High Huts of the White Mountains

Three huts stay open the rest of the year as self service, allowing guests to cook their own food in the kitchen.

During the eleven working days, they must make four trips back down the mountain to get food and other supplies, carrying heavy loads.

The huts have handled thousands of hikers entering the back woods and environmentally sensitive areas above tree line.

The hut officially became part of the AMC system in 1929, when the State of New Hampshire bought the land and invited the club to run it as a shelter.

It was completed in 1930 and pioneered running water and indoor toilets, reflecting an evolution of AMC huts from simple shelters towards becoming more like mountainside hostels.

It features a central dining room and kitchen flanked by two bunkrooms, a design which became the model for Galehead and Zealand Falls huts, both constructed within the next year.

Lafayette, one must travel 1.1 miles down the west shoulder of the mountain on the Greenleaf Trail to reach the hut.

In 1938, Galehead gained a temporary 360 degree view when the Great New England Hurricane blew over all the surrounding trees.

It was replaced in June 2000 with a new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant hut, complete with a wheelchair ramp even though it is 5 miles (8 km) of rough trail from the nearest trailhead.

The building is designed to withstand 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) winds and was built with materials brought in by helicopter.

It was built as a shelter in 1901 in response to the deaths of two hikers the previous year who were caught in a storm on their way to an AMC meeting atop Mount Washington.

It is located adjacent to its namesake Lakes of the Clouds, two small alpine tarns, and just below the 5,372 ft (1,637 m) summit of Mount Monroe.

It is generally considered the most difficult of the full-service huts to access, based on distance and elevation required to reach it.