Work for Stay

The American Mountain Club runs several "huts" in the White Mountains. Guests pay money to hike to the hut, receive dinner, listen to an evening program, sleep in a bunk, eat breakfast, and hike out.

Since these huts are usually above treeline and spaced 10 or so miles apart, thru hikers often end the day at a hut. Most of us can't afford the steep price to stay in a hut, so the hut croo permits thru hikers to "work for stay." We wait outside while the guests eat. (pictured above: GG, Stuntman, Marked, Reggie, Ghetto, and Paloma.) Then, the croo invites us to eat the leftover food before we complete chores such as washing dishes, cleaning the fridge, wiping down shelves, etc. Then, once the guests go to sleep in the bunkrooms the thru hikers spread out their sleeping bags in the dining/common area.

We stayed at one hut in the Whites. It was the Zealand Falls Hut after a very rainy day of hiking. The croo warmly greeted us. We even got to hear the evening nature talk and learn that the average beaver weighs 45 lbs. but the largest one on record in New Hampshire is 93 lbs! We also learned how to tell the difference between bobcat tracks and coyote tracks. (Feline tracks usually don't have claw marks. Their claws are retracted while walking.)

When we passed a hut during mid-day we would drop in and pay a small fee to eat soup and bread for lunch.

We're now at mile 1876 and we'll enter Maine in a couple of days!

Happy Trails