New Hampshire
Welcome to New Hampshire, The White’s Introduction, and other Observations – The Trek
As we take our first steps in Maine, we look back on our journey through New Hampshire. This portion of the trail was easily the most challenging. Our last days in Vermont included three 20 mile days. Soon after entry into New Hampshire these big mile days all but ceased and continued to drop until we were regularly in the single digits.
Just as rocky as Pennsylvania sometimes – Yes, this is the trail.
Just as muddy as anything in Vermont and I never did find the bottom – Yes, this is the trail.
The trail is steep – Yes, this is the trail.
New Hampshire describes their trails as rugged. I tend to use more colorful terms, which are best left out of print. The views were often spectacular though, easily some of the best we have seen on the entire AT.
Mount Madison
Franconia Notch
Welcome to New Hampshire
Weather Welcome
Within a couple of days of entry, we found ourselves on Smart Mountain on some rock ledges near the ridge. We knew there was a small chance for rain, so were unsurprised when the shower started. The lightning, however, was most unwelcome. We began to move quickly to get off the ridge, what we thought was our safest bet. This process was slow as the rocks were very slick. Things started to get ridiculous though when the winds and the hail started. Pea sized hail is awful but once it got to quarter sized, it was time to run.
Moving to the tree line, we found shelter under a large tree with a low branch near the trail. Within a few minutes, it was over, but we were soaked. We headed to the summit and found an old fire warden’s cabin, completely enclosed. This allowed us to dry out and plan our immediate future. Ma Wampus found that we could have a hostel pick us up nearby or we could go an additional 25 miles. I voted hostel.
Meeting a Legend
We arranged to meet the hostel’s driver at the trailhead. On our arrival, we found the driver to be none other than “Miss Janet”, probably the most famous trail angel on the Appalachian Trail. Miss Janet has helped thousands of hikers with everything from providing actual resources or services, like a ride or a stay, to advice on safely completing the trail.
Miss Janet agreed with our plan to “slackpack” Mt. Moosilauke to get an idea of the challenges the White Mountains presented. Generally used in combination with a multi-day stay, slackpacking allows the hiker to carry less on their actual hike. In my case, my pack goes from 35lbs to somewhere around 8lbs because I can discard my tent and a bear can filled with several days worth of food.
Introduction to the Whites
Mt. Moosilauke
Our “slack pack” began on the South side of Mt. Moosilauke in the rain. Immediately, we noticed that the trail is rugged and steep, but beautiful. Much of the trail up sided a waterway full of cascading waterfalls.
Once we reached the summit, at 4795ft, we noticed a general lack of trees, major decrease in temperature and increase in wind, and many stone cairns. The stone cairns replaced the white blazes as the physical direction for those attempting to follow the AT. We walked 9 miles in approximately 8 hours.
Advice Not Taken
Miss Janet advised us to carry 4-5 days of food and provided an itinerary to get through the White Mountains in approximately 11 days. She also advised to avoid a slack pack plan offered by other hostels that involved a 16 mile hike in one day.
We moved on and found, as Miss Janet stated, a plan to hike 16 miles in one day. On review, it looked doable. In weighing our options, carrying a 35-40lb pack for the next 5 days at 9-10 miles per day or carrying a lighter pack again, we decided to go with the lighter pack. The 16 mile plan would be difficult but, barring any difficulties, entirely possible. The AT is funny though. There are always difficulties.
The Kinsmans
Our hike up the Kinsmans began without issue. Soon after our arrival to the trailhead, it began to rain. It never stopped. The trail turned into a creek.
On the crest, the rocks were slick and wet and the going was slow. By the time we reached the bottom again, we had been hiking 11 hours. The entire plan called for a 10 hour day. We were almost home though and a nice hot chocolate and a warm shower awaited. A little brook with a rock hop and a paved section of state park was all that stood in our way.
Difficulties
11 hours of fairly heavy rain had turned the babbling brook into a roaring cascade. Ma Wampus and I had to yell to each other over the noise of the rushing water. Fortunately, there were five of us, one of which was a Southbounder. The Southbounder had completed Maine, which involved multiple river crossings. “I’ll find the way”, he said, as he stepped into the roaring cascade.
The Southbounder yelled instructions as he tapped his way forward to the middle of the brook, the water reaching almost to his chest. It was like watching a DIY Youtube video. “Here, we can cross here”, he yelled. The water was a good four feet high where he stood. I looked at my 5’2” wife and thought “No @&($@&$ way”. Shaking my head no, I pointed over to Ma Wampus. I walked upstream. The cascades were stronger but I could see the rock bottom and it looked to be a little higher than my knee.
I tapped my way toward the cascade, surprised of the force of the water. I braced against a rock to stabilize myself. Once secure, I motioned for Ma Wampus to cross. While it did get to thigh level for her, she managed to cross without incident. As she touched the shore on the other side, I turned and saw that the Southbounder had stayed in place the entire time. I waived but he had already started walking as well. Ma Wampus and I agreed we would avoid climbing these mountains in heavy rain.
Our journey through the Whites had just begun.
Other Observations
With a state whose motto is “Live Free or Die”, one could expect a few stories. We were not disappointed. Here are but a couple that provide some flavor of this magical place.
Sarah and the Bear
1783 Warren NH – about 3 miles from the AT. Four year old Sarah begs her parents to let her go with them to visit her uncle on the mountain. Sarah’s father declines. The parents visit the uncle and then return a day or so later. On their return, Sarah’s siblings ask the parents why they left Sarah at her uncle’s place.
The parents freak out, as one would do, and get together a search party from Warren. Eventually, a famous tracker comes down from the mountain some four days later and helps with the search. He is the one that finds Sarah’s bloody footprints some distance from the house and that of the large bear that was clearly following her. The search turned into a somber recovery mission.
The next day men of the search party heard firing – Sarah had been found. The rest of the story was relayed by…..Sarah. The bear had indeed found her. She had cut her feet on the rocks and was crying. The temperature had dropped and she was cold – freezing, probably. The bear licked her and then layed down, affording her a very warm place to lay as well, which she did. The bear watched over her, only leaving when the search party got close.
This story is famous in New Hampshire and has been featured in several regional books. Sarah went on to marry and have children of her own but was often asked to retell the story, which apparently she happily did.
Going Ballistic
1971 Warren NH – 3 Miles from the AT. The United States used the Redstone Missiles as nuclear weapons, space launch rockets, and sounding missiles in the late 50’s and early 60’s. As with all weapon systems, they have a shelf life and by the early 1970s the missiles were mainly in a field with their engines, guiding systems, and weapon capability removed, slowly rusting away. Enter Army Sergeant Ted Assalin.
Assalin loved the history of the rocket, and thought it would be a swell idea to put one up in a public park in the metropolis of Warren NH, population 900. The rocket would be an educational memorial to the Cold War and the early US Space Program. He gave his plan to the Army. He told his plan to the town of Warren. Nobody said no. He got a 60ft trailer and put the 8 ton rocket up in the park, where it sits today.
Next Chapter
The next days would be the most challenging we had seen on the trail. Fortunately, several unexpected allies helped us through. More on them and these challenges in the next issue.
Join us for a community conversation exploring how land conservation supports thriving communities, healthy ecosystems, and local economies. Recent research from Maine highlights the growing economic value of conserved lands — from supporting recreation, forestry, agriculture, and tourism to protecting clean water, storing carbon, and strengthening climate resilience. The findings reveal something important: protecting natural landscapes is not only good for the environment, but also for the people and communities that depend on them.
Together, we’ll explore what this research means both regionally and here at home. How do conserved lands shape our quality of life, local economy, and sense of place? How can communities balance growth, conservation, and long-term sustainability? And what role can each of us play in protecting the landscapes that support both nature and people?
At each “Let’s Talk Nature” gathering, we share a short article in advance and come together for an informal, welcoming discussion. Each session stands on its own, and everyone is welcome. No expertise needed. Bring your curiosity and a willingness to listen and share. Drinks and cookies provided.
Read this session’s article: Conserved Land in Maine has Growing Economic Power
Grey Rocks Conservation Center
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM on Wed, 1 Jul 2026
Event Supported By
Newfound Lake Region Association
603-744-8689
info@NewfoundLake.org
High winds and widespread rain contributed to more than 12,000 power outages Saturday as a low pressure system passes over New Hampshire.
A high wind advisory remains in effect for southeastern New Hampshire until midday.
There is a high surf advisory in effect for the Seacoast area until 8 p.m. Saturday, with large-breaking waves in the range of 6-9 feet, according to the National Weather Service.
The forecast warns of dangerous wintry winds for hikers and campers, with heavy wet snow likely at higher elevations and a foot of snow possible on summits in the White Mountains.
In southeastern New Hampshire, the wind advisory calls for steady winds of 15-25 mph, and potential wind gusts up to 50 mph.
Eversource reported over 10,000 outages as of 9:30 a.m. Unitil had about 1,400 outages at that time.
The Mount Washington Observatory has recorded winterlike weather over the past 24 hours. Weather observers there say over half a foot of snow and sleet has fallen at the summit.
New Hampshire
Opinion: The farm bill passed the House. Western New Hampshire got the bill. – Concord Monitor
In 1794, George Washington wrote that he knew of “no pursuit in which more zeal and important service can be rendered to any Country than by improving its agriculture.” Two hundred and thirty years later, the House just passed a farm bill that proves his successors stopped believing it.
Drive Route 12 through Walpole. Take Route 10 up through Haverhill. Cut across to Littleton, past the diner that has been feeding the town since 1930. The farms are there. Lush land that produces. People who work till their sweat and blood soak the ground they nurture. A region with every ingredient to feed itself.
What is not there is the processing facility that makes it worth raising the animal. The cold storage that keeps the crop from spoiling before it finds a buyer. The regional market that pays a price worth planting for. I want to believe Washington did not forget to build those things. Regardless, it built something else instead — a system that works beautifully for an operation running 10,000 acres in the Midwest and leaves the farmer on Route 12 doing the math at the kitchen table at midnight wondering if this is the last season.
And the 2026 Farm Bill just made that system more expensive to survive. Large commodity operations received a $54 billion subsidy increase over the next 10 years, with individual payment caps that can exceed $900,000 per operation. Is the farmer at your farmers market in position for this kind of payout?
The bill guarantees money, codified by law, for the people who need it least. Local food programs were reauthorized with zero mandatory funding, but plenty of empty words. They exist on paper and nowhere else. It means a farmer in Plainfield cannot count on them. It means Coos County, where one in seven people cannot reliably put food on the table, keeps waiting for help that has been promised and deferred so many times the promise itself has become an insult. Especially when supermarkets and superstores — just 15% of SNAP-accepting establishments — vacuum up nearly 74% of every food assistance dollar, while the local farm stand sees almost none of it.
And that is before the input costs.
Local farmers know this better than most. You buy fuel and fertilizer on global markets you have no vote in and no say over. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, causing record high prices for fertilizers globally, all because Russia is the world’s top exporter and suddenly it wasn’t exporting. And while that news cycle is long buried, remember that the Iran war has closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a third of the world’s seaborne fertilizer travels. Diesel recently crossed $5 a gallon, which large trucks that move food and tractors rely on. Fertilizer went from $500 a ton to $850. One tractor cost $350 more than it did last year. You did not start either of those wars, yet you pay for both of them. And that is not even accounting for the sharp sting of tariffs on the inputs you depend on to plant next season.
Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies rose 55% in 2024. Then another 46% in 2025, and those numbers only count the farms that qualified for Chapter 12, which requires the majority of family income to come from farming. The ones that don’t qualify quietly disappear, not even a balance sheet to mark the years of struggle, labor and community these farmers gave. They just stop. Since 2018, this country has lost more than 158,000 farms, with every size category shrinking except operations over a million dollars in annual revenue. Those are still growing, and will do so as long as the policy is written to grow them. Another example of an unlevel playing field where the rich get richer.
To be clear about something: large-scale agriculture feeds a lot of people and nobody sat in a room and decided to destroy the small farm. But does intent matter when these are the results? The system produces what it was designed to produce. That is exactly the problem. It was not designed with you in mind, and after enough years of that, the results look intentional even when they are not.
I got involved locally here because I believe western New Hampshire has everything it needs to feed itself and then some. Four thousand farms, nearly half a million acres, led by a direct-sales culture that leads the entire country. What is missing is not the land or the people or the will. What is missing is a representative who walks into bill negotiations fighting for the farmer on Route 12 instead of the operation collecting a $900,000 subsidy check in a state they have never visited, and pretending it actually helps their constituents.
I have a specific plan for how existing federal dollars already flowing into this district get redirected toward processing, storage and regional market access that actually serves the farms here. No new appropriations. No new programs. A full breakdown is at livefreenh02.com/food-independence.
Daniel Webster, born thirty miles from where I am writing this, put it in the Capitol: “The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization.” Washington and Webster were not just statesmen. They farmed. They understood what was at stake when the land stopped producing for the people who worked it. The authors of the 2026 farm bill apparently do not.
Robbie Mahrou is an independent candidate for U.S. Congress in New Hampshire’s Second District and a Walpole resident. She can be reached out robbie@livefreenh02.com.
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