In late October a weekend camping trip for the White Mountains took off. Instructor Rick Gaukel and student Sam Smith spent hours on end planning the whole trip out. They plotted a course, made a sign up sheet and bought all of the food and equipment necessary. With six willing students which included Francesca Quillen, Nate Krull, Nick Gery, Sam Smith, Mike Diehl and me, Greg Smith, the van packed and left in the early afternoon. Do to the lateness and desire to hike in the least amount of darkness possible the hike was hasty but actually tons of fun.

We were being chased by a kingdom of looming clouds that had freezing rain written all over them. Everything was going well until we were within a couple miles of the hut and realized we were kind of lost. Since our guide was letting us take the reins he refused to tell us where to go. After studying the map and debating for a few minutes we took the road less traveled… the clouds were catching up and the temperature and sun were going down. Much to our relief we finally came across a sign that said the hut was only a quarter mile away—as we saw the sign the thunder started. Without a word we picked up the speed of the hike almost to a jog. Then, without even a drizzle, a wall of rain fell on us and we basically sprinted the last 500 yards or so, dove into the hut and got in our sleeping bags as quick as possible. Unfortunately, after a heated Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament Mike Diehl and I had to cook dinner which meant climbing out of our sleeping bags. The Summer sausage and pasta was delicious but not as good as the sleep that followed.

The next morning we ate some oats and hung out for a while before the hike. This time it was a gorgeous day without a cloud in the sky. Everyone was cheery until we began our steep ascent up the mountain which lasted an hour or so until we summated the first mountain and began hiking on the ridge. To the left were lakes and mountains, and to the right was the same. The hike was something out of Lord of the Rings and consisted of crossing several rivers and summiting two mountains. We ate lunch on the summit and continued to our much desired huts. We finally came to a misty and grey lake and hiked along its shore. The hut was poking out in the distance and looked like a four star cabin so we were all very excited. Just as our excitement was peaking we discovered that our spot had been invaded by through hikers! We ended up staying in the caretaker’s hut which was fine. The hike the next morning was all down hill and was incredibly relaxing as we enjoyed the famous fall foliage of New England. Some walked slower and some faster so we basically were separated into two groups. However, upon reaching the road we all collapsed and awaited our pickup.