Are you an experienced, fit hiker but have never done an overnight hike before? Then this trip is for you! Join us for a two-night adventure into the middle of the White Mountains!

On Friday afternoon/evening we will drive up to the Whites and walk to the Franconia Brook campsite (~3 miles). Depending on when we leave, we could be walking in the dark, so make sure to bring a headlamp!

On Saturday, we will hike to Thirteen Falls campsite, detouring to Owls Head on the way. This will be our longest day (total distance of ~10 miles and ~3500ft of elevation gain over the course of the day, of which ~1500ft is on the way up to Owls Head over the course of ~1 mile). It sounds like there’s a good swimming hole at the campsite, so we can hang there in the afternoon! This could be a long day but one of the nice things about backpacking is you don't need to drive anywhere so you really have all day to just mosey along. That said, you should have experience with hikes of a similar distance. This will be a relatively long day and hiking is much more enjoyable when you're within your fitness-comfort-level. You should be comfortable carrying a pack with a sleeping bag, food for 2+ days, and you share of the group gear (stove, gas, tent etc.).

On Sunday, we will head out to the cars at Lincoln Brooks, making a loop and heading back out via the trail on the far side of Owls Head (~8 miles, gentle downhill the whole way, +65ft, –1116ft).

We might have to preference drivers in order to make the logistics work and may need to drop people if we do not get enough drivers.

Because one of the aims of this trip is to help people who are experienced day hikers make the jump to doing longer, multi-day backpacking trips, there will be a mandatory trip meeting on Thursday evening at 6pm at the boathouse, building N52. During the meeting we will go over what to bring, how to pack, pitching tents etc. There will also be time for people to rent gear during office hours that night (gear is now stored at the boathouse/N52 since the flooding in the student center). One aim is to cut-down the base weight that people are carrying as much as possible!!! With good packing a low pack weight is definitely achieveable even with heavier MITOC gear.

We will discuss food options during the meeting, but to keep things simple, we should plan on having dehy meals on Saturday night. You can either buy those at places like REI or you can make your own using things like dehy mashed potatoes from the supermarket with cheese along with anything else you might want to throw in. Don’t worry about this though as we will fully talk through all of this when we meet!

Here’s a map with the route for the trip: https://caltopo.com/m/HC6MG

Here's a link to an early draft on recommended gear, tips and tricks for 3 season overnight hiking. Do not take what is in this document as gospel! It is an early draft and should be used for reference only: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oV78FM78dsEPJrzAEy47q2Pr9BKhGAIV516VqBk/edit?usp=sharing

Note, in the above link there is an underline where there is a XXX in the following. For some reason, when posting the link, the underline/understrike disapears. Swap in an underline where there are XXX https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oV7XXX8FM78dsEPJXXXrzAEy47XXXq2PrXXX9BKhGAIV516VqBk/edit?usp=sharing

Trip costs: personal food including dehy meal for Saturday night, petrol/reimbursement for drivers (will vary depending on if we need to rent, plan on maybe $20 each way but again, that will vary based on car/ driver/ whether we need to rent etc.), $15 cash for Thirteen Falls campsite (Franconia Brook has no fee), chip in for any group food/ gas etc. We will try to keep costs to a minimum!

If you have any questions, contact Caitlin.