The Semi-Pemi Loop

There is an infamous loop in the White Mountains named the Pemi-Loop. It is a 32-mile loop with 10,000 feet of elevation gain, featuring summits of 10 peaks around the Pemigewasset Wilderness. Some people try to do this in a day as an endurance test, but that was not the path we took. First, a disclaimer that hiking in the White Mountains is no joke. The trails there are not made with switchbacks and are quite literally straight up a mountain! What goes up must come down, and the return is very hard on one's knees. So for our trip, we did what we are calling the Semi-Pemi Loop. 

We took about two days total - two half days and one full day - we started on a Friday afternoon and finished Sunday before lunch. We started at Lincoln Woods Visitor Center and hiked up to Mt. Flume and Mt. Liberty. This was my first experience in the White Mountains, and I was blown away by how beautiful the views were. We ended the first day by camping at Liberty Springs campsite. The campsite was on the side of the mountain with platforms to set the tents up on. It was a very busy night for the campsite, so most platforms were full. Luckily, we both had tents, so we were able to keep a platform for ourselves!

The following day, we started real early, had breakfast, and I may or may not have melted my plastic cup to the bottom of my pot, which I totally forgot, and stuck it right on my stove! To start the day, we hiked back up to the ridge and then started our journey to Franconia Ridge. This was a grueling hike as you summit three mountains during this process. These mountains were Little Haystack Mountain, Mt. Lincoln, and Mt. Lafayette. This is a pretty popular trail route, so by the time we reached Mt. Lafayette, the ridge was teeming with hikers. We had a quick snack and then continued on the path. 

Most of the next section was downhill and was like walking down giant stone stairs. If you can imagine, the knees were not having the best time. Once down, we took a little break and had some lunch, and then started to head back up Mt. Garfield. This was our last summit of the trip, and the views from the top were quite lovely. From Mt. Garfield, we started down the mountain, and instead of continuing on the ridgeline to finish the Pemi-Loop, we cut down the center into the Pemigewasset Wilderness. 

This was the road less traveled, so the trail was much less worn, and everything was covered in green moss, which gave off enchanted forest vibes. We spent the night at the 13 Falls campsite, which was a beautiful campsite with nice trickling waterfalls where we had dinner. The campsite was busy again, but not on platforms this time, so we were able to spread out a little more. 

The next morning, we just had to hike out back to the car, which was fast because the trail was flat and we were not hiking up any mountains. We were back to the car by lunch time and, of course, had to stop for ice cream on the way home!

All in all, it was a really fun trip. Challenging at times, but still fun! I hope to go back this coming summer and finish the rest of the loop.

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