Route: White Mountains Hut Traverse (NH)

This route is local premier route for the single traverse (both directions are options).

Description: The Hut Traverse is a point to point run that is a true tour of the most popular sections of White Mountain National Forest. The route connects 8 of the AMC Huts in the national forest and runs from the Carter Notch Hut to the Lonesome Lake Hut mostly on the Appalachian Trail or parallel trails that save distance/vertical (see GPX map). The traditional route has some brutal sections, like Garfield Ridge and Madison Gulf, and some of the best fast running in the northeast, like the Great Gulf Trail, A-Z Trail, and Twinway. An FKT hopeful must be able to switch between these modes efficiently, as the current records maintain even pacing over the technical sections and save speed to rip the cleaner terrain. 

Status: The Hut Traverse is the #4 ranked Northeast FKT. It is best practice to  announce your attempt in advance, track your attempt diligently (GPS upload), and live-track your attempt if possible.

Support Style: A big part of this route is the community, including visiting the huts & resupplying there. Also, traditionally people have had friends accompany them on part or all of the route - another expression of the community aspect.  Normally having a "pacer" for any distance makes you Supported, but that doesn't seem like a good reflection of the traditions of this route. So for this route only, we respect the traditions, allow pacers, use the huts, and deem it Self-supported. Trips are Unsupported if one takes only water from the Huts. Supported would mean taking support not provided by the huts, but so far no one has done this. 

Jeff Colt, a former Hut Croo worker and FKT holder made the following comments about support styles on the Hut Traverse: "The Hut Traverse is meant to be a route that connects 8 points in the mountains where hikers can find services. We run this route differently say than another 50 mile backcountry route because of this. The huts offer services to everyone: clean potable water, restrooms, shelter, and if you want food, coffee, or lemonade. Water is the primary service the huts offer. I hope we don't reach a point when folks are doing the Hut Traverse and filtering their own water.” 

Route History: The history of keeping track of records on the Hut Traverse goes back to the 1930s and follows a similar pattern to other of the well-know pin routes in the region. While Alex MacPhail, who cemented a version of the route that included stopping at Pinkham Notch as well, has commented with names that may have set records in the first decades of the route, they are unsubstantiated, even for their era. What sets the history of the Hut Traverse apart is how many people attempted the Traverse with a time goal, and the sense of ownership of the route within the AMC Hut Croo. Completing the Traverse in under 24 hours is a rite of passage of sorts for the Hut Croo, who regularly hike between huts for supplies and other duties. Racing the route became a natural extension of the challenge and the Hut Croo have an incredible history of setting FKTs, including Hillary Gerardi, Katie Schide, and Jeff Colt in more recent memory. Those world class ultra runners, with their Northeast roots make the Hut Traverse a highly prized record and a fascinating mix of local lore and podium-toppers at the world’s biggest ultra races. 

Media Coverage:

1. On Running created a short movie covering Katie Schide’s 2020 FKT. 
2. Jack Kuenzle discussed his 2021 FKT on the Run the Whites podcast.

Route Variations: The regional premier route is the standard summer traverse, which can be run in either direction. However, other variations of the route may be found on the White Mountains Hut Traverse Variations page. Here we list several variations which are all great challenges.

Winter Trips: This is a rare route where we have established a Winter Variation, also due to local tradition, and because New Hampshire winters are seriously different than summer. Only 3 of the huts are open: Carter Notch Hut, Zealand Hut and Lonesome Lake Hut. 

Winter is the astronomical definition: Winter Solstice (about December 21) to Spring Equinox (about March 20).

We have two Winter Variations (thank you to Will Peterson for this clarification): 
"Winter Open" - Goes past the three open huts, for 42 miles with elevation gain of 13,500 feet (approximate).
"Winter Standard" - Same as the summer route, which is approximately 48 miles with 16,000 feet of elevation gain.

Editor: Please note that two options are possible between the Presidential range and the Peabody River (lower part). Either following the Peabody Brook crevice or over Mt. Madison via Osgood ridge. The latter is preferred for Winter traverse.

MacPhail added the following valuable information about historic Hut Traverse trips:

Two years ago I was planing to write a definitive story for the Resusitator on the Hut Traverse from 1936 to 2007. There is a story in the 1936 December Appalachia titled "On Breaking One's Own Record" by an H.L. Malcolm who crystalized the Traverse in my mind when I read his article in 1953 at my summer home on Lake Winnespesaukee. He begins that article by exclaiming that his interest in 24 hour mountain marathons "was aroused in 1931 by the Marshall brothers, and other hikers in the Adirondack Mountains." Malcolm next heard that two AMC croo, Batchelder and Loomis, completed the AMC hut traverse in 1933 in 23 hours, 15 minutes.

Malcolm set out on his own attempt on July 7, 1936. He left Carter at 12:04 am and finished at Lonesome at 10:07 pm, or 22 hours and 3 minutes. Two weeks later on July 22, 1936, he repeated his traverse, leaving Carter at 6 am and hiking first to Pinkham via the Wildcats and then to Madison via Osgood Ridge. He also went over all the summits. He arrived at Lonesome in 21 hours and 43 minutes, hiking 55 miles with a vertical rise of 19,000 feet.

In the late 1950's and early 1960's there were several new records set on the Traverse by some well known hikers including Tom Deans and Chris Goetz. Chris, I believe, did the traverse west to east in just over 16 hours. Tom Deans did not complete his traverse because of jock rash. I have some other names as well.

I completed a traverse on August 16th, 1963, after training for two weeks. I started at Madison at 5:30 am (first light) on that day and ran down Madison Gulf to 19 Mile Brook, up to Carter, over the Wildcats and down the Wildcat Ski Trail to Route 16. I ran to Pinkham on the road and then up to Lakes via the Tuck Trail. I made it from Pinkham to Lakes in 47 minutes but stopped to vomit twice after eating too fast at Pinkham. From Lakes the run was pretty easy. I went via the Mizpah shelter so that my Traverse would include Mizpah after it was built. I got to Lonesome, the old hut, in 12 hours, 11 minutes. I hardly mentioned it to anyone as I was using the traverse pretty much as a training exercise. I have all my hut to hut times documented in a notebook that I kept.

I've heard of others completing the traverse in good times but I think Malcolm and the others before and after him included Pinkham in the Traverse. -- Alex MacPhail

Alex MacPhail posted a detailed history of the Hut Traverse here:
whitemountainsojourn.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html

White Mountains Hut Traverse Picnic:

(from Keith Nadeau) This is a multi-sport variation of the classic White Mountains Hut traverse. Scott Livingston and his wife Debbie did this route in 2011 and wrote about it on the FKT site. They didn’t submit as an FKT route due to a few logistics that made it not a true single push. Thanks to them for creating the idea and sharing. It is fascinating that this variation allows for a true solo adventure of the Hut to Hut traverse because you can do the whole thing without support. The bike portion starts in Franconia Notch at the Lafayette - Old Bridle Path/Falling Waters trailhead and ends at Nineteen Mile Brook trailhead on Rt. 16. Suggested path is: First ride up the bike path to Rt. 3, then right onto Rt. 115, then right onto Rt. 2, then a right on Rt. 16 all the way to Nineteen Mile Brook trailhead. There is a good spot to stash the bike in the woods, and at that point it’s time to switch to foot. Start with the 3.9 miles up to Carter Notch Hut and then follow a standard hut to hut traverse all the way to Lonesome Lake Hut. To finish simply backtrack from Lonesome Lake Hut to where you parked and thats it! You could also do the bike portion after the hut traverse but both have advantages and disadvantages. The Hut to Hut is such an amazing historical route and doing it in this style allows for experiencing all of that and then some while doing it solo. The added bike makes your legs feel like wet noodles and the extra foot miles adds to the already gnarly challenge! 

Distance: 101.7mi

Elevation Gain: 20,093ft