In 2026 the Appalachian Mountain Club's eight White Mountain huts open for the full-service season, with a crew, dinner at six and breakfast at seven, on June 4. Five of them, Lonesome Lake, Greenleaf, Galehead, Zealand Falls and Mizpah Spring, run full service through October 17. The three highest and most exposed close full service earlier: Lakes of the Clouds and Carter Notch on September 19 and Madison Spring on September 26. Three huts then stay open through the fall, winter and spring on a self-service basis, with a caretaker and a kitchen you cook in yourself: Lonesome Lake and Zealand Falls from October 21, and Carter Notch from September 23. The other five are closed and locked for the winter.
Day visitors are welcome at any open hut during the day, roughly ten to five, for water, restrooms, snacks and usually soup and baked goods in the staffed season. Dates shift a little each year with the weather and the club's schedule, so confirm on the AMC's hut pages before you plan around them. Below: the calendar by hut, what full and self service mean, and how the season affects a hut trip from Lincoln.
The 2026 calendar, hut by hut
Lonesome Lake Hut, above Franconia Notch 12 min from the lodge: full service June 4 to October 17, self service from October 21 through the winter and spring. Greenleaf Hut, on Mount Lafayette: full service June 4 to October 17, closed otherwise. Galehead Hut, in the Twin Range: full service June 4 to October 17, closed otherwise. Zealand Falls Hut: full service June 4 to October 17, self service from October 21 year round. Mizpah Spring Hut, below Mount Pierce: full service June 4 to October 17, closed otherwise.
Lakes of the Clouds Hut, on the shoulder of Mount Washington at 5,012 feet: full service June 4 to September 19, then closed, with an emergency refuge room left open in the cellar. Madison Spring Hut, at 4,600 feet between Madison and Adams: full service June 4 to September 26, then closed. Carter Notch Hut, east of Pinkham Notch: full service June 4 to September 19, self service from September 23 year round.
Full service: what you get
A bunk with a mattress, three wool blankets and a pillow in a shared bunkroom, a family-style dinner served at six sharp with soup, bread, salad, a main course and dessert, breakfast at seven of eggs, pancakes, oatmeal and meat, an evening program by the crew, water, composting toilets and a cold-water sink. You bring a sheet sack or sleeping bag liner, a headlamp, earplugs, a small towel and your own lunch. The crew carries the food up and the trash down on their backs. It is not cheap and it is not a hotel; the lights go out at nine-thirty.
Self service: what changes
In the self-service season the crew is gone or reduced to a caretaker, the kitchen with its stoves, pots and utensils is open to guests who bring and cook their own food, the bunkrooms are unheated except by a stove in the common room where there is one, the price falls, and the huts are quiet. Lonesome Lake in January, reached by a mile and a half of snowshoeing from the plowed Lafayette Place lot, is one of the easiest backcountry nights in the East. Zealand Falls in winter means a six-mile approach from Route 302, since Zealand Road is gated. Carter Notch is a long day from Route 16 at any season.
Day visitors and the shoulder weeks
Any open hut welcomes day hikers during the day, roughly ten to five, to fill bottles, use the toilets, sit out a squall and buy snacks, hot drinks and, in the staffed season, usually the day's soup and something baked. In the self-service season the offerings thin to what the caretaker stocks. Between the end of full service and the start of self service, the few days of turnover in late September or October, a hut may be shut entirely; check before walking in expecting soup.
Reservations
Every overnight needs a reservation through the AMC, at 603-466-2727 or online at outdoors.org, and the popular huts, Lonesome Lake and Lakes of the Clouds above all, book out weeks ahead for summer weekends. Weeknights and September are easier. Members get a discount. Dogs cannot stay overnight in any hut. Our AMC huts guide covers each hut's trail, elevation and character and the classic overnights from the lodge.
From the lodge
Lonesome Lake, the nearest hut, is 12 min from the lodge to the trailhead and open every night of the year on one basis or the other, which makes it the easy first hut night for our guests in any season. Zealand Falls and Greenleaf are the next; we keep the AMC's current dates in the digital guidebook and will hold the suite around a hut night if you tell us the dates.
Useful links
- AMC huts and lodges in New Hampshire
Each hut's page with the current season dates, prices and reservations. - AMC Lonesome Lake Hut
The nearest hut to the lodge and the one open every night of the year. - Our AMC huts guide
All eight huts with their trails, elevations and the classic overnights from Lincoln. - Our Lonesome Lake Trail guide
The walk to the closest hut.
Sources & official info: outdoors.org · outdoors.org · outdoors.org · outdoors.org · outdoors.org · outdoors.org
— Launchpoint Lodge, From the lodge
