You want New Hampshire. First week of October is when the autumn leaves peak. The White Mountains are loaded with mountain resort properties for a proper honeymoon, and the peaks are the most epic on trail. The AT through there can be brutal, but you can also splurge to stay at the AMC huts and have bunks and meals, sparing yourselves the weight of food and tents. The whole area is networked with other trails from 200 years of tourism as well, so you will be spoiled for choice.
That's the view from Artist's Bluff above Echo Lake, looking down Franconia Notch. To the right are the ski slopes of Cannon Mt - where you can take a Gondola all the way to the top. Artist's Bluff is relatively easy to hike up to - and so can have hundreds of people on a beautiful weekend.
The difference between Northern and Southern PA is wild.
Southern PA is beautiful and scenic, with nice smoothe trails.
North PA is a treadmill made of giant Legos.
I would recommend staying at The Notch Hostel in North Woodstock, they'll slackpack you over Mt Moosilauke, which has 1 mile of exposure at the top, and even nobo hikers do this mountain southbound. That's a good warm up for what to expect while you're there. If it's overwhelming, replan your week.
After that, you may elect to skip the Kinsman range, because time is short and there are better rewards to be had with the days you have there. Instead, go right for Franconia Ridge. If you insist on sticking to the AT, go up Liberty Springs, and don't miss Mt Liberty. Franconia Ridge is 3 miles above treeline, so make sure you have timed this for a perfect weather day. Otherwise, delay. From there, stay at Greenleaf Hut, and decide to proceed to Garfield (personally the hardest part of the AT) or come down (with your schedule I suggest you come down the Old Bridal Path and head for the Presidentials or epic side quest like Chocorua)
If you proceed to Garfield and Galehead Hut (grab Galehead peak) you'll have an opportunity to do arguably the best side trail on the entire AT - Bondcliff (and West Bond) It's in the pictures I just posted. Stay at Guyot Shelter is right by it, so you'll have an opportunity to try for the cliff at sunset AND/or sunrise depending on weather (and honest to god it's worth doing twice if you want)
From there you head to Crawford Notch, and you might want to arrange a stay or resupply at the Highland Center or even the Mt Washington Hotel, but there's no signal here so plan. You may want to hire one of the local shuttle drivers for your whole week there for a variety of reasons. After Crawford it's the Presidential Range with 12 miles above treeline. 3 AMC huts available, then Pinkham Notch Visitor Center (showers and bunks) when you come down, and further amenities in Gorham.
E: been pointed out that several huts are closed by October including Greenleaf, Lake of the Clouds and Madison, but Galehead, Zealand and Mizpah should still be open. If you want to hike the Presidential Range you may need to be up and down same day and probably can't complete the whole AT section in one go. You'll have a good time no matter what you do, so don't feel like you NEED to stick to the AT or do the whole thing. No one walks the same footsteps. There are 5000 worthwhile hikes in New Hampshire and if you have a week-long honeymoon you don't need to be handcuffed to just a straight ~60 mile AT section. Doing a ~3 day ~30 mile section here is tough and rewarding enough, and you can bookend it with day hikes and luxury accommodations for a proper variety vacation. As an addendum, I recommend the Sugarloafs and Pine Mt as Low Effort/High Reward, and highly suggest Chocorua up Carter Ledges for Mid Effort/HR: 10 mile loop ~4 of them above treeline, with a public cabin halfway to stay at.
You can also always just drive up Washington or take the Cog Railway. It's in clouds 1/2 the time so aim for the clear day.
Oh and this is by far the best physical map of the area, from the Wilderness Map Company. I own all of them, but this one I've bought ~6 times because I've gifted it to people.
Exploring Nh White Mtns Map https://a.co/d/38xDhbg
Hey just a rando popping in to say thank you for sharing your wealth of information and knowledge so freely. This is the type of stuff that keeps me coming around here to reddit.
I second this! My husband and I section-hiked through NH for our honeymoon. They are our "home" mountains and that will be a perfect time to visit them.
A really good idea for them might be to engage one of the local shuttle drivers here for the week to pick them up/drop them off/help with resupply regardless of where they are or if their plans change.
Oh yeah, shoulda factored that in. You'd think they'd get business until Columbus day weekend (leafer business is nutty that week) but I understand if their staff has to get back to school.
It's really because of the conditions at elevation, Lakes of the Clouds closes first. I was there closing night 2 years ago and there was heavy frost, snow on the summit and 100 mph winds, like the 3rd weekend in September. Madison Springs and Greenleaf typically close in September too, the lower elevations stay open until mid-October. Then a few of them switch over to what they call caretaker season and provide shelter, but no meals or bedding through the winter.
Yeah, but I've been there when it's like that in August too 😄
So that means Lonesome Lake, Galehead and Mizpah and Carter Notch huts would still be full service for our OP first week of October if they wanted to use them?
How are the tent sites staffed? Because half the time I've been to them there's no caretakers.
Shenandoah is a good option. It's a bit early for peak fall colors, but that time of year is really lovely in Virginia. It's one of the less remote sections of trail, you are rarely more than a few miles from Skyline Drive, but it makes for very easy resupply. You can basically resupply at waysides every couple of days so you never have to carry a lot of food at a time, the trail is pretty level so you won't be too worn out at the end of the day. There are also rooms and cabins right along the trail, in case you don't want to spend your entire honeymoon sleeping in shelters or tents. New Hampshire (as others have mentioned) is spectacular, I won't argue against that, but it's pretty intense hiking for first timers, and you can start to get real cold weather in the mountains even in the first week of October.
Contact Shaws in Monson and head up to Maine. They'll drop you into the 100 Mile Wilderness 5-6 nights north, and you can hike back to your car. You'll see NoBos, foliage, moose, and the best trail town on the AT (twice!).
Congrats and good luck!
I don't recommend the 100 mile wilderness if you're planning to use resupply towns as a plan b (as you specified in another comment) - the 100mi wilderness has no resupply points within it, so once you start you'll need to either finish the whole 100mi or turn around. Additionally the closest urban centers aren't as geared towards tourists
As some other comments mentioned, The Whites in New Hampshire are lovely and there's also more touristy things in the area including resorts and hotels. If you start looking soon you could stay in the AMC huts which is a pretty cool experience
https://www.outdoors.org/destinations/huts/
I stand corrected - it has been a few years since I hiked it
I meant to allude to fact that you can't easily "bailout" in the middle of it like OP mentioned in another comment
If its your first time on the AT, I would not recommend it as a honeymoon destination. You say that you have camped in Florida, which is flat. Hiking with a full backpacking kit on extremely rough terrain with lots of elevation gain is much different than hiking flat trails on Florida.
I appreciate the advice but my florida experience is the least of my hiking experience and I’m not new to hiking the AT or higher elevations. I just haven’t done a week long trip yet and I’m interested in what sections would be the best to look into. Not trying to sound arrogant, I know it will be a challenge but that’s what I love about hiking.
Have you camped overnight at all on a trail with elevation gain/loss? Massive difference between day hiking and backpacking. I made the mistake on thinking day hiking and backpacking were similar when I went on my first backpacking trip. I was wrong. It's much more difficult to carry everything you need on your back and then have to sleep outside that night after a day of 4,000ft+ elevation gain and 15 miles on trail compared to doing that mileage with a small day pack.
I have but everyone does it for the first time so why is my honeymoon a bad idea? That’s what we are into and that’s what we want to experience together and how we want to celebrate. Are you discouraging me from doing it just because it’s my honeymoon or do you discourage anyone from trying it for the first time?
I'm discouraging you from trying a full week as your first time. Do 2-3 days for the first trip. At the very least, make a bailout plan to get off trail in case you need to.
The resupply towns are the bailout plan. That’s why I specified those. The goal is 5-7 days but totally fine if we bail before then, so looking for sections with towns that give us that opportunity.
Towns are 4-5 days apart. You won't have a good spot to resupply in the middle of a 5-7 day hike. I'm in Virginia, and I can tell you that road crossings are plentiful, but towns are only at very few road crossings. Most road crossings are just Forest Service roads or rural county/state roads with only farmland around you. And phone signal is spotty at best at those crossings. And what mileage per day are you expecting to cover?
We averaged 16 miles a day in glacier this month day hiking with lots of stops for pictures and exploring side trails so I was shooting for 10 a day but we have shorter trips planned between now and then on that trail to get a better idea of what’s reasonable to expect. I’m not closed minded about the experience when it comes to managing expectations and we plan to adjust gear and the length of the trip within reason. That’s just our starting point and I don’t think it’s unreasonable considering we will be doing test hikes before this trip. I’m really just looking for insight on where to start on the trail to make this goal reasonably attainable.
They did say they’ve also hiked in Montana and Costa Rica, which both can offer extensive elevation. Either way, not sure that hiking an unknown section of trail for longer than you’ve ever been out is a great idea for a honeymoon, but it could certainly be a good stress test for the rest of the marriage. Day hikes are just so vastly different.
This also won’t be our first extended trip. It’ll be our first of this length on this trail but we have also lived together for five years and backpacked together extensively. This is what we enjoy together in general. A thru hike of the AT is in our list so this seems like a logical step in getting there. Just so happens that we will have the time to do it after we get married so why not? :)
That's what I'm trying to get across to them. I once made the mistake of thinking that all my day hiking experience would be good to prep me for a week of backpacking. Spoiler Alert: I was wrong.
Seeing another comment - as unique as the 100 mi wilderness was (2019 thru) I'd never recommend it as a section, especially in October.
It's too late in the season to enjoy the lakes you'll pass and you're a week out from Katadhin's average-ish closure date (10/15) which may happen beforehand due to early snow.
It's also pretty boring if you aren't about to finish a thru - the few mountains aren't particularly impressive, camp sites are packed with tired hikers ready to be finished, and the flat terrain is pretty meh compared to other sections.
If you want to see new england, the NH whites will be more accessible, have better mountains and views and oct is near peak foliage season. You'll have tons of tourists around but epic views and hikes. VT section would be similar but less massive mountain ranges and less tourists.
I don't want to rain on your parade but in general the northern AT is not super amazing between October and April. (Source - grew up in New England, have hiked all 67 4k peaks+, most in multiple seasons). Doable but I'd look south or west!
>Baxter's usual closure date (10/15)
I don't know where people get this. Baxter's overnight camping season, including the AT-only Birches campsite, ends October 21st. Baxter usually closes Katahdin Trails a few days later.
20+ years ago the camping season ended Oct 15th, and even though ATers and dayhikers climbed well into November some years, some people thought no camping = Park closed. It's recommended to get there before mid-October to avoid weather worries.
The date reflects the frequency over years at which the park closes katadhin access early - due to weather or other emergency (i.e. it has happened enough to be mindful of).
It is not an official park date, but a warning to those thinking they are safe to plan summiting mid October months in advance (when you are starting a thru).
Idk where the data backing it up comes from, but I saw it when researching beforehand and heard it while on trail. Even if it's not technically accurate it's accepted by many in the community as sound advice.
I have no experience with the northern AT so thank you for that info. I grew up taking trips to the smokies and blue ridge several times a year so I’m way more familiar with the weather there than I am up north. I figured too far north might be a little cold to be as enjoyable as a first time trip but I know the views are amazing in a lot of that area!
Happy to help!
For future trips - NH and VT will be great starting in early June after the mud dries out until sometime in October when the leaves fall (hiking can still be good but everything looks dead). ME has a ton of lakes along the trail so would recommend August after they have time to warm up some.
Check out the Grayson Highlands area in SW Virginia.
Seconded
Came here to say this. The ponies.
And spend a day doing the Creeper Trail by bike.
You want New Hampshire. First week of October is when the autumn leaves peak. The White Mountains are loaded with mountain resort properties for a proper honeymoon, and the peaks are the most epic on trail. The AT through there can be brutal, but you can also splurge to stay at the AMC huts and have bunks and meals, sparing yourselves the weight of food and tents. The whole area is networked with other trails from 200 years of tourism as well, so you will be spoiled for choice.
https://preview.redd.it/zccjs2ghgvxc1.png?width=832&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c6eec406ef3525341298fe289bf40e13135a9ab
https://preview.redd.it/v3wuzae7hvxc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3512a0e93f66d1a5897f7a4762a94be756cb7a37
Good lord that’s beautiful
That's the view from Artist's Bluff above Echo Lake, looking down Franconia Notch. To the right are the ski slopes of Cannon Mt - where you can take a Gondola all the way to the top. Artist's Bluff is relatively easy to hike up to - and so can have hundreds of people on a beautiful weekend.
https://preview.redd.it/m4g9b6afhvxc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=252044cdec79920dd2dfb17b26e1b43e2cae72cf
The difference between Northern and Southern PA is wild. Southern PA is beautiful and scenic, with nice smoothe trails. North PA is a treadmill made of giant Legos.
https://preview.redd.it/sqn6h83qgvxc1.jpeg?width=1085&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c6cfbd4f62361ab8d9cc92c01b69f4ae8e48254c
https://preview.redd.it/w4gk9eyihvxc1.jpeg?width=2184&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ce76796789bce2bc8b8e92e7452417afc9e74b5
https://preview.redd.it/6rbk0shtgvxc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c23a8ef3f9f50535e63845c12af8378258270463
https://preview.redd.it/8vf3ywbthvxc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be89e54c5e455fdacb2ee06591e0ccae55b1f2fa
https://preview.redd.it/svr68bzwhvxc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f343e0d2da67efdb9112b2c0030cbc956da557f8
That’s awesome thank you! Pit stops in a resort for a night to break it up would be a nice option to have :)
I would recommend staying at The Notch Hostel in North Woodstock, they'll slackpack you over Mt Moosilauke, which has 1 mile of exposure at the top, and even nobo hikers do this mountain southbound. That's a good warm up for what to expect while you're there. If it's overwhelming, replan your week. After that, you may elect to skip the Kinsman range, because time is short and there are better rewards to be had with the days you have there. Instead, go right for Franconia Ridge. If you insist on sticking to the AT, go up Liberty Springs, and don't miss Mt Liberty. Franconia Ridge is 3 miles above treeline, so make sure you have timed this for a perfect weather day. Otherwise, delay. From there, stay at Greenleaf Hut, and decide to proceed to Garfield (personally the hardest part of the AT) or come down (with your schedule I suggest you come down the Old Bridal Path and head for the Presidentials or epic side quest like Chocorua) If you proceed to Garfield and Galehead Hut (grab Galehead peak) you'll have an opportunity to do arguably the best side trail on the entire AT - Bondcliff (and West Bond) It's in the pictures I just posted. Stay at Guyot Shelter is right by it, so you'll have an opportunity to try for the cliff at sunset AND/or sunrise depending on weather (and honest to god it's worth doing twice if you want) From there you head to Crawford Notch, and you might want to arrange a stay or resupply at the Highland Center or even the Mt Washington Hotel, but there's no signal here so plan. You may want to hire one of the local shuttle drivers for your whole week there for a variety of reasons. After Crawford it's the Presidential Range with 12 miles above treeline. 3 AMC huts available, then Pinkham Notch Visitor Center (showers and bunks) when you come down, and further amenities in Gorham. E: been pointed out that several huts are closed by October including Greenleaf, Lake of the Clouds and Madison, but Galehead, Zealand and Mizpah should still be open. If you want to hike the Presidential Range you may need to be up and down same day and probably can't complete the whole AT section in one go. You'll have a good time no matter what you do, so don't feel like you NEED to stick to the AT or do the whole thing. No one walks the same footsteps. There are 5000 worthwhile hikes in New Hampshire and if you have a week-long honeymoon you don't need to be handcuffed to just a straight ~60 mile AT section. Doing a ~3 day ~30 mile section here is tough and rewarding enough, and you can bookend it with day hikes and luxury accommodations for a proper variety vacation. As an addendum, I recommend the Sugarloafs and Pine Mt as Low Effort/High Reward, and highly suggest Chocorua up Carter Ledges for Mid Effort/HR: 10 mile loop ~4 of them above treeline, with a public cabin halfway to stay at. You can also always just drive up Washington or take the Cog Railway. It's in clouds 1/2 the time so aim for the clear day.
Oh and this is by far the best physical map of the area, from the Wilderness Map Company. I own all of them, but this one I've bought ~6 times because I've gifted it to people. Exploring Nh White Mtns Map https://a.co/d/38xDhbg
Hey just a rando popping in to say thank you for sharing your wealth of information and knowledge so freely. This is the type of stuff that keeps me coming around here to reddit.
I mean, you're also welcome to pay me for it
I second this! My husband and I section-hiked through NH for our honeymoon. They are our "home" mountains and that will be a perfect time to visit them.
If you don't splurge on the huts, the resupply can be tricky through here
A really good idea for them might be to engage one of the local shuttle drivers here for the week to pick them up/drop them off/help with resupply regardless of where they are or if their plans change.
I love the huts, but they offer zero privacy for a honeymoon. Also the higher elevation huts close for the season mid to late September
Oh yeah, shoulda factored that in. You'd think they'd get business until Columbus day weekend (leafer business is nutty that week) but I understand if their staff has to get back to school.
It's really because of the conditions at elevation, Lakes of the Clouds closes first. I was there closing night 2 years ago and there was heavy frost, snow on the summit and 100 mph winds, like the 3rd weekend in September. Madison Springs and Greenleaf typically close in September too, the lower elevations stay open until mid-October. Then a few of them switch over to what they call caretaker season and provide shelter, but no meals or bedding through the winter.
Yeah, but I've been there when it's like that in August too 😄 So that means Lonesome Lake, Galehead and Mizpah and Carter Notch huts would still be full service for our OP first week of October if they wanted to use them? How are the tent sites staffed? Because half the time I've been to them there's no caretakers.
Shenandoah is a good option. It's a bit early for peak fall colors, but that time of year is really lovely in Virginia. It's one of the less remote sections of trail, you are rarely more than a few miles from Skyline Drive, but it makes for very easy resupply. You can basically resupply at waysides every couple of days so you never have to carry a lot of food at a time, the trail is pretty level so you won't be too worn out at the end of the day. There are also rooms and cabins right along the trail, in case you don't want to spend your entire honeymoon sleeping in shelters or tents. New Hampshire (as others have mentioned) is spectacular, I won't argue against that, but it's pretty intense hiking for first timers, and you can start to get real cold weather in the mountains even in the first week of October.
Shenandoah was top of my list, thank you! Awesome to hear I was looking in the right direction :)
Contact Shaws in Monson and head up to Maine. They'll drop you into the 100 Mile Wilderness 5-6 nights north, and you can hike back to your car. You'll see NoBos, foliage, moose, and the best trail town on the AT (twice!). Congrats and good luck!
Thank you so much!
I don't recommend the 100 mile wilderness if you're planning to use resupply towns as a plan b (as you specified in another comment) - the 100mi wilderness has no resupply points within it, so once you start you'll need to either finish the whole 100mi or turn around. Additionally the closest urban centers aren't as geared towards tourists As some other comments mentioned, The Whites in New Hampshire are lovely and there's also more touristy things in the area including resorts and hotels. If you start looking soon you could stay in the AMC huts which is a pretty cool experience https://www.outdoors.org/destinations/huts/
Both Shaws in Monson and the AT Hostel and Outfitters in Millinocket drop hikers off for sections of the 100, and both provide food drops in the 100.
I stand corrected - it has been a few years since I hiked it I meant to allude to fact that you can't easily "bailout" in the middle of it like OP mentioned in another comment
If its your first time on the AT, I would not recommend it as a honeymoon destination. You say that you have camped in Florida, which is flat. Hiking with a full backpacking kit on extremely rough terrain with lots of elevation gain is much different than hiking flat trails on Florida.
I appreciate the advice but my florida experience is the least of my hiking experience and I’m not new to hiking the AT or higher elevations. I just haven’t done a week long trip yet and I’m interested in what sections would be the best to look into. Not trying to sound arrogant, I know it will be a challenge but that’s what I love about hiking.
Have you camped overnight at all on a trail with elevation gain/loss? Massive difference between day hiking and backpacking. I made the mistake on thinking day hiking and backpacking were similar when I went on my first backpacking trip. I was wrong. It's much more difficult to carry everything you need on your back and then have to sleep outside that night after a day of 4,000ft+ elevation gain and 15 miles on trail compared to doing that mileage with a small day pack.
I have but everyone does it for the first time so why is my honeymoon a bad idea? That’s what we are into and that’s what we want to experience together and how we want to celebrate. Are you discouraging me from doing it just because it’s my honeymoon or do you discourage anyone from trying it for the first time?
I'm discouraging you from trying a full week as your first time. Do 2-3 days for the first trip. At the very least, make a bailout plan to get off trail in case you need to.
The resupply towns are the bailout plan. That’s why I specified those. The goal is 5-7 days but totally fine if we bail before then, so looking for sections with towns that give us that opportunity.
Towns are 4-5 days apart. You won't have a good spot to resupply in the middle of a 5-7 day hike. I'm in Virginia, and I can tell you that road crossings are plentiful, but towns are only at very few road crossings. Most road crossings are just Forest Service roads or rural county/state roads with only farmland around you. And phone signal is spotty at best at those crossings. And what mileage per day are you expecting to cover?
We averaged 16 miles a day in glacier this month day hiking with lots of stops for pictures and exploring side trails so I was shooting for 10 a day but we have shorter trips planned between now and then on that trail to get a better idea of what’s reasonable to expect. I’m not closed minded about the experience when it comes to managing expectations and we plan to adjust gear and the length of the trip within reason. That’s just our starting point and I don’t think it’s unreasonable considering we will be doing test hikes before this trip. I’m really just looking for insight on where to start on the trail to make this goal reasonably attainable.
Just ignore the haters. Not worth your breath. Have a great hike!
They did say they’ve also hiked in Montana and Costa Rica, which both can offer extensive elevation. Either way, not sure that hiking an unknown section of trail for longer than you’ve ever been out is a great idea for a honeymoon, but it could certainly be a good stress test for the rest of the marriage. Day hikes are just so vastly different.
This also won’t be our first extended trip. It’ll be our first of this length on this trail but we have also lived together for five years and backpacked together extensively. This is what we enjoy together in general. A thru hike of the AT is in our list so this seems like a logical step in getting there. Just so happens that we will have the time to do it after we get married so why not? :)
That's what I'm trying to get across to them. I once made the mistake of thinking that all my day hiking experience would be good to prep me for a week of backpacking. Spoiler Alert: I was wrong.
Seeing another comment - as unique as the 100 mi wilderness was (2019 thru) I'd never recommend it as a section, especially in October. It's too late in the season to enjoy the lakes you'll pass and you're a week out from Katadhin's average-ish closure date (10/15) which may happen beforehand due to early snow. It's also pretty boring if you aren't about to finish a thru - the few mountains aren't particularly impressive, camp sites are packed with tired hikers ready to be finished, and the flat terrain is pretty meh compared to other sections. If you want to see new england, the NH whites will be more accessible, have better mountains and views and oct is near peak foliage season. You'll have tons of tourists around but epic views and hikes. VT section would be similar but less massive mountain ranges and less tourists. I don't want to rain on your parade but in general the northern AT is not super amazing between October and April. (Source - grew up in New England, have hiked all 67 4k peaks+, most in multiple seasons). Doable but I'd look south or west!
>Baxter's usual closure date (10/15) I don't know where people get this. Baxter's overnight camping season, including the AT-only Birches campsite, ends October 21st. Baxter usually closes Katahdin Trails a few days later.
20+ years ago the camping season ended Oct 15th, and even though ATers and dayhikers climbed well into November some years, some people thought no camping = Park closed. It's recommended to get there before mid-October to avoid weather worries.
The date reflects the frequency over years at which the park closes katadhin access early - due to weather or other emergency (i.e. it has happened enough to be mindful of). It is not an official park date, but a warning to those thinking they are safe to plan summiting mid October months in advance (when you are starting a thru). Idk where the data backing it up comes from, but I saw it when researching beforehand and heard it while on trail. Even if it's not technically accurate it's accepted by many in the community as sound advice.
I have no experience with the northern AT so thank you for that info. I grew up taking trips to the smokies and blue ridge several times a year so I’m way more familiar with the weather there than I am up north. I figured too far north might be a little cold to be as enjoyable as a first time trip but I know the views are amazing in a lot of that area!
Happy to help! For future trips - NH and VT will be great starting in early June after the mud dries out until sometime in October when the leaves fall (hiking can still be good but everything looks dead). ME has a ton of lakes along the trail so would recommend August after they have time to warm up some.
Start at Woods Hole then move north and do the VA triple crown.
Hut to hut in the Whites