions. But finishing on a bad weather day (which, coincidentally is also how I started this journey in June 2022) seemed right and given the likelihood of snow in the days following my finish I happily concluded my journey of over 16 months on Franconia Brook Trail in the middle of my favorite wilderness October 29, 2023.
The following are my journal entries and stats for the days leading up to my finish. I will share all of the stats I collected in the last 16+ months in a separate post.
Thank you to everyone who has followed along on this journey and supported me in various ways throughout the last several years, which have gone anything like I imagined.
9/13/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 181 ||
Today I did a really short day. I’ve done both Iron Mountain and Winniweta Falls before but it was nice to hike them again. Winniweta Falls is a really neat trail. It is only .7 miles long and gains about 300’ of elevation. It leads to a really pretty falls and the trail is an old logging road that is used as a cross country ski trail in winter now. There is also an old foundation that has artifacts scattered around it. Iron Mountain Trail is beautiful. They have done trailwork to it recently and it has a bunch of switchbacks in it now, making the ascent super nice. The mine on the back side of Iron mountain was full of water (just like last time I did this hike) and I wouldn’t have gone down into it even if it wasn’t full of water because I am all set with monsters.
Daily Miles: 6.56
Daily Vert: 1810’
Overall Miles: 1933.24
Overall Vert: 551,178’
Trace: 90.9% -> 91.1%
Trails:
Iron Mountain Trail
Iron Mountain - Mine Path
Winniweta Falls Trail
9/14/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 182 ||
The weather was perfect for a traverse over Mount Stanton and Mount Langdon Trails today. I’ve never done Mount Stanton Trail before and it really reminds me of hiking in the Belknaps. Lots of short ups and downs, with views through the trees, once you get up onto the ridge you stay up there for the whole hike. The final ascent up Mount Langdon got my blood going for sure but it was really nice all day and I felt so strong today. I haven’t felt so strong the last few hikes so it was a real confidence boost today to feel like I am able to “crush miles” still. This ridge is beautiful and I think everyone should check it out if they can.
Daily Miles: 8.51
Daily Vert: 3014’
Overall Miles: 1941.75
Overall Vert: 554,192’
Trace: 91.1% -> 91.5%
Trails:
Mount Stanton Trail
Mount Langdon Trail
9/21/23 || White Mountain Trace Day 183 ||
I climbed on the struggle bus this morning and took off another huge chunk of trail in the Great Gulf Wilderness. For the last four years this wilderness has intimidated me, even more than the ravines found on the west side of the northern presidentials, and I’ve had to fight anxiety about doing these behemoths but I keep getting them done. One more down, only 3 more in this region!! Buttress Trail is borderline bushwhack at this point because of how overgrown it is at some spots. I ascended this trail and I think I would rather ascend it than descend it, only because contending with boulders and branches downhill is in my opinion more frustrating than uphill. Madison and Great Gulf Trails were really nice though and I can see why people like this wilderness area. I’ll be honest, I prefer the Appalachia spaghetti to the Great Gulf, though.
Trails:
Great Gulf
Madison Gulf
Six Husbands
Lowe’s Bald Spot
Buttress Trail
Star Lake Trail
Gulfside Trail
Airline
Valley Way
Miles: 13.09
Vert: 4155’
Overall Miles: 1954.84
Overall Vert: 558,347’
Trace: 91.5% -> 91.9%
9/28/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 184 ||
Today was my last time having to drive to the top of Mount Washington to hike down it and then back up. It’s weird going down first and then ascending a mountain. But since this is my fourth time doing it, I’ve become a bit more used to it now. The plan for the day was to tackle another one of the harder trails in the Whites - Six Husbands. This trail is not recommended for descent and I can see why more from a technical standpoint than anything else. Rather than sketchy rock slabs, there are scrambles and ladders which would definitely make descending a real challenge but I really liked this trail a lot. Although steep trails aren’t my preference, I very much enjoyed today’s hike minus the wildfire smoke which was the worst I have ever experienced.
Trails:
Gulfside Trail
Sphinx Trail
Great Gulf Trail
Six Husbands Trail
Edmunds Col Cutoff
Miles: 11.54
Vert: 4160’
Overall Miles: 1966.38
Overall Vert: 562,507’
Trace: 91.9% -> 92.2%
10/3/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 185 ||
Today was a big day for me. I tackled Huntington Ravine Trail solo and it was quite the confidence boost because I wasn’t really all that scared on it and if you’ve ever hiked it you know it can be quite daunting. Gaining over 1900’ in .9 miles means you’re doing a lot more climbing than you are hiking but in New Hampshire this is a lot more common than in other parts of the country (apparently). While I’m not a fan of rock climbing, it was nice to see that I could do this kind of hike without having a meltdown. After completing this hike I have two more really steep trails left to do before winter comes - and looking at next week’s weather it looks like it’s going to be coming sooner than later. This year has been really tough. Weather hasn’t cooperated and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I want very much to move my final 10 hikes to next summer and work on the 40% I have left for round two of tracing going forward. However, we’ll see what happens. I will not risk injury to myself or others for a hobby, and if I can’t get Great Gully Trail done until next summer then I’m 100% ok with that.
2023 feels like a year of adapting, accepting that I am not in control, and making peace with what this journey is rather than trying to force it to be what I thought it would be back in 2022 when I started. And honestly I love the idea of giving up control.
Trails:
Old Jackson Road
Raymond Path
Huntington Ravine
Nelson Crag
Miles: 10.94
Vert: 4163’
Overall Miles: 1977.32
Overall Vert: 566,670’
Trace: 92.2% -> 92.7%
10/5/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 186 ||
Today was really tough. I set out to do Madison Gulf trail which is the second hardest in The Whites but just wasn’t in the right headspace to take on this 12 mile loop. Instead, I did an out and back on Great Gulf Link, then headed south to do the Franconia Ridge. I needed this hike, it wasn’t as if it wasn’t a bonus, but it felt like a failure to not do Madison Gulf. I’m really struggling to get myself motivated to do these last few hikes. It’s a combination of not wanting to finish, fear of failure, and weather conditions turning which is forcing me to face two hikes I am just not mentally interested in doing. It’s not that I can’t do them physically, it's that I don’t want to do them, mentally. They are kind of like the things you put off in your real life because they are a nuisance and you don’t feel like dealing with them. I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I will do them this year. It’s still on the fence. I’m not committing to anything other than that I will keep hiking and maybe it’ll be towards finishing this year and maybe it’ll be for round two.
Trails:
Great Gulf Link
Old Bridle Path
Franconia Ridge Trail
Falling Waters
Shining Rock
Miles: 11.27
Vert: 4269’
Overall Miles: 1988.59
Overall Vert: 570,939’
Trace: 92.7% -> 93.1%
10/17/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 187 ||
The day was going as was planned, Guinea Pond Trail was a marsh, Black Mountain Pond was steep at the end, and Algonquin Trail was beautiful and moss covered. The weather sucked. It was sleeting and cold. I reached the summit of Sandwich Dome and started my descent down Bennett Street, the final 6 miles of the day, and less than a tenth of a mile down the trail, I came across two dogs. Not uncommon, I assumed their owner would be nearby but they had strange collars on them and they were really skinny. As I continued down the trail and they were following me I realized that maybe they were lost. I kept descending and they kept following along. Their collars had the number of the owner on it so when I had service I called and left a voicemail. After not hearing back for a bit and knowing cell phone service would be sporadic, I called the local police too. The owner called me back and said they were his hunting dogs and that they had been lost for a few days. We made our way back to the trailhead together, and I fell in love with them. I have never owned a dog and have zero knowledge of how to hike with one but I can 100% see why people love their dogs now.
Also, I missed the .2 mile side path to Guinea Pond and have to do an out and back to get it now. I looked right at it, and second guessed myself because I’ve more or less memorized where all the spurs are on these final hikes, and now I have to go back out and get it. This is the perfect example of why it takes so many extra miles to complete tracing. You’re going to miss things. And you’re going to have to go back out there and get them. I’ve done this one other time already on Welch-Dickey. I’m just thankful what I missed was on a flat trail this time.
Miles: 14.47
Vert: 3435’
Overall Miles: 2003.06
Overall Vert: 574,374’
Trace: 93.1% -> 93.9%
Trails:
Guinea Pond
Black Mountain Pond
Mary Cary Falls
Algonquin Trail
Flat Mountain Pond
10/18/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 188 ||
One of the two hikes that have been a thorn in my side for months now is done. I’ve hiked over 97% of the trails in The Whites now, and I can say with certainty that there is nothing about these ravine trails that I prefer over a long walk in the woods. Give me East Branch Trail any day over any of the ones up the headwalls of the northern presidentials. Heck, I’ll even take Landing Camp, Shoal Pond, Three Ponds, and Dry River Trails over these things. But I did it, and it was all wet and slippery going up the rocks. It was scary and I didn’t like climbing through a rock cave and then up a rock slab and looking down into what I would be hitting if I fell. I definitely didn’t like the 6” of fresh, slippery, wet snow that I had to contend with above 5200’. I told myself, “you can’t go back the way you came, so forward is your only option. It’s just snow. You’re fine, you know where you are and you’re not cold or hurt. You have to keep going because downhill is the only way to get out of the snow.” And I was fine. I wasn’t hurt or cold or lost. And as I finished the final stretch of trail needed to complete round 1 of all of the trails off the Appalachia parking lot, I can 100% say that two years ago I wouldn’t have been able to handle this hike in these conditions as well as I did. I would’ve cried and had a panic attack. But I’ve taught myself how to handle these situations now. Today I felt like a badass.
Miles: 12.14
Vert: 4747’
Overall Miles: 2015.20
Overall Vert: 579,121’
Trace: 93.9% -> 94.2%
Trails:
The Link
Amphibrach
Cold Brook Falls
King Ravine
Great Gully
Lowe’s Path
Spur Trail
Knight’s Castle
Gray Knob
Randolph Path
Cliffway
10/19/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 189 ||
Tackling the second of two really tough hikes today was a real confidence boost for me. After how I felt the last few months and the lack of motivation that I’ve had to get this project done I am honestly surprised at how well I’ve done the last week. I’m not sure if it’s because I took 10 days off or if it’s because I’m running on adrenaline (or both) but somehow I’m doing it. I’m still not ready to say it’s in the bag because I know better than that and to be honest as much as I’ve said that in the past few months I never really imagined that I would get to this point. That it would really be possible. This has always felt a lot more like a fever dream than reality. Today, closing out the Northern Presidential tab, is just one more step closer to my dream becoming a reality.
Miles: 12.87
Vert: 4012’
Overall Miles: 2028.07
Overall Vert: 583,133’
Trace: 94.2% -> 95%
Trails:
Great Gulf Trail
Madison Gulf Trail
Parapet Trail
Osgood Trail
Osgood Cutoff
Osgood Tentsite
10/21/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 190 ||
A rainy day on the trail but even though I was grateful to get back to my car at the end of the hike I enjoyed my day. Doing new trails is fun because I get to see things I’ve never seen but at the same time it can be a bit intimidating because I don’t know what I’m “in for.” But this stretch of the Garfield Ridge was beautiful. Also the ridge heading up to the summit of Lafayette was really windy and I was getting pelted in the face by rain for 1.6 miles but it was totally worth it. Hiking in a poncho is very underrated.
Miles: 13.43
Vert: 4600’
Overall Miles: 2041.50
Overall Vert: 587,733’
Trace: 95% -> 95.6%
Trails:
Garfield Ridge Trail
Skookumchuck Trail
Mt. Garfield Trail
10/24/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 191 ||
Today was a clean up day. I had 1.2 miles of trail to do in the Sandwich area and in order to do that miniscule number of miles I had to hike 8.75 miles. When I set out to do the loop that I had planned in this area which encompassed these trails I hadn’t intended on rescuing two dogs. Because I cut my hike short to walk them back to the trailhead I had to go back out and finish this area. I also had one .2 mile spur that I missed and had to go get. It was completely flooded due to a beaver dam and I had to use the dam to walk across the pond and get to the end of the trail. Truly this is what I love about tracing. It requires using my head to figure things out and it’s not just following a single trail forward to a final destination.
Miles: 8.77
Vert: 1166’
Overall Miles: 2050.27
Overall Vert: 588,899’
Trace: 95.6% -> 95.7%
Trails:
Bennett Street
Guinea Pond Trail
Guinea Pond Spur
10/26/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 192 ||
Today was a really long day. I had a 22 mile loop that I had originally planned on doing as an overnight but thought I would give it a try as a day hike, which wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had. Given the fact that we have less than 10 hours of daylight this late in the year I was going to be butting up against nighttime. While I have never night hiked, nor want to because I am all set with monsters, I knew that if I was able to maintain 2mph elapsed time, I should be able to get to the roadwalk at the end of my hike by nightfall. What I was unsure about was the river crossing, which ended up thwarting my plans at a day hike. The bridge that used to go across the Wild River has been long gone where Moriah Brook Trail crosses and when I reached this junction, after bushwhacking/hiking 1.8 miles of Highwater Trail, I realized that doing that crossing at night would be totally unsafe. I managed to do almost 20 miles and over 5400’ of elevation at a 2mph elapsed speed, but when I reached the junction w/ Stonybrook Trail I knew I had to bail out on the final 6 miles of hiking down Moriah Brook. I’m glad I made that call because it would’ve been impossible to cross Wild River in the dark and I absolutely would’ve been doing just that. All in all, it was an opportunity to really push myself physically but I didn’t particularly enjoy feeling rushed all day and it is just more proof that I have zero desire to become a trail runner because I much prefer meandering and taking a ton of photos and videos, than trying to push my body super hard.
Miles: 19.77
Vert: 5486’
Overall Miles: 2070.04
Overall Vert: 594,385’
Trace: 95.7% -> 96.8%
Trails:
Highwater Trail
Black Angel Trail
Carter-Moriah Trail
Imp Shelter
10/27/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 193 ||
Today I completed what I didn’t get to finish yesterday, Moriah Brook Trail. I’m really glad that I decided to do this trail separately from the major loop I had tried to do because it allowed me to take more time and enjoy the trail. I love old logging railroads, I love spending a lot of time in the woods, and this trail gave me both of those things. And the water features along Moriah Brook in my opinion rival some of the ones you see on more popular trails like Falling Waters or Fallsway. I love that I got to see this trail and all of these water features that not many people will see, even if they’re big hikers, because not a lot of people do this trail. The Wild River Wilderness is one of the most remote and rugged wildernesses in The Whites, and I should know because I’ve seen all of them. While it’s not my favorite wilderness, I would say it’s in the top 4.
Miles: 12.47
Vert: 2162’
Overall Miles: 2082.51
Overall Vert: 596,547’
Trace: 96.8% -> 97.1%
Trails:
Moriah Brook Trail
10/29/23 || White Mountains Trace Day 194 || The Final Day Towards a Timed Attempt ||
Every single moment that I have lived has shaped me into the person I am today and while I love to try to compartmentalize my experiences for my own sanity, that is not a healthy way to live. Every step I have taken on trail from May 2015 when I started hiking solo to today matters. It all counts. To believe otherwise is to say that those moments didn’t affect the person I am today and they did.
In October 2019, I decided to plan out a year’s worth of hikes out of the over 653 individual trails in the 30th edition of the White Mountain Guide. In January 2020, with only about 23% of the trails hiked since I started hiking in 2015, I reset my data to zero, hiked 7.4% of the trails and had to stop a timed attempt due to the COVID pandemic. Again, in June 2020, I started over at zero and hiked 18% of the trails in the guidebook before receiving a cancer diagnosis on 8/21/20.
From 8/14/20 to 3/23/22 I was in cancer treatment. While in treatment, I continued working on tracing, and was at 57% complete by the time I, once again, reset my data to zero in June, 2022.
From 6/19/22 to 10/29/23, I have hiked 97.6% of the trails in the White Mountain Guidebook, and 9 of the 100 highest peaks in VT and ME. Today, I completed the last trail that I need to have hiked every trail in the WMG as a lifetime goal.
To be clear, I still have 3 ½ full days of hiking to complete a timed attempt to hike every trail in the guide.
And I am stopping my attempt today. I am stopping because there is no end. The end is the beginning and I have 56.4% of the trails hiked for a second round of tracing which is where I will start when I step back into hiking after a well deserved break (at least a week off from hiking). I will share all the data in a future post.
Miles: 16.85
Vert: 5455’
Overall Miles: 2099.36
Overall Vert: 602,002’
Trace: 97.1% -> 97.6%
Trails:
Gale River Trail
Twinway
Twin Brook Trail
Franconia Brook Trail
Garfield Ridge Trail
