AMC Lonesome Lake Hut, Franconia Notch State Park, White Mountain National Forest, NH. Photo by Chris Shane.
Jean Camuso’s connection to AMC’s High Mountain Huts started over 40 years ago, when she took her two young sons on a hike to Lonesome Lake. From early adventures (including a memorable mid-trail “strike” that was swiftly resolved with peanut butter and jelly) to watching her youngest return years later as Zealand Hut’s naturalist, the huts have been a constant thread in her family’s story.
Jean became a familiar face at Zealand during that season—so much so that she was encouraged to become a volunteer herself. For the next ten years, she returned one or two weekends each summer to volunteer at huts like Zealand, Madison, and Greenleaf. Along the way, she found herself welcomed as part of the Croo, even spending one memorable weekend with an all-female team and earning the affectionate title of “hut hostess” from guests.
AMC’s Jenny O’Connell sat down with Jean to talk about what the huts mean to her, and how they’ve become so much more than a place to visit.
Jenny: Do you remember your first hut trip?
Jean: My husband was a family physician, so his time was very limited, but I was determined to get the kids outdoors. Nate was four, so his older brother Jared must have been seven or eight. I had read about the huts and I thought, I think I can do this.
We hiked up to Lonesome Lake, and when I got up there, the place was filled with mothers and their kids. At dinner, the kids all sat together, the moms sat together. We just talked about how we all wanted to try this out.
Jenny: If I’m doing the math right, that was over 40 years ago! How did your family’s connection to the huts grow from there?
Jean: There were a few more times I went with my husband and the boys, but then there was a gathering around New Year’s and we were with all our friends, and I just sort of threw it out to the universe: “Let’s hike hut to hut.” They were all in.
There were maybe 15 of us. That was the time we went from Zealand to Galehead and forgot to stop to give Nate a snack. He went on strike and almost sat down in the fragile alpine area. But I loved the atmosphere at the huts for the kids. They played games, they talked to other people. It was just a great environment.
The “kid crew” on one of Jean’s early hikes with friends.
Jenny: What kept you coming back?
Jean: The camaraderie. There’s something special about everybody sitting at dinner. No matter how hard it was to get to the hut, they’d all gotten there, and it was this shared experience.
Jenny: I had the same feeling on my first hut trip. There’s a really special community up there. How did you start volunteering at the huts?
Jean: My son Nate came back to the huts as a naturalist in college. I visited him a lot that summer, and an info volunteer finally said, “You’re here so often—you should just volunteer.” So, I did. I trained the next year. It was a five-hour drive from Maine, but I’d go at least once a summer, sometimes twice. I did it for about ten years.
Jean with her sons Nate (left) and Jared (right), who surprised his brother by wearing a tuxedo to Zealand Hut, where Nate worked as a naturalist.
Jenny: It’s so cool to hear how the huts made it into your family culture. What impact have these trips had on your family’s relationships to each other?
Jean: When Nate was in elementary school, I remember hearing him talking to his best friend one day. She said to him, “You can come to my house and we’ll bake cookies with my mommy.” And he said, “Well, if you come to my house, my mommy’s going to march us up a mountain.”
But he continues to hike. His best friend’s son is two and a half, and they are already planning to go to the huts…that would be a third generation hike.
Jenny: Looking back now, what do the huts mean to you?
Jean: They hold a lot of fond memories. I’ve done a fair amount of hiking in Maine and I’ve hiked Katahdin quite a bit. There’s something pretty special about Mount Washington and all of the different weather systems that come together and wreak havoc. It can be terrifying. It can awe-inspiring.
Jenny: Do you think you’ll go back?
Jean: I wonder in the back of my mind when I’m going to go back. I’m going to be 77 in September. I’d like to, I really would. Maybe I’ll see you out there.
Bring Your Family to AMC’s High Mountain Huts