Hammock Camping and Solo Backpacking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire
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For this adventure, I decided to get back to my ultralight backpacking roots with a rugged 27 mile loop through the Great Gulf Wilderness, Dry River Wilderness, and Presidential Range, with a gross elevation gain of around 8,400 feet. The centerpiece of my loop would be the Six Husbands Trail, a trail that some say is the most difficult in the White Mountain National Forest. Now , if you’re familiar with the WMNF, you probably know that just about every trail is pretty intense, so this could get interesting…
For sleep and shelter, I went with my standard minimalist hammock camping setup consisting of a 10 oz hammock, 5 oz tarp, and a pair of 40° down quilts. This got my base weight down to around 7 lbs. A full gear list can be found at the bottom of this post.
The Six Husbands Trail was Built from 1909 to 1910 by trail builder Warren W. Hart of the Appalachian Mountain club. Hart was known to build his trails specifically with adventure in mind, and this trail was no exception. It begins deep in the Great Gulf Wilderness at the junction with Wamsutta Trail, which along with the connected Alpine Garden trail is actually just the renamed southern portion of the Six Husbands trail. Wamsutta was one the six husbands of female Indian Chief, Weetamoo, who has a nearby waterfall named after her.
White Mountains Six Husbands Backpacking Loop – Route Overview – Sintax77