Appalachian Mountain Club Celebrates 125th Anniversary of White Mountain Huts

[Laura Hurley]

The Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is commemorating the 125th anniversary of its New Hampshire White Mountain Huts with a summer-long celebration, which kicks off on June 1 when the huts open for the full-service season. The celebration includes special savings, a guided lodge-to-hut anniversary hike, and historical talks and evening presentations at AMC Huts and lodges.

Look back on 125 years of history, share personal hut memories, and get details on the festivities by visiting AMC Huts 125th Anniversary website at http://www.outdoors.org/huts125.

AMC Huts are the oldest hut-to-hut network in the United States and offer a unique alpine hiking experience in the eastern U.S. Each hut provides bunkroom accommodations, home-cooked meals, and naturalist programs, allowing hikers of all abilities to travel relatively light and experience the beauty of the White Mountains above treeline or near a remote mountain pond or waterfall. High-elevation huts are part of classic ridgeline traverses and peak bagging along the Franconia and Presidential ranges, while easier-to-reach, lower-elevation huts are great for families and first-timers looking to enjoy the backcountry with simple comfort.

Started in 1888 when AMC built the first mountain hut for hikers, AMC’s eight “off-the-grid” mountain huts are fashioned after those in the European Alps and each spaced a day’s hike apart along a 56-mile-long stretch of the Appalachian Trail.

This summer offers the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hike all or part of AMC’s Hut network on its momentous 125th anniversary. Each night hut naturalist programs will cover AMC’s history of operating the backcountry huts—from the more recent use of green technologies to changes in the transportation of supplies, including the early use of donkeys, modern day helicopter fly-ins, and the long tradition of hut crew pack-boarding.

Other opportunities to join the celebration include: 

• Kids Stay, Play, and Eat Free at Lonesome Lake Hut, June 1 – August 29, for a value of up to $74 per child. Families can look forward to a spectacular view of the Franconia Range, swimming, and a daily Junior Naturalist graduation ceremony for the kids. One child stays free per adult; must mention PLAY13 when booking. Not valid when guided programs are in session. This deal is also available at AMC’s Cardigan Lodge in New Hampshire’s Lakes Region.

• 125th Anniversary Guided Lodge-to-Hut hike to Carter Notch Hut, July 2 – 5, to visit the oldest AMC Hut still in use today while recounting tales of early explorers and the creation of AMC’s Hut network.

• Get 10% off all season long at Carter Notch Hut, Sunday through Friday during full-service season. Hikers can explore the more challenging Carter and Wildcat ranges, enjoy the views from a boulder field called the Ramparts, and take a dip in one of the nearby mountain ponds. Nightly discounted rate is $106 per person for non-member adults, including dinner and breakfast. Lower rates are available for teens and children. 

For further details on AMC summer deals, visit http://www.outdoors.org/summerdeals.

Hikers can also take advantage of these savings to create their own lodge-to-hut adventures by pairing the huts with AMC’s Highland Center Lodge and Joe Dodge Lodge, where special evening programs will also delve into AMC Hut history.

AMC’s tradition of mountain hospitality started with Madison Spring Hut and expanded to include an eastern division of huts in New Hampshire’s Presidential Range, later followed by a western division in the Franconia Range. AMC’s final hut, Mizpah Spring Hut, was built in response to the backpacking boom of the 1960s and provided the important missing link for today’s hut-to-hut hiking network.

As the hut buildings have evolved throughout the years, so too has the mission of the huts. Today’s huts provide educational programming, use alternative energy and composting, support search and rescue operations, and play a part in AMC’s clean air and alpine ecosystem research. Hut crews serve up home-cooked meals, offer naturalist programs, and perform morning wake-up songs and skits handed down through generations of hut crews. Huts can accommodate anywhere from 36 to 90 hikers and all have their own unique identities. Carter Notch Hut, for example, is the oldest existing hut building in the network; Galehead Hut, overlooking the Pemigewasset Wilderness, is the most remote at nearly five miles from the nearest trailhead; and Zealand Falls Hut is the only one to harness hydropower.

For more details and to make a reservation, call [phone] or book online at http://www.outdoors.org/huts125.

Note to media: For additional details about AMC hut history and to download images, visit the 125th anniversary media kit at http://www.outdoors.org/about/newsroom/AMC-huts-125.cfm.

Founded in 1876, the Appalachian Mountain Club is America’s oldest conservation and recreation organization. With more than 100,000 members, advocates, and supporters in the Northeast and beyond, the nonprofit AMC promotes the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the mountains, forests, waters, and trails of the Appalachian region. The AMC supports natural resource conservation while encouraging responsible recreation, based on the philosophy that successful, long-term conservation depends upon first-hand enjoyment of the natural environment.

AMC Huts in the White Mountain National Forest are operated under a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service. AMC’s Lonesome Lake Hut is operated in partnership with the New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation.

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