White Mountains Winter Getaway – A bit of everything Adventure

The Doeres meetup embarked on this trip of another kind – Spending a few days of Winters in the lap of White Mountains of New Hampshire, doing a bit of everything Adventure-  Backpacking, camping, hiking, climbing, sightseeing, and chilling. We had some ambitious plans – In 3 days, we are to drive 6-8 hours from NJ/DL to WhiteMountains, Backpack, do winter hike, campout out at the hut, backpack back next day , attempt another big hike, stay over and do another hike next day and return with 6-8hrs drive back. On paper, all seemed doable approximately if everything worked perfectly.

The main charm and motivation of the trip was the snow hike to the AMC Lonesome lake hut with a backpack (or 2) of 25-30lbs, up an elevation of abt 1000 feet, walking over a Frozen lake (yes, crossing over the lake to the hut), staying overnight at the Hut with partial facilities, sleeping in a winter camping setting in bunk rooms with no electricity or heating. 

A lot of dreaming, imagination and planning went into the trip before it could be executed. For a while, I wanted to have a rustic winter experience staying in a remote hut with tall mountain views and wilderness.

Picture: Courtesy Google and unknown photographer (taken on a bright sunny day)

With some prior knowledge and experience of the area and googling, found out this AMC Lonesome Lake Hut that is open in Winters with self-service options. With the location in place, the plan was to spend a couple of nights in the area and do some hiking. As luck would have it, we only got accommodation for 1 night on Friday, thereby  spending just a short time in the area. Nonetheless, that was still sufficient time for the first time of the experience.

The meetup event started with four enthusiastic folks who confirmed for the trip early on. This is a key step as early confirmation (essentially financial for making the bookings etc) is crucial to planning. With that, momentum got built and we ended with 11 folks who embarked on this experience of a lifetime. Folks had to take Friday off early in the year and stay away from family for a few days, which is a good amount of commitment. Personally, as an event host, I have to first commit to the trip, as for the participants, it’s always optional until the last moment if not committed financially.

With a mix of new and experienced backpackers doing the multiday Winter Adventure Getaway is an interesting challenge and experience for the event host. Ideally this was not a 1st timer backpacking event, however I could not deny the enthusiasm of the first timers. We had some time to prepare for the event.

So it started.. The trip checklist was published which kept on growing and refined. Some folks had to do a lot of shopping of the gear, a lot of questions answered on type of hut facilities, winter gear needed, conference calls, phone calls, messages, Youtube research etc took place in preparation of the event. Some folks who joined the event late or missed calls, repeated the same questions again :). We figured the carpool situation and there we embarked on this adventure expedition. The weather forecast turned out to be not so Wintry but somewhat favorable temperature wise – day time temps in the 40’s and 50s with occasional rain, not typical of a winter day in the Whites. It was unusually warm and turned out later that it broke many old records of warmest winter day.

 Day1 

First day plan was to reach Lincoln by noon, backpack hike to Hut and do the Cannon mountain hike, possibly in daylight. As most of us started our day early 4am-ish and reached Licoln on or about expected time, the call to get lunch came about. That put us behind an hour or so as the lunch expectations were different. With some quick decision, most of us decided to grab Subway sandwich and eat quickly. Then when we reached the trailhead parking, we had to get ready for the backpacking – arrange the bags, put on the winter gear; for many using Snowshoes was first time, put on the gaiters etc. All in all we started at 2pm to hike, about 1.5 hours behind my expected time which I should have added in the plan.

The backpacking hike to Hut was awesome. Deep packed snow on trails and mild temperatures was very welcoming. Soon folks were sweating, had to make adjustments to backpack, layers, snowshoes etc. While on the trail, there were some slippery sections, some obstacles, some rocky sections etc. The trail had a good amount of incline, essentially ascending 1000 feet in about 1 mile with a 25-35 lbs weight on the back, it was some good cardio workout. The trail was adorned beautifully with pristine thick snow covered trees and branches, a perfect winter wonderland. 

After some breaks, some struggles, some laughs etc., we all managed to reach the top of the steep trail to the Lonesome Lake shore, a Glacial lake. Oh! The Eureka moment arrived with the sighting of the frozen lake and we all screamed. Everyone was elated and excited to walk on the frozen lake. This would be the most interesting, exciting and memorable moment, if done without an incident i.e getting a scare of cracking ice or so. We saw there was a track on the lake and also from previous passers by, we had the knowledge it was safe to walk. So we started stepping on the lake cautiously and the excitement turned into exuberance. Everyone started taking pictures, posing and being in Joyful mood surrounded by beautiful scenery. 

Cautiously we trudged on the snow covered icy lake, and occasionally I tested the hardness of the Ice below the soft snow layer. It all appeared okay, and we joyously proceeded to cross the lake and we Did. Oh Boy! It was an unreal and fundamentally different experience – walking on frozen deep water body. While crossing the lake, we were surrounded by the cloud covered Cannon Ball mountain ridge. It was a beautiful thing – purely out of the ordinary, out of imagination. This was the moment I was looking for and it happened – A dream come true. Taking each step on the frozen lake was like a Life gained, because You never know, Ice may be thin and you may be In (the water).

 We reached the base of the Hut, heaved  a sigh  of relief and climbed up to the Hut, taking off our snowshoes. It was almost 4pm and we could see it getting dark as it was cloudy.

Stepping into the Hut was another moment of exhilaration. Main hut was a big hall with a large windows, tables, big kitchen and sitting area. We were told we were the only ones in the place and that was exciting too – we can make noise and express desi ways. Most of us had a hot drink after being in the cold, which was very welcoming. The caretaker of the week was a pleasant girl and gave us information and instructions to the Bunk houses, where we were to spend the night. It was cold, the pathways were icy and we were slipping (as we had taken out the snowshoes) and inside the Bunk rooms, the frost was sparkling in the headlamp light, definitely temps were below freezing here. We parked our bags there and rushed to make to the next part of the day i.e the hike to Cannon mountain. I knew that it was not possible to climb all the way up in the time we had, but still we embarked on the night hike towards Cannon via the trail through the wooded trail.

This was a wonderful trail around the lake, narrow log bridges over the many streams that fed into the lake. Some streams were frozen with  beautiful patterns, snow banks and other Natures Winter creations. 

The hike to the Cannon started getting steeper and it was getting dark, still we had the goal of reaching the intersection and determine what we do next. There were some challenging sections as in big rocks that are frozen, which are okay to climb up but slippery on the way down. Snow/Ice traction is very critical to stay safe. Slowly and  steadily we climbed up, must have been almost 1000 feet climb in less than a mile. The folks had spread out on the trail based on their experience and speed, eventually all of us made to the Ridgeline and we called it a day (night really).This was another unique experience of a night snow hike with headlamps all the way. Some folks had minor slips and slides.

On the way back, around the lake, I turned off the headlamp and experienced the Stillness of the Night. WIth a cloudy though full moon night, you could still see surroundings in the “light” darkness . The still  feeling of Nature was very Spiritual – snow all around, frozen landscape, no other light and sound, no other living being and the occasional noise of running water under the frozen layer of Ice – It was scary and spiritual. I assimilated  the feeling of solitude. There was strength in the moment – fear of darkness and being alone in the wild was gone.

Having walked about half a mile in the dark, with slightly visible path, I reached the Hut. The time was about 6.30pm and it was dark. The hut itself felt lonely and frozen in time with snow and nice over and around it. It was lit inside and it looked like a large lighthouse beaconing the weary traveller. 

Inside the hut, the mood was festive among the Doeres. Hut was warm, some were having hot drinks, some cookies and cakes made fresh by the caretaker. Dinner time was upon us and everyone opened up their goodies. It was a Party. Desi food, some fresh, some packed, some dehydrated. The huge kitchen was all to ourselves for whole time, else we had to share if there was another group.

Hot rice and dal, rotis and pranthas with butter, channa masala, rajma, and much more. Everyone shared their food and ended with a very fulfilling dinner. It was a beautiful communal feeling of a large family. 

Imagine having a sumptuous Indian food in a remote area of Wilderness, where there is no phone, electricity or television, it’s dark and frozen outside and inside there is a commotion of desi fellas exuberant with the joy of experiencing a  “time and space” that was ever imagined – the feeling was joyous and priceless. Everyone sat around the wood burning stove and started drying up their wares.

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Mostly everything worn was wet. The gloves, jackets, boots, socks, hats etc. Someone noticed hooks on the roof and all started hanging their stuff. I was thinking if there are 50 folks in that area (next night), it would be chaos. Lucky that we were the only folks that night and we had all the space to ourselves. The caretaker was super sweet and accommodating.  We had peanuts heated on the stove and other snacks with “celebratory”  drink. Usual  adventure chitchat, sharing experiences and stories was going on.

A couple of us took a night hike over the lake and around, another beautiful experience. At one point, we could hear and see the water flowing under from the frozen layer of lake surface. At that point, it was clear that lake was not frozen deep.. The moment was enlightening, we were walking on “Thin Ice”. 

Back in the hut, all were having a good time in La La land. At 9.30, the lights of the hut were off and Off we were to the Bunk house with no light and heat. It was supposed to be that way, Off the grid.

We changed into sleeping clothes and slid inside the sleeping bag (0F rated). The interesting part of backpacking and especially in winters is that there are about 50 or more items (small or big) in the backpack, in different pockets and sections, even a small plastic bag is a crucial item. The items range from many different layers of clothing from head to toe, spare clothing, night clothing, camping; survival and comfort gear, emergency items,medicines, morning accessories, hiking accessories, cold accessories, spare food etc. Though they are arranged well with good intentions at home, however, when the time comes to find it quickly in the dark and/or cold, you can’t find them and or cannot put it back in the same place. This is the biggest challenge, especially when you are new to it. You tend to pack a few extra things just in case and when you are hosting the event, you also carry extra stuff for the group. Other issue with winter backpacking is that things get wet, due to exposure to snow or sweat, rain or sometimes leaking water bottles. Even socks inside waterproof boots get wet. Managing wet layers and keeping the clothes dry is a big challenge. Hence, packing and keeping things dry is a major winter backpacking/hiking art and technique.

So, we all retire in our sleeping bags in the bunk bed which had a mattress and a pillow. I put my phone to charge the battery pack inside a sock sleeve so that the battery pack itself does not gets discharged in the cold. In very cold, you may want to slip the phone and battery pack in the sleeping bag. Its takes a while to get warm and cozy inside the bag while the face is still exposed to the open and  breathing cold air. A fleece blanket is very helpful inside the sleeping bag as well as a liner balaclava on head and face. Usually feet are the coldest and takes time to be warm, so wearing socks help initially, but once it gets warm, you may need to take them off. Also, it’s good to wear light base layer to sleep.

Day 2

Mostly all had a good sleep as the overnight temperatures were relatively warm. Frost inside the room had turned to water drops hanging off the wooden bed, another way of things getting wet. 

The plan for this second day was to be in the common meeting room at 7.30, have breakfast so as to start by 8.30 to backpack back to the parking.  Again there was more than plenty of food. As a friendly gesture, folks had brought food for others as well to be shared and enjoyed. The highlight was hot poha, upma, buttery fresh tomato cucumber sandwich among other things.

We started at 8.45 am after donning the snowshoes and lugging the backpacks. There was usual question – snowshoes or spikes for snow traction. The decision was made for snowshoes to give better traction and stability with backpack. Now the dilemma came – to walk across the lake or take the trail along the side. Weather was quite warm and after seeing the water flow under the lake, I had a bit of uncertainty. Initial thought was to take the trail to experience it, however would have taken longer. We were already running late. Some brave sense prevailed and with some other information, we decided to take the frozen lake trail (not official trail). It was all very foggy – being foggy meant it was very warm on the lake surface. We could hardly see beyond 30 feet. 

It also presented a beautiful mystical view of the lake and surrounding. All started to take pictures of the views. We decided to space ourselves by about 20 feet just in case something happens below the soft snow trail (on the icy water surface). I was in the front and checking the hardness of the ice occasionally. Usually the ice has to be 4 inches thick to support the average weight of an adult human.There is no way of knowing it if the surface is covered with snow unless you hit the ice real hard with an Ice Axe. If it sounds cracking, Run or walk back slowly as the case may be. This scare happened once on another frozen pond. Hence, Ice Axe is an important tool to carry in winters. The lake traverse happened safely and as a lead on that section, I was always thinking of the safety of the ice trail and the crew in the back. Safety is the topmost concern the event host has on its mind while on somewhat risky situations, though accidents can happen even in seemingly easy situations.

After crossing the lake, we trekked back to the parking, started together but slowly spread out keeping individual pace. I was in the back, enjoying some sections alone, some together, some chatting here and there. There were some minor slips and falls again on some steeper sections of the trail. 

The biggest fear on Winter hikes is the fear of slipping and losing control on the slopes, thereby either hitting a rock, tree, root or someone in the front, thereby breaking something in the body. Hence, the speed decreases on descent.All got down safely. We reached parking at a little over 10am. It took another 10-15 minutes to change over and pack ourselves in the car to go to the next trailhead of Mt Osceola. Some folks had to change clothing and pack the daypack. It took another few minutes to get everyone ready for the next hike.

In a group, on a trip with multiple different activities, and with a combination of new and experienced folks, there are many time pressures and tensions due to that. We have to keep on time to avoid darkness of the night and any untoward incidents. There are many human factors to deal with – Some folks get ready quickly; some not, some are fast movers; some slow,  some have patience; some not, some care about others; some not, some may be quiet and some very “expressive”, some may have come to enjoy the experience; some to achieve something, some may get along; some not. Keeping time is very critical, however there can be unknown or unplanned circumstances that adds to time delays. Also, group communication is not evenly distributed, understood or paid attention to by everyone. Managing the expectations and experiences of everyone becomes a big challenge in a non-professionally guided, friendly group. Everyone thinks they are right, justified, have the right to comment and have the right context. Reality is far different and only the event host knows or understands somewhat of what’s going on with everyone based on the background of things. The responsibility of the group leader is then to diffuse the tensions that may arise, change/modify plans with certainly comes with added stress.

So, we all headed to the trailhead of Mt Osceola, which was about 13 minutes drive from our meeting point in Lincoln. It started to rain on the way via Kancamagus highway, which dampened our spirits a bit.  At the parking, the access was not plowed and one SUV (even with AWD) got stuck.

In few minutes and bit of team effort (5 desis push), the SUV was unstuck. All got ready with their microspikes (decided based on information from previous hikers) and eventually we started to hike the Greeley pond trail to Mt Osceola at 11.15am. It was a late start, however we thought we have about 5hrs for 7-8 mile trail. Initial part of the trail was easy and scenic. There as a large stream crossing that was mostly covered with snow bridges. Small opening in the snow cover formed beautiful pools and we did something really funny on the way back. After about a mile we reached the intersection of the trail to Mt Osceola where the trail gets hard. We were getting close to the base of the mountain and it was steep, straight up  the granite monolith, similar in appearance to Yosemite granite walls. I knew we were to climb this, and thought there may be an easier way up and not a “steep” climb. I had not done this before in the summer and had no idea of the gradient, except that it was steep in places. 

We started on the trail, which was 1.5 miles to the summit of East Osceola. We gradually started ascending the wet snowy trail and everything was looking great. Some folks who were descending told that the trail gets steeper ahead and I thought how steeper it can get. In about a half mile into the gradual ascent, the trail gets steeper and I mean steeper as we have not done similar before, not even Mount Washington. There are big rock (with snow and ice) that you have to navigate through, you have to hold on to trees to climb up a step, you have to move from one side to the other across a narrow snowy ledge to get tree assist, you have to kick in the boot in the snow to get some traction on the slope and other ad hoc methods just to climb the next step.

I was wearing the Hillsound crampons (microspikes) and at this point, the crampons Pro would have been the right choice to wear as it has the front teeth to get a foothold on vertical snow. I managed half a mile up, at some points using Ice Axe to make steps etc and on all-fours. Now I know what “steep” meant, it appeared almost straight up but later found to be about 45% gradient. The trail got really steep and I was worried how to get down. When I looked down it appeared more scarier. The day was cloudy and windy, hence it appeared more darker. We almost did a mile on the steepest section of the trail, when we reached a slopey opening and a beautiful viewpoint to the East.

We stopped here and took some pictures. The trail ahead looked ominous. It was another straight climb on a bare rock slab with nothing to hold on to. It appeared that we could climb it but descent would have been tough. We had a decision to make.. Time was about 2pm, the summit to East Osecola was half a mile and could take another one hour in the conditions and descent was equally treacherous. It was a  moment of Be, or Not to Be. Some folks wanted to go ahead and “summit” and some folks wanted to turn back due to time and effort. One person in the group attempted to go up and after a few feet slid down the bare rock face, it was a scary moment. Luckily another group member stopped his slide. This moment was the final straw  and we all but two decided to turn back. Remaining daylight was short and descent was too dangerous to be done with a headlamp.

In wintery snowy steep climbing, in most cases, ascent is easy i.e. you are leaning towards the mountain, you have control over your steps and traction. You can slowly climb up with all fours even a bare slope with enough snow to get a foothold and having “right” traction.Traction as mentioned earlier could have been Snowshoes, Microspikes, Pro crampons (Hillsound) or Real mountaineering crampons (best choice in this case). The Descent is the scarier and dangerous part. Your weight is leaning forward, away from the mountain, feet are unevenly placed, the snow may be sliding under you, there may be ice under the snow, you are watching the steep slope ahead of you giving you the creepy feeling, fear of slipping is in your mind, there are rocks on the way, there may not be trees to hold on to, the trail may be  turning like a spiral and if you slide a bit you may be in deep snow off the trail, minor risks are numerous which may even become major as we learnt later that one of the group members who went to summit of East Osceola slipped some 15-20 feet on bare rock. Hence it takes more caution and extra time to descend a snowy slope.

Nonetheless, we descending slowly, holding on to tree trunks or even small tree branches which appeared strong enough to hold our pull or weight. Without them descent was impossible. It took about 2 hours to get back to parking and almost dark. In retrospect, turning back was the right decision. On the way back, we stopped at the snow pools (small circular openings in the 1-2 foot snow cover over a wide stream) and someone had the idea of leaning over into the pool and dipping into the water. Water was cold but bearable. Due to the recent warm temperatures. water was gushing underneath. I also dipped inside the pool, drank a few sips of the freshwater  and washed the face and felt the sweaty salts on the face.

It was a little over 4pm at the return to the parking and was dark.Two of the folks were still on the trail as they had gone to the East Osceola summit and were about an hour or more behind. Some other hikers had seen them, so assumed they were okay and will return safely. We headed back to the lodge of the evening, Holiday Inn hotel with a nice pool and jacuzzi. We were looking forward to the evening at “The common Man”, the traditional hangout of our group.  We celebrated the two days of fun and adventure, non-stop action. The beauty of winters is that darkness is long, hence more time to enjoy the creature comforts after a hard day on the mountains. We spent about 2-3 hours at the common man eatery and headed back to the hotel. More chatting at the hotel, many different opinions and experiences. Some had a lot of fun and learning, some had it easy and wanted more. 

Overall, I was very satisfied with the experiences in the time and group we had in the 2 days. Next day was another exciting day in the Flume Gorge. The weather forecast was not very exciting – showing temps in the 50s and raining, nonetheless we had to make it a good day.

Day 3

Next day, after a very sumptuous breakfast at the hotel, we headed back out in the wilderness of the hopefully frozen Flume Gorge State Park. Officially the park is closed in winters, only Ice Climbers frequent this place to climb the Ice pillars in the gorge. There was no one in the parking which meant no Ice climbers as the temperatures was melting the Ice. As we stepped on the trail, we could hear the roaring river. Water seemed to be at flood levels. Water was muddy forming class 4 Whitewater rapids that could be seen in the Pemigewasset river passing through the park.

We passed the beautiful bridge to the trail to the gorge, and with little uphill ascent started to see the wonderful Ice formations of the walls of the Gorge. The trail was closed through the gorge were but could peek through it and see the huge Ice Columns. Water was gushing through the creek and seemed very dangerous. All the mild temperatures of 2 days melted away  tons of snow and ice. 

After a peek through the gorge, we proceeded to do the entire trail of the park going to the top of the gorge. There were many wonderful views of frozen water off the gorge walls and gushing water off the waterfalls. It was a true wonderland, all to ourselves. Not many folks venture out for such adventures here. There was a small cave which was Icy was we had fun climbing into it using Ice Axe and stuff. 

After having fun around the area of the top of the gorge, it started to Rain and we donned our ponchos and it really rained hard for some time. As we hiked through the park, we came to another beautiful area with a covered bridge over the roaring Pemigewasset River. The sight of Ice formations along the walls of river gorge, views over the Bridge and the elated mood of the group was electrifying. We took tons of pictures and went across the bridge to complete the loop. The hike was easy and enjoyable and brought a pleasant end to our getaway to the NH. We celebrated in the parking lot with hugs of joy and celebratory drink and off we went home on another 6-8 hours drive with great memories.

Joy was all Ours, Memories are Priceless, and Nature is the Best entertainer of Life. Live through it.

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