A rugged hike up out of Franconia Notch, either straight up the Old Bridle Path or around the long loop of the Falling Waters Trail and over Mounts Lincoln, Lafayette and its neighbors, brings you to Greenleaf Hut, perched high on a ridgeline overlooking the White Mountain National Forest.

Greenleaf was the first mountain hut I ever saw when I was a teen. I had gone for a day hike with my family in my classic '90s outfit of jeans, a tie-dye t-shirt and my black, high-top sneakers. Little did I know that decades later these huts would play a greater part in my life and I would become an experienced hiker in these mountains!