Last weekend Maria and I escaped for a brief honeymoon in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We’ve had a semiregular tradition of going off into the woods somewhere in mid-October to celebrate our dating anniversary and my birthday, so it seemed reasonable to continue the tradition now that we were married. After our first adventure ended with us mostly sitting and reading The Kingkiller Chronicles, the tradition became less of a hiking trip and more of a relax-in-the-woods-and-read-a-lot kind of trip.
Because of this, when planning where to go the Wednesday before, I knew there shouldn’t be too many miles involved. The forecasts suggested that we might be in for quite a bit of rain, so I was tempted to aim for one of the many shelters scattered throughout the White Mountains,. However, we had also just received the Zpacks Duplex tent as a wedding gift, and I really wanted an excuse to try it out. After looking through AMC’s White Mountain Guide and scouring the internet, I eventually landed of two possible locations we could decide between depending on the weather: the Kinsman Pond shelter if the weather was too bad, or the tent sites north of the Lincoln Woods trailhead if we were feeling adventurous. Both spots were only about 3 miles from the trailhead, and both had plenty of short trails nearby for some daytime adventures if we got tired of our books.
I actually managed to get all of my gear packed ahead of time for this trip (amazing, I know), so I was ready to go Friday on schedule. We would later discover, to both our great sorrow, that I had forgotten Maria trekking poles. She had some work meetings in the morning, so we didn’t start driving north until around 13:00. After a brief stop at the visitor center in Lincoln to grab a parking pass and ask for trip insights (none were significantly forthcoming), we decided to go to Lincoln Woods to play with the new tent. We made it to the Lincoln Woods trailhead around 16:30.
The parking lot was quite full, what with the weather unexpectedly good and the fall foliage in full color. Once we got our stuff together and confirmed that the ranger hut was closed for the day, our first stop was the nearby suspension bridge. Standing over the Pemigewasset River, we got a good look at the surrounding mountains that would be our friends for the next two days. I mostly resisted the urge to shake the bridge while other people were on it. A couple of signs nearby gave some brief background on the history of the indigenous people and logging in the area.
Heading north from the suspension bridge, the trail paralleled the river all the way to camp, crossing a few creeks along the way. Occasionally skirting the edge of the river’s embankment continued to provide larger scenic views while the foliage along the trail displayed endless variation of greens, reds, and yellows. Maria paused repeatedly along the way to take pictures of especially noteworthy colors.
It was starting to get dark as we made it to the tent sites. Although less abundant than at the trailhead, there was no shortage of people around who’d had similar ideas to our own coming out this weekend. After five or ten minutes of exploring the area we found a relatively secluded spot to put up the new tent. Once that was finished, Maria unpacked our things inside while I got started cooking the first of my two standard backpacking meals: couscous, ramen, summer sausage, and freeze-dried veggies. I was worried a downpour would start before I could finish dinner, but apart from a few moments of light drizzle, the weather was kind enough to wait until we’d eaten and secured ourselves in the tent before it unleashed the torrent.
For our first time setting up the Duplex, it kept the night’s wet off us admirably well. Since it’s not a free-standing tent, it required a little more skill to set up properly than our last tent, and we hadn’t done a perfect job. In our ignorance, we’d set it up such that a small amount of water could seep from the outside of the tent to the corners of the bathtub floor across the the mesh that connected the two parts. Additionally, we’d shoved all our gear down against the bottom edge of the tent, creating yet more opportunity to water to flow across the mesh and into our home. Still, despite our best efforts, no more water got inside than could be absorbed by a bandana in each corner, and we were able to spend the night relaxed, reading and listening to the patter of rainfall around us.
We took our time in the morning, moving slowly and reading as we packed for the day and cooked our instant oatmeal. I waited until right before we were leaving to eat, so my insulin would cooperate properly. The plan for the day was to take our books and lunch and continue north along the Pemi river until we could cross, then head back along the other side until we got to Franconia Falls. Unfortunately, we would soon discover that path across the river I’d seen AllTrails didn’t actually exist, so after a few miles we turned back to a nice spot we’d seen earlier along the riverbank to hang out for a while.
We spent a few hours lounging there, enjoying the mountain views, me reading while Maria planned her videogame. At some point we ate lunch (tortillas, Italian dry salami, and cheese). The weather was turning out to be much better than expected. The rain had ended before we left in the morning, and wouldn’t start again until after bedtime that night. It was cool, but not too cold, and we got to watch as the thin fog layer over the river slowly evaporated over the hours that we stayed there.
Sometime later, we decided to head back to camp. We took a longer, more adventurous route along the river on the way back, hoping to no avail to find a spot where we might cross without getting wet. The rest of the afternoon was spent much the same as the morning had been, hanging around camp and reading. At some point I headed out a few hundred yards off into the woods for some variety in reading spots and scenery. Dinner that night was my second staple meal: potatoes, ramen, summer sausage, and freeze-dried vegetables. I finished Brief Cases by Jim Butcher that night and started working through How Long ‘til Black Future Month by N. K. Jemisin. I’ve been enjoying reading some short stories recently as a change of pace from the long fantasy novels I normally read, and so I have a bit more to go off of when I eventually get around to writing down the stories I have I spinning around in my head.
The next morning, we packed up early with the goal of making it to the car quickly. We were only a little later than we wanted to be, and we decided we’d rather get back home early to prepare for the week ahead than spend an extra three to four hours hiking to the falls and back. So we loaded our backpacks into the car and began the long drive back to Springfield, with another beautiful weekend spent together in the mountains.
Hike Details:
- Date: 10/15/2021 – 10/17/2021
- Distance: 8.3 miles
- Route https://www.alltrails.com/explore/map/map-oct-14-01-31-pm-3435c37
Pokin' Along 