AT New Hampshire

[Trance]

10 days to Hike from Dartmouth NH to Grafton Notch Maine mid June. I usually average 20-22 mile days on the Southern AT.

Is this "doable"?

[Kerosene]

Gonna be tight. Recognize that your pace will drop by a full mile per hour once you hit Moosilaukee. Hard to believe, but there are very few places where you can really stride for very long. It's not the climbs (although some of those are very tough) but the rocks and roots that slow you down. Fortunately you will have a lot of daylight in June, but it is also likely that you will encounter a lot of mud and wet. I was extremely fortunate that I didn't get any bad weather through this section.

I went from Hanover (location of Dartmouth University) to Glencliff over the course of three day hikes, but you can probably do that in two days.

From Glencliff to Crawfords Notch took 4.5 days; with more daylight you can likely cut that down to 3.5-4. We took a zero at Crawfords Notch in September 2006, which was the only day that it rained in our traverse.

Camping logistics limit your flexibility. We stayed at Lake of the Clouds Hut the next evening and finished up in Pinkham Notch the next day. 6 years later I did a half day up to Carter Notch followed by a relatively easy 15-miler to Gorham -- with enough time those 21 miles can be done in a day and shuttlers will slackpack you.

So, now you're up to 9 days already, best case (unless you're an olympic-caliber athlete, but then you'd be doing consecutive 30+ mile days down south).

To get to Grafton Notch you have to go through Mahoosuc Notch and up the South Arm, which is fairly slow going. I covered that section in 3 days, but I wasn't pushing all that hard. You could probably do it in 2.5 days, but two days would be pretty aggressive.

My suggestion is to use your 10 days to get to Gorham/US-2. If you find that you still have a few extra days then you can try to get from there to Grafton Notch. Note that it will be tough to hitch out of Grafton Notch and there is no cell reception down there, but you could arrange a pickup from a Gorham-based shuttler.

Hope that helps. You can find my journals at www.trailjournals.com/Kerosene. The 2006 Glencliff-to-Pinkham Notch section starts here. The Pinkham Notch to Rangeley section occurred in 2012.

[Another Kevin]

I went from Hanover (location of Dartmouth University) to Glencliff over the course of three day hikes, but you can probably do that in two days.

Pedantic note: It's Dartmouth College, not Dartmouth University. Dartmouth University is the name that it would have had if the State of New Hampshire had succeeded in its attempt to alter the college's charter unilaterally (on the grounds that a Royal land grant from before 1776 was annulled by the Revolution). The ensuing court battle became a landmark case in constitutional law. While Dartmouth today is, in effect, a small university, with three graduate colleges, it will never call itself by the name that New Hampshire would have imposed on it.

[Slo-go'en]

Not a chance. You might get to US 2 in 10 days but only if you have 10 days of ideal weather and that never happens. Shelburne to Grafton Notch is a really hard 3 days, many take 4 and even 5 days to do those 30 miles.

With any luck most of the snow will have melted by mid June but the black flies will be insane. Mahoosuc notch could very well still be impassable with snow and ice. Not much sunlight gets down there and we could have epic amounts of snow by the end of season in late April.

[Rain Man]

Not a chance.

Gotta agree. My own daily mileage was cut by up to two-thirds in NH, albeit the first couple of days out of Hanover were not bad.

[peakbagger]

I second my neighbors Slo-goen's prediction. Many thry hikers make great time until Glencliff and get cocky. They shoot for Kinsman's Pond Shelter or go conservative and shoot for Eliza Brook Shelter that night and get blindsided when they look at the map and realize that they are walking past Beaver Brook Shelter late in the afternoon. Some folks try to push through but the next couple of days will knock them out. The good news is AMC has a shuttle at Franconia Notch, Crawfords Notch and Pinkhams Notch so you can always get to Gorham if you have a car spot. Save the Mahoosucs for a later trip

[burger]

Not.a.frickin'.chance. Everyone else above covered the reasons.

[colorado_rob]

I was blown away by the difficulty of the Whites... we had a 7-day 105 mile itinerary planned. Turned into an 8-day 90 mile one. We can easily cover 20+ MPD's in easier terrain. 11 MPD was tough in the Whites!

Oh, but so gorgeous... good choice for a section however you do it.

[Donde]

Even if you can don't. This is arguably the best part. Do not rush, and give yourself some flex to get good weather both for safety and for enjoyment.

[TJ aka Teej]

Rethink, and plan Glencliff to Gorham.

[HighLiner]

I averaged about 16 miles per day as a section hiker until reaching the Whites. A 10 mile day was all I could do. Hardest hiking I have ever experienced. The uphills wore you out and the downhills were treacherous. But arguably the best scenery on the entire trail. The 80/20 rule applies to NH and ME, it's only 20 percent of the trail mileage but 80 percent of the effort. I'm a believer!

[Trance]

I appreciate the advice.

I have dayhiked Mt. Washington two times, once last October and once in Jan in the worst conditions. Lionshead and Tuckermans.... I understand what the whites are like.

My orignal plan was to go from Dartmouth to Gorham... but I figured Grafton wasnt that far and wanted to do a full NH hike.

Anyone know what the camping situation is like up there? Say... if I get to one of AMC's pay shelters, will they let me camp outside it or do a work for shelter.... or do I have to try to stealth camp it?

[Trance]

Also.... people, never say never.

I hiked from the NOC to Fontana Dam in one day. It can be done in the right conditions.

[peakbagger]

With respect to AMC shelters, you need to be aware that there are AMC campsites that usually have shelters and AMC huts each with different rules. Generally camping is restricted within 1/4 of a mile of most facilities, (huts or campsites). Many of the huts are on the ridgeline and may offer work for stay but generally only to thruhikers and only to a few of the them each night. Three huts Madison, Lake of the Clouds, and Greenleaf are above treeline and camping options are limited and you may have to drop off the ridge 1000 feet and a mile or so to find a legal campsite.
AMC campsites if staffed are $8 per night, you pay whether you tent or use a shelter. There is generally no work for stay but some but not all of the shelters are in the wood so once you get past the 1/4 miel boundary there are usually spots to camp. Guyot and Liberty Springs are both difficult as they are up on the spruce/fir zone and alternative legal spots are hard to find. Thttp://www.outdoors.org/lodging/campsites/staffing-dates.cfmhis link may be helpful

[peakbagger]

Oops I blew the link
http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/camp...fing-dates.cfm

[colorado_rob]

Also.... people, never say never.

I hiked from the NOC to Fontana Dam in one day. It can be done in the right conditions.

I certainly didn't say "never", but like you, I did NOC to Fontana in a day (my wife was at Fontana... I had incentive!), a tad less than 30 miles IIRC, but that friendly, smooth, gently rolling terrain (even though it poured rain most of the long day) went at least 2X faster than the AT in most of the whites for me, but I'm 20 years older than you.... Still, our White mileage was right at 50% of the rest of the AT, I personally think that's a good rule of thumb for most folks.

[TJ aka Teej]

Is this "doable"?

Also.... people, never say never.

You need to sort out what you're really asking.

[peakbagger]

AMC hut crews occasionally do a hut to hut run in under day (but most skip some sections of the AT). There are a lot of heroic feats that folks do but there are far more folks setting overoptimistic daily mileage that run into a wall in the whites, therefore we tend to be conservative when an unknown person asks our opinion.

[Rain Man]

You need to sort out what you're really asking.

Apparently he settled on the answer before he asked the question?

[Trance]

I read a lot of these threads, and honestly, it always ends with a bunch of 60yr old computer hikers always making snarky comments.

I dont know why I expected differently honestly.

I wanted to know if it was "possible", that meaning if anyone has done it... not any of this ridiculous theorycrafting based on people who haven't done it.

The only people with any useful information was Kerosene with his journal, peakbagger, and Highliner. Thanks btw.

The rest of you need to apply for a troll license and go back under your bridges.