One of the most physically challenging, yet most amazing things I have ever done so far. It was probably the first trail I have ever hiked, and it definitely won‘t be the last one! I loved it, I hated it, I laughed and I wanted to cry. It had it all.
Pre-hike
Two days after I entered the United States of America, I met up with my hiking buddy Ari in Philadelphia, PA. Saying our hellos, I got in his car with my huge backpack and our well-planned trip/road trip was about to begin. We drove through New York right to our first stop –Devil’s Hopyard State Park, CT. I just got my new GoPro camera that day, and I was more than ready to take its first shots. We wandered through the forest looking for a cave, and chilled by a waterfall, but it didn‘t last long before it was time to hit the road again. We only stopped at a gas station for a huge bag of pretzels as we crossed Massachusetts going all the way to New Hampshire where we found a perfect couchsurfing host. We made some guacamole, played The Settlers of Catan, talked about hiking and went to sleep to get ready for the big day.
We woke up at 7, filled up our water bottles, packed just what was necessary, and made the 20minute drive to the White Mountains. I tied up my shoes, put on that backpack, and it was 8 o’clock when we locked the car and made our first steps towards the forest.
Hike
First hour was just fine. It was mostly flat with a slight elevation. Ari is a great company, so we just talked about nonsense and joked around. I was super excited about this whole hiking idea. But the next hour brought unexpected.
Crisis no.1
My legs were getting super sore. My calves and thighs were hurting with every step as the trail got steeper and steeper. Ari told me to make smaller steps, but I just wanted to be at the top, so I wasn’t listening. Mount Flume was giving me a really hard time, and as my buddy saw that my enthusiasm somehow disappeared, he started to ask questions.
Fun fact – most of the people finish this trail in 3 days, but as I read that some can do it in one, I told Ari that we should do it in two, it’s just 30miles (50km) that’s totally doable right?
As I told him that this was my first hike of such a distance, he couldn‘t believe it. “Why didn’t you tell me? I thought you are a good hiker since you asked me to this this in 2 days”. Questioning myself, I thought that I may not be able to this. We hadn’t even reached the first peak and I was already done. Should I just turn and go back to the car? I didn’t even know if I could walk these 2 hours back. My muscles were really sore. But I couldn’t! I couldn’t do this to Ari! I couldn’t do this to myself! Mental fight, maybe even a little break down, but I stayed on my feet and we reached the first peak. What a great feeling! What a great view! 15minute break to enjoy that moment and I had all my energy back. This can really fill your batteries.
One foot in the front of the other
So, we just kept on going… Mt Liberty, Little Haystack, Lincoln and Lafayette. We always stopped at the top for a while just to take a little break and soak everything up. We sat on those cold rocks staring down into the wavy sea of trees, looking so endless, like an enormous green blanket fading in the distance. Walking up and down, stepping on stones and dirt and those logs that kept os off the mud. We filled our water bottles twice, adding the great lemony tasting water filters so we wouldn’t die. We kept each others company with our great stories and stupid comments. We hurried to climb Mt Garfield – the half-way point of our trail – as the sun went down, so we could see the sunset from the top. And we made it. And it was amazing. The sky colored in orange, pink and yellow. Us and two other hikers stared at it with no words, just being there on the best spot at the right time, getting the most out of nature‘s light show.
The night
When the sun left us, we decided to keep on going and looking for a place to camp. But we had no idea what was about to come. After a couple minutes of walking we noticed a sound of running water, which was getting louder and louder till we actually reached a waterfall. “Ari, did we get lost?” He checked the map, looking for any other possible paths, but there were none. “No, we are supposed to walk down the waterfall”. What a great idea to walk down this slippery waterfall at night. I was hugging every tree lining the waterfall, hoping the wet stones would hold me. Ari slipped with one foot into the water, but neither of us lost our sense of humor. It kinda sucks when it’s dark, and you are in the middle of the forest walking down the waterfall knowing that the next few kilometers are still a restricted area where you are not allowed to camp. But we found a great place not far from the route. So we hung our hammocks, got our cooker out and made some quinoa. Ari hid our food on the top of a tree so it wouldn’t attract any animals. The empty bowl from quinoa stayed right underneath our hammocks but whatever right? I was super excited to sleep in a hammock for the first time. Well, it was terrible. I got one solid hour of sleep after 13 hours of hiking and the next 13 hours were about to come. What a great morning!
Day 2
7:30 am. Let’s pack our stuff, eat some tortillas with peanut butter and pretzels (which was surprisingly great) and let‘s get going. Meeting some hikers on the way, we got our first bad news – The trail around South Twin mountain may be closed due to snow. We wanted to try it anyways, so we got some fresh water in a hut we walked around, and climbed the South Twin. It had quite a lot of spots of snow, but it was totally walkable, since we didn’t mind wetting our socks a little. As we walked across Guyot, Bond and Bondcliff, the views didn’t stop amazing me and Aris stories didn’t stop making me laugh. But there was something bothering me.
Crisis no.2
With every step up my thighs were getting tense, but with every step down my knees were letting me know that something is not ok. My joints are not in the best condition, but I almost forgot about it since I hadn‘t challenged them much lately. As we walked down those hills one of my knees just didn’t want to take it. I was slowing down, asking Ari to take more breaks, but after a while, I didn’t want to bother him anymore. So I just went with it.
It was after the steepest part of our last peak when all I could think about was how to make it stop hurting. I tried every weird way possible to make it easier for that one knee. Last 5km, and my legs just stopped. I was just standing in the middle of the road waiting to fall down. My knee gave up, and I didn’t even try to do anything. Ari, who was one step ahead of me, just turned and pushed me to sit down on a log by the road. “What was that? You looked like you are about to collapse” I just said that it’s the knee, so I wrapped it up by a bondage I had, and with a really slow pace we kept on going toward the end.
We did it
This Ari guy is so great, and I gave him such a hell on those last kilometers. He tried to help and I was just mean. He tried to get my mind off the pain by making up some stories. It was probably a good idea, but telling me how the ear works when I was just pulling one of my legs behind me was apparently not. After a little arguing, and the longest 90 minutes of walking, there we were. We were in the front of the car just before it went dark. Ari didn’t want to sleep in the car at first, but after the 10hour sleep, he had to admit that it was a great idea.
After-hike
I couldn’t really move the whole night because of the pain from my knee, but maybe that’s why I slept so well. In the morning, I washed my face in the sink of a public bathroom, and warmed up my hands underneath its hand dryer. We did a little hike to Arethusa falls, because we obviously hadn’t hiked enough, and it was totally worth it. This huge, majestically standing rock pouring out liters of water every second was simply magnificent. Two hours later, we got back to the car and steered to Boston, MA. We met Ari‘s lovely friend Keira there, who took us for an ice cream, and let us take a shower, which felt really nice after 3 days. We spent a night at her place, and walked the city center in the morning.
In the end
Listening to the radio and digesting this whole 5 day long experience, we drove back to Philadelphia. We got lunch there, and I thanked Ari for taking me on such a trip. It’s amazing how we still had something to talk about even after 5 full days with each other. We barely knew each other. We had only spent one day together before, and that was a year ago, but it felt like we were childhood friends. He helped me out and got me through this exhausting, but outstanding hike. We walked through mud, climbed huge stones, drank dirty water, ate mainly pretzels, bars and peanut butter and sat on a cliff letting our feet hang down. We shared our stories, and he gave me tips and showed me how to hike. (btw I forgot to say that he is a leader of the hiking club at his uni. But not a big deal, right?). I am definitely really thankful for this whole experience and it took me a while to process it all, but I am so happy that I had the possibility to do it, and that I had Ari who helped me through. This hike was a highlight of that summer and it got me excited to walk more trails like this one.
Where I have been 
🌍❤️👧
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