The AMC offers an unforgettable opportunity high in the mountains of New Hampshire where you can experience feelings of wonder and awe you thought you had left behind in your childhood. The eight historic high huts of the White Mountains give you a chance to explore trails, mountains, lakes, and waterfalls while satisfying your thirst for adventure and helping you enjoy hospitality, hearty meals, and clean, comfortable accommodations. The huts are reached by hikes of varying difficulty, from gentle, wooded trails to more rigorous above-treeline routes.
Before strapping on your pack and lacing up your boots, you might want to know what to expect from your hut experience. Because no two huts are the same, no two experiences will be the same. There are, however, some things that are characteristic of every overnight stay at a full-service hut. As you first step inside the hut, you’ll notice the friendly and dedicated hut crew. Seven of the huts offer full-service seasons, and full-service means full staffs. Crews vary in size, but are usually made up of young men and women who act as cook, accountant, naturalist, and information specialist — but crew members are often so knowledgeable and flexible that they seem to be swapping roles as often as the guests come and go.
Sharing Meals and Memories
But it takes more than mere friendliness and flexibility to be on a hut "croo," as they choose to call themselves. Responsible for punctual meal service, the diligent croo spends most of the day baking bread and preparing the many other courses of a hearty and nutritious hut dinner to assure that the meal will begin promptly at 6 p.m. Freshly baked bread, salad, soup, the entrée, side dishes, and dessert will keep you pinching yourself — is this for real? Here, near the peaks of some of New Hampshire’s highest mountains, you are feasting on a rewarding and delicious meal, innovative and different every time, but always tantalizing to your taste buds.
Dinner is also the time to meet new people, sharing fellowship by discussing the day’s hikes, tomorrow’s plans, past experiences, trials and tribulations of the trail, and common bonds. "It’s a small world" are oft-heard words as hut guests make connections with one another.
Mission in Action
After dinner, you’ll learn of the opportunities available to you during the stay through the croo’s "Dinner Talks." Among these opportunities is the hut naturalist program. The resident hut naturalist and volunteer naturalists offer educational programs for hut guests of all ages, including nature walks and talks, immediately calling to mind that the hut’s mission is tri-fold. Like a patch of eastern old growth in the earth, the hut experience roots itself in the AMC’s three pillars of conservation, education, and recreation. Veteran hut guests as well as first-timers benefit from learning about low-impact hiking, White Mountain history, and natural history through activities such as star-gazing. Hut naturalists also offer special Junior Naturalist activities for kids.
In addition, you’ll surely find a well-stocked library with natural history guides, inspiring nature writings, and log books from hut guests of long ago. The library, a perfect resource for a rainy day or a relaxing evening after a long hike, is complemented by informative and educational displays — on topics such as local flora, fauna, and geology — that change throughout the season, truly making each hut visit unique and memorable. Even during their self-service seasons, huts offer the same dynamic and creative educational displays to keep you keen to the natural world. This experience helps promote successful conservation in the North Country.
Overnight Sensation
When you’ve learned enough and your mind is as full as your stomach, you can climb into your bunk and curl up with your pillow and mattress provided neatly in every bunk. The full-service huts even offer three wool blankets, making your hike up lighter and your night in dreamland warmer. To help ensure that you get the rest you need for your active day ahead, quiet hours are observed in the huts from 9:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.
In the morning, your wake-up will be as unique as the rest of your stay. Guitar playing? Singing? A quiet knock on the door? Each hut croo has its own style, and each morning has its own surprise in store to get your day started on the right note — sometimes literally! Within a half an hour, you’re back at the table for the 7 a.m. breakfast and drooling over feasts such as hot-off-the-griddle pancakes. As you devour another hearty meal, the hut croo provides safety tips, the latest forecast — radioed moments before from the Mount Washington Observatory — and best wishes for a safe and happy hike. Before heading out, you can pick up items such as high-energy snacks or souvenirs at the hut's small store.
Your options are plentiful now. If you've made reservations, you could hike to the next hut in the chain, and spend the night there, and you’ll undoubtedly encounter yet another friendly and hospitable croo. Or you could take a day hike and return back for another night where you started — sure to be different and full of new surprises. Or you could hike back to the trailhead and head home, but when you get there, you’ll probably be checking your calendar to find out just how long you have to wait to get back to the White Mountains.
Just as a hut stay is not the same every time, the hut experience is also different for each and every hut visitor. It is truly something that cannot be fully described, but needs to be discovered. Experience it for yourself and you will remember it for a lifetime.
